Al Gore has finally made peace with himself. He may have been an average politician but he's a kick-ass campaigner for combating global warming. His movie, An Inconvenient Truth, is a taped version of his lecture on global warming, interspersed with vignettes of his life that cast him as an authorative figure on the topic. Regardless of his credentials, the arguments he makes are based on hard, irrefutable facts. It's impossible to watch this movie and still not believe in global warming.According to Al Gore, we're like frogs in a pot of water, slowly simmering towards certain death. Parallels are drawn to the denial around the smoking crisis. His own family grew tobacco, he says, till the death of his sister from lung cancer shook them up. It's not all gloomy though, he says. We have the technology and means today to drive down emissions to pre-1970s levels. What's lacking is the political will.
Well, global warming is a real problem, whether Al Gore says it or not. Companies have been actively taking notice and buiding strategies around it. After all, climate change will impact bottomlines. The cost of doing nothing is probbaly far greater than the cost of adapting. It's a matter of getting people out of denial and to accept certain action plans.
On a more personal level, I have made changes to my lifestyle in the past two years that hopefully have some impact. My car stays mostly in the garage these days. I walk or take the transit to most places. I live in a condo with substantial heating/cooling efficiencies. I choose simpler foods with less industrial processing involved. On a professional level, I help businesses communicate electronically, thus saving paper and travel. My job involves a non-trivial amount of travel but I've always taken trains and car-pooled whenever possible. Am I doing enough? Time will tell.
4 comments:
o gosh, yes. the freaky weather conditions in delhi (unnatural rains) and bbay (winter? wats dat???) and everywhere else seconds dat!
well, even knowing that N.O. has had hurricanes before, I can't help but wonder if old Al is right that global warming has made them worse.
Scientists have pointed out some flaws in his science, but most do agree that global warming exists to some degree (from my understanding), so I think it is great that someone so well known is calling upon people to at least THINK about it.
Oh, so you're not dead? ;-)
closetalk: yes - freaky indeed
saras-p: watch the movie and decide for yourself. As a researcher, you'll appreciate his scientific approach to the issue
anthony: yes, unfortunately I'm still here ;-)
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