Climate Change Unscripted Bollywood star embarks on Canadian speaking tour
(Ottawa) – Climate Action Network Canada is taking unprecedented action to push climate change onto the political agenda, targeting swing voters in the Indo-Canadian community with a celebrity speaking tour as a way to convince the country’s leaders to take the issue seriously.
Oxfam Ambassador and Bollywood film star Rahul Bose will speak with South Asian-Canadians in Toronto and Vancouver from 14-24 October. He will be joined by Christina Ora, a 17 year old woman from the Solomon Islands who speaks passionately about the personal toll of climate change in her community.
With Canada lagging so far behind the rest of the world in terms of green technology, emissions reductions and support for adaptation in developing countries, Mr. Bose will focus on South Asian communities around Toronto and Vancouver in an attempt to show Canadians what they can do to change the course of climate history. Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s woeful absence at the recent UN climate change meetings in New York proves our politicians refuse to take this issue seriously.
“South Asian Canadians are a very politically active community and crucial to applying the necessary pressure on Canadian politicians to take meaningful action on climate change. Mr. Bose is the perfect ambassador to share this message,” said Graham Saul, Executive Director of Climate Action Network Canada.
As world leaders meet in Copenhagen in December to negotiate a new deal on climate change, financing and support for developing countries like India will be a key issue in reaching a fair and equitable deal.
Dubbed the “Sean Penn of Asian cinema” by Maxim magazine for his social activism and his preference for Indian art-house films, Mr. Bose is a former Indian national team rugby player whose movies were the subject of a retrospective during the 2007 Toronto International film festival.
“This visit is a wake-up call on the urgency of the situation, one that shows we need immediate action,” said Oxfam Canada executive director Robert Fox. “Rahul and Christina put a human face on the impacts of climate change and we hope it will ignite a critically important community in Canada to support global action for a fair and binding deal in Copenhagen.”
