"Dying is a Big Health Problem"

My son Aaron created this video to be included in a subscription package for the Gathering of Kindness in Australia. (Interested in a subscription package dedicated to health staff well-being? Check out the Gathering of Kindness here).

What's cool about this video? The script was written specifically for Aaron, and he made edits and adapted the words himself. He rehearsed it with his acting coach, Lane Edwards, and shot it one evening with his dad.

As a young person, Aaron is very aware of how climate change affects his life and his health. Where we live, he has directly experienced the effects of the climate crisis: the ongoing pandemic; an awful heat wave last June - where we had to flee our stifling condo to find refuge in an air conditioned hotel - tragically, nearly 600 people weren't as lucky as we were and died alone in their apartments; disastrous flooding in November down the road from where we live; and the destructive wildfires that happen here every summer without fail. If you've been fortunate enough to not personally experience the harms of the climate crisis...well, just wait. It is coming for us all.

Aaron holding a homemade 'I'm with Greta' sign at an anti-pipeline demonstration.

Our family lives on Burnaby Mountain, right where the Trans Mountain pipeline is being expanded. We see the destruction caused by the pipeline on our mountain every single day. Aaron has attended many Indigenous-led, anti-pipeline demonstrations the past few years. He was thrilled to be at a rally with Greta Thunberg in 2019.

So yup, Aaron is an 18 year old young man with Down syndrome and he's extremely aware of how the climate crisis affects his health. It would serve us well to listen to young people about taking care of this Earth, for this is their future.