| | | Why does this remind me of Sun Myung Moon? Transmitting secret knowledge to the initiates before they set off to convert unwashed couch potatos. Selling carbon sins in exchange for their original sin.
"Recently, Genest was one of only a handful of Canadians chosen to receive training from Gore on how to teach others about the issues of climate change."
Al Gore’s film 'An Inconvenient Truth' has brought worldwide attention to the topic of environmental sustainability, and now Westmount’s Green Party candidate is spreading that message to create sustainable change that the community can embrace.
Claude William Genest, the former actor and current Green Party deputy leader, has devoted his career as a politician to bringing environmentally sustainable solutions to the way businesses operate and to the way each person lives at home.
Between being recognized by Gore, teaching permaculture at the University at Vermont and producing an Emmy-nominated series for PBS, Genest took some time to talk about his work and how he’s willing to go door-to-door to make sustainability a reality.
“Before I knew it, I was leaving behind hosting Travel Travel, which was a plenty good job, to go work on farms in Australia and New Zealand and learn about things from the ground up,” said Genest. “It completely transformed me.”
Recently, Genest was one of only a handful of Canadians chosen to receive training from Gore on how to teach others about the issues of climate change.
“Mr. Gore was going to choose 200 people; I applied and was one of those chosen,” said Genest. “I was so impressed by Mr. Gore and Dr. (David) Suzuki... These guys are true warriors. It’s not what they say, it’s about what they do. That really galvanized me.”
With his diverse plate of environmental projects, including teaching and his PBS series The Art of Sustainable Living, Genest believes that he has the ability to successfully promote change through multiple venues.
“I’ve always said I was going to push the thing on all angles... All change comes from the bottom up... so I believe that and I practice that when I teach permaculture,” said Genest. “But now, I really, really, really believe that change has to happen also from the top down. We need to have the policy and laws in place to move this thing forward.”
Genest’s approach of making personal connections to small groups of people, instead of delivering speeches to full auditoriums, has had a positive effect on what he sees as a society “divorced from our political powers.”
“Every time I go talk in someone’s home in front of 15 or 20 people, two or three of them immediately go, ‘I’m going to have you go speak to 15 of my friends,'” says Genest. “We’ve got to go out there and start talking...”
Even with Genest’s time limited with his non-stop work, he is preparing for a possible election, attending the Emmy Awards and is in the process of writing a book.
“Things are definitely moving [but] it’s not me that’s moving, it’s green consciousness. The right thing is emerging and I’m just one of the people able to talk about it.”
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