For Release: 15^th October 2014
Contact:  Debby de Groot, MDG & Associates
647.295.2970
debby [at] mdgassociates.com

 
What is an ordinary man to do?
 
With the increasingly bad news about the environment cascading into the lives of ordinary Canadians, it is understandable that a sense of hopelessness and inevitability will start to build.
 
Not with Todd MacLean.  One day, while thinking about the situation, Todd realized that he really just wanted to find out from the best minds in the world - is there hope?
 
Do you think that humanity can find a way past the current global environmental and social crises?  Will we be able to create the conditions necessary for our own survival, as well as that of other species on the planet? What would these conditions look like? In summary, then, and in the plainest of terms, do we have hope, and can we do it?”
 
Armed with just this intent; no previous experience in book publishing, no funding and no clear idea of what he was doing; Todd started a letter writing campaign, and was soon astounded when he began to receive replies.  Great thinkers and celebrities, such as David Suzuki, Justin Trudeau,
Jane Goodall, Chef Michael Smith, Paul Hawken, Bill McKibben, Ashish Ramgobin,
Buffy Sainte–Marie, Stephen Lewis, Craig Kielburger, Jean Vanier, Sheila Watt-Cloutier,
Tzeporah Berman, Maude Barlow, Robert Bateman, Stephen Hawking, John Ralston Saul, Bob McDonald, Jay Ingram, Marc Garneau,  Keibo Oiwa, Farley Mowat, Mike Holmes, Carl Honoré,
Hazel McCallion, Martin Rutte, Seth Godin, Alexandra Cousteau, Roméo A. Dallaire, Dr. Kira Salak, Thomas Pakenham, Joel Bakan, Adria Vasil, Jonathan Legg, Paul Martin, Sylvia McAdam, Jamie Oliver, Rachel Parent, Morgan Spurlock, and Vivienne Westwood, among many others, started replying, and agreed to be published pro bono in Global Chorus: 365 Voices on the Future of the Planet - the proceeds of which will be distributed to organizations helping to recover, protect and sustain life on Earth: The Jane Goodall Institute, The David Suzuki Foundation, and the Canadian Red Cross.
 
Global Chorus is a ground-breaking collection of over 365 perspectives on our environmental future. As a gift from an ordinary man to Canadians, this daily reader is a trove of insight, guidance, passion and wisdom; its message enormously inspiring, its warnings ominous, and yet, united in a thread of hope.  It is capable of helping even the most faithless global citizen to believe that we have the capacity to bring about lasting positive change in our world.
 
 Todd explains, “Every day I am newly amazed. I don't exactly know how this project has successfully snowballed into the powerful global roundtable on our future that it has become; but I do know that I've worked very hard to bring it to life – and I just hope that readers all over the world will gain the daily insight, guidance and boundless inspiration for our future that I've gained from this project."
(Credit: Kimberly Rashed Photography)
 
Todd MacLean will be embarking on a multi-city tour between November 3^rd and December 15^th and will be available for comment and interview. 
Excerpts and photos are available.
www.globalchorus.com
 
Global Chorus: 365 Voices on the Future of the Planet, Edited by Todd MacLean, published by Rocky Mountain Books
ISBN 9781771600330/7.5 x7.5 inches/432 pages/Paperback/$25.00 (CAD)
Publication Date: 15^th October
 
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