Honoring Matthew Chapman: Reflections on Life, Legacy, and Our Shared Mission
There was an environmentalist who suddenly passed away recently at 40, and it affected me profoundly. His name was Matthew Chapman (1983-2024), and he was quite involved in climate action. His work included years of advocacy in:
Climate Reality Project Canada
The Montreal Climate Coalition
He was the person who encouraged me to go to the Montreal City Council to ask a question last summer. The photo below is of three environmentalists who each asked a question that day, and you can see a video of me here:
Matthew Chapman was quite positive and brought a lot of energy wherever he went. You can see what people wrote about him following his passing: https://www.theenergymix.com/remembering-matthew-chapman-1983-2024/
As I approach my 32nd birthday on May 12 and reflect on Matthew’s sudden passing at 40, it certainly reminded me that none of us can be certain of living until the age of 100. What makes things even spookier is that I remember Matthew asking me on that day what I thought the life age expectancy was for Canadians, and it turns out it is about 82. On a side note, the United States is at 76.
I have been living through pretty dark times for most of my life as I dealt with a lot of traumatic events. You can read my first novel, which has a lot of content inspired by my real-life experiences here.
Throughout my life, despite all the traumatic stuff, there were many people here and there who gave me hope. Matthew Chapman was one of those people. Fortunately, there are many people like that out there, and many of them are quite subtle. It may be hard to notice them, but even though this world can, in fact, be quite dark, there is a lot of light hidden all over the place. These people are like a bunch of candles lighting up the world, and if it weren’t for them, the human species would sink into darkness.
My life’s mission is to spread awareness as much as possible. I am not just referring to climate change but to many other issues affecting the lives of millions of people. Since I was a teenager, I have known that climate change is humanity's most important issue, and I am still certain of this.
Besides writing many more novels, I would like to do acting, comedy, and advocacy and start my first company, the Laurent Cousineau Network (LCN). I remember telling Matthew Chapman around 2017 that I wanted to make a company one day that would do many things simultaneously. The idea changed over the years to its current form.
Regarding acting, I met Al Pacino in 2015 and took a photo with him. You can see that photo at the end of my first novel, “The Angel of Death Origins: OCD, Bullying, and Questioning Reality.” Al Pacino also inspired me a lot since he struggled quite a bit in his early years when he tried to make a living as an actor. There were quite a few celebrities, the vast majority with progressive views, who have inspired me throughout my life.
As humans, we live for a relatively short amount of time, so we should do our best to make it count while we are still here. Matthew Chapman surely made his time here on Earth count.
