Endings Can Deserve Celebration
My father Brian Reid passed away on Saturday February 17th, at 9:30 p.m. He was 89 years old, and was surrounded by his three children, his daughter and son-in-law, and his two oldest grandchildren.
My Dad was an interesting person, a principled and integrous individual who worked tirelessly on many social justice issues, including being in the vanguard of the non-smokers rights movement. He fought against what we learned was an addictive and dangerous habit before it was popular, and while as a kid I was at times embarrassed by his tenacity, I am extremely proud of what he accomplished. He was recognized for his work in 2013 as one of Hamilton’s Environmentalists of the Year. His life will be celebrated this Saturday with a memorial service.
An end deserves a celebration.
Similarly, we recognize and celebrate the end of the Live Net Zero contest. We did not know what was in store for us when we jumped in with our video submission in April of 2023.
We learned a great deal, and accomplished a lot. We significantly reduced our emissions, and shared our journey on social media and in our communities (neighbourhood, church, union, and school). While at times the process was frustrating, our overall experience was extremely rewarding—even joyous.
At the end of each challenge, we would rewrite a well known song, summarizing what we learned. We subsequently asked friends, and my grade four class, to sing the songs. As a way to finish and celebrate the end of the contents, we hosted a Zoom concert on February 25th. We had about twenty-five friends join us to hear the songs, and share what we learned from each challenge.
We will be editing those songs together for a complete video. They have all been posted to Jen’s facebook page, and the video above is the final song rewrite for the overarching Home Improvement challenge, but this time it is the song performed by our friend Robyn Carrigan.
Thank you to the musicians, and my class for jumping in and supporting the project.
Thank you to our family and friends, who encouraged us and were willing to be on video.
Of course, a huge thanks to Canadian Geographic and the team there for the entire project. It has been an incredibly rewarding experience.
Jen and Steve