It is often said that the more of the world that you see, the greater appreciation you have for it.

It is a fitting sentiment for David Noble, the Ontario university graduate and environmental advocate. Over the course of his burgeoning career, Noble has traveled to country after country, even going as far as the northern extremes of Cape Farewell, Greenland and the southernmost corners of the Antarctic. Noble previously trained with Al Gore to become a presenter for The Climate Project, and has since worked with students and political leaders from nearly 20 countries across six continents, advocating for greater action toward environmental sustainability and a global solution to climate change.

Noble is currently traveling across Canada in a country-wide speaking tour to raise awareness about climate change. Organized and run by his self-founded organization, 2degreesC, the tour aims to encourage citizens to take action within their communities, and to educate others about environmental sustainability. 2degreesC also encourages greater environmental awareness through discussions and partnerships with governments and organizations all over the world. Noble’s tour stops in six provinces are bullfrogpowered, as is the 2degreesC office. The tour is scheduled to wrap up on November 26.

“It’s been really positive so far,” Noble says of the feedback he has received during the tour. “A lot of people have described it as thought-provoking, emotive and different.” This kind of response is due in no small part to Noble’s creative approach to climate change. He features the work of Canadian artists prominently in his presentations.

“We normally wouldn’t think of artists as having a particularly relevant role to play on climate change,” Noble explains. “But I’ve seen time and time again how a poem, an image or a story resonates with people much more deeply than a fact or a figure does.” Noble attributes this emotive aspect of his presentations to his success in reaching out to people of all ages and from all walks of life. “It becomes a whole new tool that we can use to connect with people in a different way, at a different level.”

Photo credit: nathangallagher.com, courtesy of Cape Farewell

Noble’s approach toward addressing the issue of climate change emerged from his trip to Cape Farewell just last year. There, he joined artists, musicians, architects and scientists for a two-week science expedition, traveling alongside artists such as Vanessa Carlton and Ryuichi Sakamoto. For Noble, it was a profound experience. “What I saw was the creation of very powerful stories, metaphors and symbols that have an incredible way of connecting with people,” he said.

For Noble, the collective experience from such a wide spectrum of thinkers and professions offered him insight into the issue of global climate change. Although they were not academics or scientists entrenched in the study of climate change, Noble realized that they could offer a cultural response to the issue. Noble arrived at the conclusion that the approach to addressing climate change should involve collaborative effort. “We don’t have the solution to climate change clearly laid out for us, collectively,” he explains. “We all have to put our heads together, experience and interact with this issue, and figure out how we’re going to solve it without anyone giving us the blueprint.”

Noble’s international experience has put him in a unique position to offer perspective on his own country’s progress. “I think there are some really great success stories from different communities and provinces [in Canada],” he says. He highlights the Ontario government’s recent role in encouraging action on sustainability, adding, “On the whole, I think we’ve taken the first steps in a really, really long journey. But I think we can go a lot further.”

Noble’s 2degreesC tour speaks especially to young Canadians for this reason—he believes they possess a wealth of potential for encouraging change. “They bring a lot of creativity, energy, enthusiasm and sincere interest to the table,” he says. “I think they can be really active, valuable participants in this process.”

For his part, Noble is working to encourage youth to join the global discussion on climate change. He is currently planning on joining the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December, where he hopes to directly involve young people in the negotiation process through a web-based global youth outreach initaitive called the MASS Dialogues.

Noble’s message can be refined to a thought that occurred to him while on the Cape Farewell expedition. “We really need to rethink who needs to be implicated in the response to climate change,” he says. “It’s everybody. We all need to contribute in all the ways that we can.”