An Inconvenient Truth

[canadian]

I was privileged to hear Al Gore speak yesterday at The Green Living Show in Toronto. I have not seen "An Inconvenient Truth" but have done quite a bit of reading about the film's message and the issues it brings to the world's attention. I am also not a very 'political' animal and know very little about Mr. Gore's past career. I merely went to hear him speak, taking no baggage into the hall with me. Thought I'd share this little piece I banged off this morning about what I came out of that room with:

Al Gore is one heck of a speaker. Well-trained. His 'packaged' tour version of "An Inconvenient Truth" is informative and very good theatre, for the most part. Global warming IS real, the scientific community's wide-ranging consensus of facts, figures & illustrations are definitely things we of the Earth ignore at our own impending peril. If CO2 emissions aren't dramatically reduced over the next decade, it's quite possible that the small few of us left will be living with the penguins within 45 years. Hats off to Mr. Gore for using his position of fame/notoriety to bring the importance of dealing with this issue now to so many millions of our population.

The Premier of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty and David Suzuki (Canada's most well-known environmentalist who's been a voice in the wilderness for decades already) were both in the audience to hear Gore speak yesterday, along with loads of journalists. Suzuki confronted Canada's federal Minister of the Environment publicly on Friday night when they ran into each other at The Green Living Show and expressed his strong disappointment at the government's recent announcement of their plan to reduce greenhouse gases. It falls way short of recommendations made by the Kyoto Accord. Because our politicians are worried about the impact on our country's economy of implementing drastic change, what they're proposing won't help stop global warming in the slightest. And this is one of the points Gore makes, strongly, in his talks. In order to save the planet, some strong & responsible moral shifts will have to take place. Worrying about the future financial health of our industries, auto makers, etc. and failing to implement strong and immediate changes, is equivalent to sticking our heads in the ever-growing sands. If we don't make a real fast paradigm shift at the very highest levels of governments in developed countries NOW, how do we expect the rest of less-developed countries (i.e. India, China) to join in quickly to implement absolutely required environmental changes? Science has shown that, if the glaciers keep melting, millions of people in countries like India & China are gonna be totally under water, along with lots of other people who live in coastal regions. The rest of us are gonna be getting really, really nasty sunburns!

http://www.thestar.com/News/article/208547

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/

Our federal government's reaction to Mr. Gore's words of warning embarrass me all to hell. In essence, the Environment Minister has invited Gore to a hand shake and a friendly sit-down over coffee. And Mr. Baird insists on dragging out the ex-US-vice-president's political record. I say, listen to what he's saying NOW, forgive him his trespasses and think about what's happening to our planet. View the evidence and start making brave changes.

I'll let Kurt Vonnegut have the last word here. He once suggested that these words be carved into the Grand Canyon as our final message for future visitors from outer space before we all disappear off the face of the Earth: "We probably could have saved ourselves, but we were too damned lazy to try very hard ... and too damn cheap."

[Robert M. Blevins]

I liked your quote by Vonnegut. Sounds just like something he would say...(lol) Gotta love him.

I also have NOT seen 'An Inconvenient Truth', but I have looked at the book. It's an eye-opener, and the pictures are revealing.

A lot of people have posted up on forums about the film. This is a generalization, but many of them have the same theme:

'Don't go and see it unless you want the sh__t scared out of you...'

Canadian: Gore may have mentioned this in his speech, but one BIG problem is that if we don't do something soon, it will be too late, even if we cut out ALL CO-2 emissions. The damage is advancing NOT at a steady-state rate, but cumulatively. Geoff would know more on this one.

Perhaps anyone reading this post should speak out in AB's Global Warming Project book. We have been accepting submissions to it since last May. Already 350+ people have submitted. We are now accepting articles, too...and poetry. No short stories, though. Most of the subs are comments from different people around the globe.

It's easy to participate.
Details here:
www.adventurebooksofseattle.com/theglobalwarmingbook.htm

Special Note: Greenpeace UK and the office of Al Gore both want to see the finished PDF file for possible endorsement. The eBook version will be made available as a free download, and the paperback/hardback versions at cost.