Welcoming the Team – meet Kai…

Our Horizon would like to extend a warm welcome to Kai who joined the team as Director of Operations a few weeks ago. Rob asked him a few poignant questions to get to know him a bit better… Look forward to frequent blog posts from our team starting next week.

So Kai, tell me a bit about yourself…

Hmm, let’s see – when I was a kid, my mum always called me a ‘water baby’ because I loved to swim. I’ve always been a bit nervous swimming in big lakes, though: I prefer clear water, like rivers or Georgian Bay. I used to dream about having a house way out in the sticks, by some beautiful, quick-moving river – but now I’m pretty content to be living in the city. Mostly, I think a lot about how people can start living in a way that is both more respectful of the amazing planet we live on, showing some basic admiration for all its remarkable beauty and ingenuity, as well as showing more respect for ourselves. After all, we’re also part of this big web we call life, and are equally amazing.

Why are you concerned about climate change?

Why wouldn’t I be? I think anyone who really knows what’s going on with this issue has every reason to be concerned. Still, I think the term ‘climate change’ can be a little abstract for a lot of us: what’s really changing, after all, is the air – the stuff that you and I breathe – and our changing climate is just one major fallout of that. Beyond climate, there’s also ocean acidification choking our marine life, and air pollution choking all of us. Climate change is the scariest of all because if this problem isn’t solved, nearly all other environmental issues become a moot point. Climate change is the existential question of our time.

What drew you to Our Horizon?

I was drawn to Our Horizon because it touches on many of the more human aspects to a changing climate that are most important to me. On my back, I’ve got a tattoo that kind of reminds me of this: it reads ‘True Love Takes Courage’. What that means to me is that when you really love something – be it a person, an idea or life itself – it often takes great courage to care for and protect it. Alone, it can sometimes be difficult to summon that courage, but what’s great about Our Horizon is that it gives us the courage to all face this challenge together. Only by summoning the courage as a collective to honestly face what we’re up against can we then find the hope to move forwards.

How have the last few weeks been?

Terrible. Please, if you’re reading this, SAVE ME.

What are you looking forward to most about our campaign to put warning labels on gas pump nozzles?

Changing the world. No joke. The world has changed in some major ways before, and it’s rapidly changing again. These labels will help to wake people up to the reality of what’s going on all around us, and give us the desire and will to move forwards. They will help to rekindle many of our strongest human values, right at the time when we need them the most. They will not only encourage us to honestly face what we’re up against, but will also open the door to new visionary innovation and collaboration in building a brighter, low-carbon future. They will bring this issue into the public eye in a big way and will mean the end of either despair or denial, and no going back. From here on in, we are building a safe, caring and honest future that generations to follow can be proud of.

***

Filed in: blog