Saugeen Shores councillor Victoria Serda will be working with former US vice president Al Gore to become a climate change messenger.

Serda will be qualified to teach about the earth’s climate crisis
By Libby PetersWednesday January 03, 2007
Saugeen Shores councillor Victoria Serda will be working with former US vice president Al Gore to become a climate change messenger.Serda was invited by Gore for the training that will take place in Nashville January 4-6. She will be making the long trip by car, in part to avoid the more serious environmental impact of travelling by plane.Serda will get her education from a team of climate change scientists, educators, and Gore, to present a version of ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ in towns and cities across North America.An Inconvenient Truth is a film documentary featuring Gore, about the earth’s climate crisis.“I’m looking forward to giving a presentation I know will have an impact on people,” Serda said.Although she has been doing public speaking for about 16 years, talking to people about environmental issues, Serda said it is “hard to make an impact”.She said An Inconvenient Truth, written by Gore, is designed in a way that “doesn’t overwhelm people”, by using facts and figures, as well as emotion.
“I am looking forward to helping people feel empowered,” she said.“For years I didn’t think there was much I could do,” she added, although she kept trying in different ways to spread the message about environmental care.It is one reason she decided to get involved in Saugeen Shores council.“I feel a big responsibility... to implement change,” Serda said.About 1,000 individuals will be educated as climate change messengers in smaller groups through four-day sessions in January. An additional 75 will be trained at sessions in Australia, and potentially other locations in the future.She received word three weeks ago that her online application had been successful.Since then she has been faced with “a certain amount of reality” to prepare before she leaves, including organizing the Dec. 22 concert to help fund the project, and arranging her transportation.Since airplanes unload harsh emissions into a vulnerable part of the atmosphere, whereas car exhaust will have more of a chance to be filtered before reaching that level, Serda has chosen to drive south and is taking her father and daughter along.Though most of her trip will be focused on climate change training, Serda said she will take the opportunity to stop along the way to visit family for at least an afternoon.Like all climate change messengers, Serda will offer the presentations as a volunteer, and receive no remuneration. She welcomes invitations to do the presentation for groups across Ontario.“We need to get people to understand so they can get active and start changing (how the government addresses environmental issues).”
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