revisiting alison tickell

climate momentum was building in 2019… then COVID hit. can we do it again?

Note: I modified the purpose of this newsletter as of April 6, 2024 to 'For those frightened by the ecological crisis and searching to heal our relations'. I also include the podcast version of this posting as a link in this main posting as opposed to separate email. You can also subscribe to 'calm presence' podcast on your favorite podcast player. Thanks Claude

Note: The podcast version of this posting is here.

My first recorded conversation for the conscient podcast was on October 26, 2019 with Julie’s Bicycle CEO Alison Tickell (e03 tickell – creative cultural allegiances). I first met Alison at the National Arts Centre’s Summit on Theatre and Climate Change in Banff, Alberta, in April 2019. 

I recall that recording clearly... 

We went for a soundwalk / interview on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Alison was discovering the stunning geography and soundscapes of that space as we walked and talked about our shared interest in art and the climate emergency. 

Here are a couple of excerpts:

• One of the biggest and unexplored inequities is not around people. It's around the natural world. I personally think that the way that we treat animals is going to become recognized as the most horrific genocide. …. And there is an awakening going on about how we treat everything that isn't human. … it’s jolly hard but again this is where artists can take us. Art can steward us through all sorts of different routes, into a different relationship to our past, our present, and what we want our future to look like and be..

• Wherever you are, anywhere in the world, you will almost certainly have some kind of creative cultural allegiance. How do we use that in a purposeful way is a critical question for us all.

It’s been 5 years now since this conversation and I invite you to listen or (re)visit it

I can recall exactly where I was for every of my 150+ recorded conversation :  every word and sound still flowing in my blood.

But e03 is special because it was my first conversation and it was with Alison, who an important trail blazer in this field.

It’s my only pre-COVID 19 conversation, recorded a few weeks before massive Fridays for Future protests in 2019 : the largest climate strikes in human history, where more than one million people held 2,200 protests across 125 countries. 

I was at the Montreal rally. I did not record sound that day but you can imagine the crown of 300,000 + people expressing their concern for the climate emergency and their love of our planet.

I would love for those days to come back. For that momentum to return.

I invite you to revisit e03 and imagine yourself in 2019, when momentum for climate action was building all around the world.

Can we do it again?

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