Sustainable World Radio: Friday mornings at 9:00-10:00 am PST on KCSB 91.9 FM in Santa Barbara, California and streaming live on www.kcsb.org. Also found on  www.sustainableworldradio.com, or www.radio4all.net later in the week..

        Join Jill Cloutier of Sustainable World Radio Fri. July 4 , 9am , Interview  with Claude Genest Permaculture Teacher/Designer  , Deputy Leader of the Canadian Green Party , former actor and host of the Emmy Nominated PBS TV series Regeneration: The Art of Sustainable Living.
        Claude is running as a Green Party candidate in a by-election for the Canadian Federal seat of Westmont-Ville Marie in Province of Quebec to become the first Green Member of Parliament in federal politics   Recently, Genest was one of only a handful of Canadians chosen to receive training from Al Gore on how to teach others about the issues of climate change.
        Also joining Jill will be fellow Canadian Wes Roe of Santa Barbara Permaculture Network  who was involved in political campaigns in the late 60's and 70's in Canada before moving to the US.


Claude William Genest interviewed on PBS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfOM7LljBjw

Greenologist and Permaculturist Claude William Genest hosts Regeneration: The Art of Sustainable Living on PBS. Four part series on Vermont Public TV
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=regen+claude&search_type =


Quotes from Claude on from email on Permaculture Listserve
And one more thing - While you Yanks criticize from your recliners about the nasty state of American Politics, I do not see you organizing to offer an alternative. Meanwhile the Canadian Greens are at 15% in the polls, will likely be in the Leader's debates and are on the verge of electing members to parliament carrying a platform written collectively by all members on a wiki and with a powerful core of earth ethics. And for me, that is something to feel both good and proud about. ..

Claude Genest quote"Personally, now that my earth is bermed and my trees planted,  I am taking portions of Mr. Gore's slide show, merging it with Permaculture and Green Party stuff and I carry it house to house, speaking in people's kitchens to a dozen folk at a time. For free. Every chance I get. and I ain't about to quit anytime soon." ...

Claude Genest quote "I have some planting to do  and I'm going to suggest that maybe ya'all have some political seeds to sow ;-)"


Green Party candidate Genest carries Gore's message
By Andrew King
Article online since May 1st 2008, 13:35
http://www.westmountexaminer.com/article-208505-Green-Party-candidate-Genest-carries-Gores-message.html


Al Gore’s film 'An Inconvenient Truth' has brought worldwide attention to the topic of environmental sustainability, and now Westmount’s Green Party candidate is spreading that message to create sustainable change that the community can embrace.
Claude William Genest, the former actor and current Green Party deputy leader, has devoted his career as a politician to bringing environmentally sustainable solutions to the way businesses operate and to the way each person lives at home.

Between being recognized by Gore, teaching permaculture at the University at Vermont and producing an Emmy-nominated series for PBS, Genest took some time to talk about his work and how he’s willing to go door-to-door to make sustainability a reality.

“Before I knew it, I was leaving behind hosting Travel Travel, which was a plenty good job, to go work on farms in Australia and New Zealand and learn about things from the ground up,” said Genest. “It completely transformed me.”

Recently, Genest was one of only a handful of Canadians chosen to receive training from Gore on how to teach others about the issues of climate change.

“Mr. Gore was going to choose 200 people; I applied and was one of those chosen,” said Genest. “I was so impressed by Mr. Gore and Dr. (David) Suzuki... These guys are true warriors. It’s not what they say, it’s about what they do. That really galvanized me.”

With his diverse plate of environmental projects, including teaching and his PBS series The Art of Sustainable Living, Genest believes that he has the ability to successfully promote change through multiple venues.

“I’ve always said I was going to push the thing on all angles... All change comes from the bottom up... so I believe that and I practice that when I teach permaculture,” said Genest. “But now, I really, really, really believe that change has to happen also from the top down. We need to have the policy and laws in place to move this thing forward.”

Genest’s approach of making personal connections to small groups of people, instead of delivering speeches to full auditoriums, has had a positive effect on what he sees as a society “divorced from our political powers.”

“Every time I go talk in someone’s home in front of 15 or 20 people, two or three of them immediately go, ‘I’m going to have you go speak to 15 of my friends,'” says Genest. “We’ve got to go out there and start talking...”

Even with Genest’s time limited with his non-stop work, he is preparing for a possible election, attending the Emmy Awards and is in the process of writing a book.

“Things are definitely moving [but] it’s not me that’s moving, it’s green consciousness. The right thing is emerging and I’m just one of the people able to talk about it.”