A campaign he can't lose

[Boston Guy]

I'm posting this here because the subject matter -- global warming -- transcends politics and is simply too important to thrust off into the corner of the politics section. We've all thrust it off into too many corners for too long a time.

 

Richard Cohen's article uses Gore to talk about global warming and is worth reading:

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/17/AR2006041701259.html

 

If anyone wants to add comments of a political nature, please open a thread in the politics section to do so. And no hijacks please: let's keep this one about global warming.

 

Thanks,

BG

[Guest alanm]

It's a great article. Thanks for posting it.

 

Global warming seems to fall into the same category as "fixing social security" and many other things. For many, the idea is to let the next generation or two "fix it." You might get away with it on social security, global warming is much too important.

 

There's not much else to say, without getting into politics.

[JamesK840]

An Inconvenient Truth

 

>For many, the idea is to let the next generation or two "fix it."

>You might get away with it on social security, global warming is

>much too important.

 

I agree that of the three big issues global warming is, well, the most global. But all three: Social Security, Medicare (/healthcare in general) and global warming all have something major in common...

 

They would be much easier to fix NOW then later, and there is starting to be some scary data that even now may be too late for global warming. As the ice caps melt we loose a major reflector of the sun's energy which might become an inescapable loop until the caps are gone. Even if we Americans curb our glutinous appetites for world resources, who are we to tell countries like China, India and the entire third world that they can't have their industrial revolutions? Why would they listen?

 

The US military has been researching and planning for increased sea levels and other changes for some time, as has the insurance industry... maybe they already figure it's too late. Maybe it's time to start thinking about how to deal with the effects instead of hoping for a solution. Now might be a good time to invest in technologies like water desalination, hydroponics, etc.

 

I think the problem is that there are radicals in power, possibly soon in other countries as well, who claim the science is flawed (knowing nothing about science themselves) but what they really believe is that either G_d won't let it happen or even worse, that it's irrelevant because the "end times" are coming. Or at the very best they attack the current science while figuring that science will find a magical fix... a little nuclear winter to counteract global warming perhaps? (shudder)

 

Hopefully the movie will help finally wake people up.

If you haven't seen this trailer yet PLEASE TAKE A LOOK.

 

http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount_classics/aninconvenienttruth/trailer/

--Many will dismiss it as over the top but it's got the sense of urgency we need.

 

http://www.participantproductions.com/films/Coming+Soon/191/AnInconvenientTruth

[trilingual]

RE: An Inconvenient Truth

 

This has been worrying for a long time. Humans don't seem to be very good about avoiding trouble, even when it's a disaster that's going to happen with certainty!

 

For someone who lives in a beachfront city like I do, it makes me start thinking about buying a gondola to anchor outside my 9th floor apartment. But seriously, there will be unimaginable disruption, and it could happen earlier than many people imagine. I've seen a number of scenarios in which the West Antarctic ice cap could just slide into the sea suddenly, not just melt into slowly. If that happens, the sea could rise by 6 or 7 meters, which is the height of the Southeast Asian tsunami. The wave would be the same, except that it would never recede! Keep that in mind, folks. We may all live to see this.

[Guest Tristan]

Thanks for starting this thread. Too many people are ignoring the problem, or don't believe it. Well it's very real. I was watching a piece on the tube about the dwinding polar bear population. The polar bears need ice to hunt seals. The ice is breaking off in large chunks and forcing them to swim for the next area of ice. The polar bears are not getting the food they need and are having less or no cubs.

 

One expert on wildlife in the Arctic said he had never heard of a polar bear drowning before. They are now as large sheets of ice are disappearing from the Arctic. In the same piece, an expert stated that the ice in Glacier National Park has been receding, and that it wont't be long before the name of the park needs to be changed.

 

Some people may say, "Who cares about polar bears?" Well even if they don't, what's happening to the polar bear is an indicator and a warning to us all.

 

The breaking off of large sheets of ice is happening faster than anyone had predicted and will adversely affect the ocean levels and currents. I firmly believe that all the extreme weather in the past few years (increase in number and severity of hurricanes and tornadoes) is not part of a cyclical pattern, but a product of global warming.

 

Invest in beachfront property in Nevada or Vermont.

[Guest rohale]

I thought the article was alright. The sad part about global warming is that it's really not ground-breaking anymore. There is no shock element left anymore, cause it's been virtually talked about to death over the years, worldwide. There is so much vast information out these days and so many books and publications dealing with global warming. We know what the problems are and in the given equation, we also know what the solutions are as well. So what's different these days?

 

The answer depends upon one's point of view. Here is mine, for me the only redeeming quality these days is the idea of high profile figures in society talking about such topics as global warming is very much growing. As Richard Cohen pointed out a new figure to throw his hat into the healthy debate is Al Gore, which is great cause the guy has tremendous passion for the topic. The nice aspect is he voiced his opinion through a documentary " An Inconvenient Truth " which is great for him, people get to see him in a new limelight.

 

As for his documentary, a really good surfing buddy of mine had a chance to see it at the Sundance Film Festival. Coming from a surfing environment, it pretty much hit close to home for him. He was thinking about the oceans, surf and things along those lines. He basically walked out with a fresh perspective on the topic. Although the moment didn't last for too long. Still the documentary has it's effect on people and I hope the Weinstein Brothers promote " An Inconvenient Truth " very much as they did for Michael Moore back in 2004 for his documentary. In a way for a short period of time, it'll bring the attention and the focus back on global warming amidst the summer movie blockbusters.

 

Although the Weinstein brothers may end up having the last laugh by including a pardody of the documentary for a possible Scary Movie 5, since they are the producers of the franchise these days.

 

Rohale

 

 

Bono - " We Thought That We Had The Answers, It Was The Questions We

Had Wrong "

[BgMstr4u]

Thanks for this article. I appreciate Gore's passion, and can only wish that when he was in power, more had been done, since virtually nothing is being done now.

 

To me, the question is, What can be done? That is, what can be done that is effective? The world's climate is incredibly complicated, as numerous articles and books have pointed out recently. Climate shifts have happened before, without much if any prompting from humans. This one is being prompted by humans. An especially cogent new book on the historical antecedents of sudden climate shift is the just-published "The Winds of Change : Climate, Weather, and the Destruction of Civilizations" by Eugene Linden. He traces what is now known of massive, sudden climate shifts, and it is frightening, not least because these shifts can happen in a very few years, and seem to be triggered by less massive changes than we are currently inflicting on the planet.

 

But what can we do, after all? Every time a baby is born, another energy consumer is in line for fossil fuels, and there seems to be no slowdown in the breeding department on a worldwide basis.

 

Replacing the current government would almost certainly lead to positive changes, but what impact would those changes have? Biomass carbon has been building at an increasing rate since the industrial revolution began in the 18th Century. That increase will not decrease significantly even if the US does a u-turn on energy use, which neither party is likely to attempt.

 

The more useful question to me is, how to cope in this new environment. But I fear Katrina/New Orleans is likely to be the template for our response: disorganized and riven by racism and disregard for the poor and unfortunate on the one hand, but also profoundly irrational in the often-expressed intentions to rebuild no matter what the cost on the other. Instead of perpetuating old patterns doomed to failure, we need to identify the areas we know will be affected by progressive weather change, and adjust our economic development to those realities. But I despair of our creaky old 18th Century governmental systems being able to act in a rational way faced with these realities.

[trilingual]

What can we do? Not very much, individually, except start preparing to live in a very different world. The global warming process has been set in motion, and even if governments were finally to take drastic action it could be too little, too late. But they aren't going to take drastic action, because it would be too costly politically to radically affect their economies.

 

The ice could melt and the oceans rise within our lifetimes. If you live near the coasts, it would be a good idea to start thinking about living inland and at a higher altitude. If your money is tied up in vulnerable real estate sell now, before everyone realizes that such property could be on the verge of being valueless. At least you will have preserved some of your wealth and assured a roof over your head in a safer location. If you wait until too late, you'll find yourself a refugee seeking scarce shelter in inland cities that are overwhelmed. Think about what happened after Hurricane Katrina multiplied many, many times over, and you'll have an idea of what you'll be facing. Even if you've managed to move inland there will be enormous disruptions. Fuel and supplies will be in short supply. Ports will be drowned and it will take time to build new ones and reopen trade links. So be prepared for privation on a level most of us have never experienced. I don't know how long it might take for a new ice age to occur. Possibly long after we're gone. But the sea levels could rise dramatically in the next 30 years or so, and at current rates of warming and melting it's pretty certain that the sea will rise during this century. Many of us will live to see this, and if we don't our kids and grandkids will. Governments will be ill-prepared for a catastrophe on this scale (in the U.S. it's obvious that the government isn't prepared for even a smaller disaster) so you'll need to fend for yourself. If you prepare now you'll save yourself considerable grief later, although there's going to be grief for just about everyone, no matter what. At least this catastrophe is foreseeable, so there's no excuse not to begin preparing now.

 

One thing to keep in mind is that fuel will be huge problem. Gas probably will be extremely expensive, so driving everywhere the way most Americans are used to will be a thing of the past. If you're going to relocate, think about finding a place where it's possible to walk to essential services, like an in-town urban neighborhood or a small town. Suburbia, if you're miles away from the nearest supermarket and stores, is going to be a very unattractive place to find yourself stranded!

[+ Lucky]

I agree with Boston Guy that this topic is too important to be tossed off into the politics forum. But there are so many, where do we start? Global warming, oil dependence, corporate greed, healthcare...all of them transcend politics.

 

So I guess we have to ask what is the point at all about posting concerns on these issues in a message center such as this? It is hard to say that we need to raise awareness since the topics are all over the media. Are there practical suggestions to be offered here that would actually help relieve these problems? Or are we just venting? In that case, it would hardly seem to matter what forum we use.

 

My guess is that the guys who post regularly in the politics forum think that their topics are also pretty important...but a funny thing happened on the way to this forum...they got moved back to the politics forum!