The ultimate purpose of Beau Otto's presentation was to show that what we see can be interpreted differently depending on the factors that surround it, in this case different lighting on colors and colors on top of colors. Also he is inferring that everyone sees things differently based on what they know, they connect things to what they have experienced in life or what others have told them.
Every issue on this planet can be related to this philosophy. When wars are started between countries, the people in each country see the opposite as the enemy based on the information that the government gives them, the experiences with the other country(ies), etc. The only reason that they consider each other as enemies is because of the factors that surround them.
Racism is based on ones experiences in life. If your parents are racist you most likely will be one too, because you have recieved information from your parents that "this" race is bad and "this" race is good. The way that this can be changed is if you actually experience another race, I'm not saying that you have to be a Black, Asian, etc. person to not be racist towards them but if you gather information from them (talk to them, experience their culture) and get positive feedback then your opinions will have changed. For example, in the Movie "Gran Torino" the main character is racist towards people with asian ethnicity because he had participated in the Vietnam war and thus views Asians as enemies. But he ends up befriending his next door neighbors who are Asian and his opinion of Asians change.
The danger of climate change is that the changes on the planet are very slow, and it makes it more difficult for people to be able to see that the world is going through radical changes that could cause multiople disasters in the future. Also, because most people do not study climate change they do not fully grasp the threat of it. The more knowledge a person has on the subject the more worried they would be, and the more changes they would make in their everyday life for the better. Yes, many people know there is a problem with climate change because the television has told them so, but they most likely do not know what is happening or what the consequences will be. So, they end up not caring or caring on a superficial level. People are very disconnected with climate change, and think it will not affect them, but everything that happens on this planet affects every one of us somehow. And once things become very bad, it will be too late to repair the world, but that will be the only time that people care.