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Climate change is a very real threat to humanity, as many scientists have warned us. A Canadian lawyer named Robert Shirkey wants all Canadians who pump gasoline to understand the threat of climate change. He started a campaign, ourhorizon.org that calls for labels to be put on gas pump nozzles. The campaign aims to get municipalities in Canadian provinces to pass legislation that require the labels.
There are 4,000 municipalities in Canada. The campaign's website contains a database of municipal councilors in Canada, and encourages people to send a letter to their local representative, called a councillor, in Canada. The database has "every single municipal councillor's email in all of Canada." Through the website, a user can email a letter to their local councillor just by clicking a button.
Does the name of the campaign sound vaguely familiar? It is a reference to the offshore drilling rig, the Deepwater Horizon that spilled 4.9 million barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. As the campaign states, "Our name is a rejection of the system that made BP’s offshore drilling rig the Deepwater Horizon a reality." However, the campaign makes it clear that it does "not blame BP," but takes the position "that we each share in the responsibility for this tragedy."
There are a few interesting facts about the campaign, including that it is market-based, as its website stresses. The purpose of the warning labels is to "supply the market with relevant information and let the market do its thing." The way it will work is that the "label will change some behaviors but, more importantly, they will create a shift in the social environment to facilitate political action on climate change."
The campaign is funded through crowdsourcing via a donation page. The donation page asks users to donate in order to help the campaign do two things:
Gina-Marie is a freelance writer and journalist armed with a degree in journalism, and a passion for social justice, including the environment and sustainability. She writes for various websites, and has made the 75+ Environmentalists to Follow list by Mashable.com.