William Shatner says Captain Kirk would be 'appalled' at pace of climate change

National Post

6 hours ago

Captain James T. Kirk would be appalled at the rapid acceleration of climate change on Earth, says William Shatner, the Montreal-born actor who played the head of the USS Enterprise in the 'Star Trek' franchise for decades.
Article content
'I think he would probably be as appalled as I am,' Shatner said during a recent video call from his home in Los Angeles.
Article content
The actor said he could imagine Kirk 'skywriting' a message to his fellow Earthlings, urging them to take action.
Article content
Article content
'Education, education, read everything,' Shatner said. 'Everybody should acquaint themselves with the problem, and make a decision.'
Article content
Article content
Shatner is scheduled to make an appearance on the second and third days of the conference. Other scheduled guests include Wil Wheaton, who played Wesley Crusher in 'Star Trek: The Next Generation,' and Kane Hodder, who starred in the 'Friday the 13th' franchise as the deranged hockey-masked killer Jason Voorhees.
Article content
Shatner was born in Montreal's Notre-Dame-de-Grace neighbourhood in 1931, and he still has a deep emotional connection to the city. 'That's my whole childhood,' he said, adding that he has a 'vast' number of relatives living there, including a sister.
Article content
He began acting when he was a small child, and he continued even after graduating from McGill University in 1952 with a commerce degree. The school's university centre is known to students as the Shatner Building, though the university confirmed it is not the building's official name.
Article content
He first played Captain Kirk in the 'Star Trek' TV show in 1966. His last appearance in the franchise was in the 1994 film 'Star Trek Generations,' where Kirk is killed off.
Article content
Article content
Article content
He also starred in the shows 'Boston Legal' and 'T.J. Hooker.' He wrote several books, including 'Star Trek' novels and a memoir about his friendship with the late actor Leonard Nimoy, who famously played Spock in the original series. And he recorded more than a dozen albums, from 1968's 'The Transformed Man,' a collection of dramatic readings of popular songs, to last year's children's album, 'Where Will the Animals Sleep? Songs for Kids and Other Living Things.'
Article content
Last month, he was onstage in Seattle with astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson talking about space and life in a show they called 'The Universe Is Absurd.'
Article content
He went to Antarctica last year, with deGrasse Tyson, and he went to space in 2021, aboard Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin shuttle.
Article content
Article content
Always curious and hungry for knowledge, Shatner said he is inspired and fascinated by the capabilities of artificial intelligence and applications such as ChatGPT.
Article content
'I was researching a speech I was making, and I could use ChatGPT immediately, (instead of) going down to the library, trying to find the book, read what the book says, come back home and realize I had a question I didn't ask,' he said. 'Artificial intelligence has been a revolution in mankind's acquisition of knowledge.'
Article content