An Inconvenient Truth....As Viewed From Your Private Jet
I should, by all counts, be snuggled down in my king size bed going off to sleep. Sometimes though, the urge to put fingers to keyboard is too strong and I must blog! Just back from a movie night with The Boyfriend, Diamond Don and CPB and as you may well guess, we went to see An Inconvenient Truth, the Al Gore lecture movie about global warming.Let me start by saying this, I would take Al Gore over George W. Bush any day of the week.
Having his counterpart now run this country is bad enough, but to have had to listen that Texan for the past eight years has been too much. Nice work at the G8 Summit today by the way George. I used liked Texas too thanks to Colby Donaldson from Survivor. Anyway……As I was saying, next to Georgie, I would give a thumbs-up to Al Gore. Well, at least to his message. In a nutshell, global warming is here, it is undeniable and we are already paying the price. That cost will increase exponentially if we do not act soon. Snaps for Al. I would be a little more willing to jump on his bandwagon however if the delivery was a little better. The US has the highest CO2 emissions of any country in the world and there are several suggestions on how to cut back. Purchase a hybrid car, use public transit, don’t rely on air conditioning so much, car pool etc.
Unfortunately, he says all these things while he is whisked about in limousines, private airplanes, staying in HUGE presidential suites or driving his Cadillac back to the family farm. Way to practice what you preach.
I do believe his intentions are genuine, even if the method of delivery needs some work, and I do my bit. Knowing the content of the movie, I took public transit downtown. Those who know me know of my contempt for all things made of disposable plastic and resin. Especially how I loath plastic bags and am devout when it comes to using my canvas shopping bags and grocery bin. I compost for the benefit of my friends and family. Not much use for it in an apartment. I have no air conditioning in my apartment and can honestly say I never turn it on in the car. I have my reusable tea cup to keep the mountain of Tim Hortons cups out of landfills. And a bicycle with baskets for weekend errands is on the horizon.
But we can all use some work. I do drive a huge 6 cylinder vehicle that I really don’t need. A much more fuel efficient 4 cylinder would do just as well. Not to mention be easier on the pocket book.
Diamond Don also informed me that you can tell your hydro company that you want your electricity to come from green sources. It will cost about $10 more a month but that goes towards investment in things like wind energy. (Correction, I have now signed up for it. Everyone should, easy peasy lemon squeezy! http://www.bullfrogpower.com/) I kind of feel for Don too. He just but some nice ocean front property in Nova Scotia to retire on but if Mr. Gore’s predictions are correct, it will be under water within 20 years. Sorry honey, hope you can swim!
posted by Robert Mitchell L.L. at
8:58 PM
5 Comments:
Don't worry about Don, honey. We can drive our Hybrid car to Nova Scotia and help him build his straw-bale houses on 100ft stilts.
I'm glad you liked the movie.
not a big fan of George but don't like Al much either. Read Wall Street Journal July 16/06- top Climatology professor's at MIT report on film.
With no disrespect to you Auntie Karen, there are always going to be some reports or articles or columns by scientists, professors, politicians and other nay-sayers that claim against environmental problems.
I agree that this film probably has an ulterior motive (a campaign that is not supposed to seem like a campaign), but the facts are still true, no matter how much ‘experts’ are paid by oil companies.
1: Average Global Temperatures have been going up every year. A huge number of cities reported all time highs in the summer of 2005. How many smog warnings did we have in Toronto alone?
2: Polar Ice Caps ARE melting. No matter how you look at it, water levels all over the world are rising due to the melting in Antarctica and the Arctic Circle. Large islands that were once prominent acres of 700ft thick ice are now reduced to nothing.
3: Climate Change is happening all over the world. Floods; Hurricanes; Drought; Tornados; Extreme heat. These are all DIRECT effects of climate change (also known as Global Warming, but Climate Change is much more accurate).
4: Most importantly: There is so much that we can do to save our planet, but most people think the responsibility is too large. Simple things like turning off lights, recycling, planting trees, composting, walking more, are all huge improvements and help reduce carbon dioxide in our atmosphere.
I’ve grown up in a generation where this has always been taught to me. Since early grade school we were taught about global warming, pollution, global threat, recycling. And in the same generation, the previous 2 generations have sent the planet into a much worse state. I am no scientist, but I’m pretty sure that if there are not drastic changes to the way we treat the planet, we’re all screwed. US… not our children or our grandchildren… US. The people living here now!
So like I said, regardless of how much oil companies have paid ‘experts’ to report in Republican newspapers, the facts are undisputable. The earth is sick of being abused, and is beginning to shut down.
-L
PS: I read the article in The WSJ, and it seemed to me like the author was just trying to dispute Gore, just so he could dispute Gore. Not a very convincing argument, more of a third-grade name calling, if you ask me.
PSS: Just because someone is a ‘Top Professor’ in something, doesn’t make then an expert. Just the teacher that makes the most money. Here in Toronto, one of our schools “Top Ethics Teacher” was discovered to be a huge Anti-Gay Homophobe. And she is supposed to be teaching tolerance and broad-mindedness.
Here's a list of people / organizations ExxonMobil has paid to preach skepticism about Climate Change. This list is three years old... just inagine what it looks like now!
http://www.motherjones.com/news/featurex/2005/05/exxon_chart.html
I strategically chose the property I did so that when the coast floods I will have ocean front property - not just another pretty face! Glad to hear you signed up for Bullfrog - we can wear our Bullfrog ball caps together :)
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