Global Climate Reality

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it." ~ Upton Sinclair

I finally had the opportunity to watch Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth in it's entirety, and of all the ideas conveyed, this quote has stayed with me. The increasing number of scientists and climatologists that have been silenced on the issue of Global Warming through NASA, the Bush Administration, and other government agencies is astounding. Whether it's U.S. Wildlife officials being banned from linking GW to the disappearance of polar bear habitat, NOAA scientists being forbidden to ever use the words "climate change" or "Kyoto" in their public dealings, or the gag order placed on NASA scientists prohibiting them from speaking to the media, one thing is clear: environmental logic is under heavy attack.

I found it particularly interesting that Gore pointed out prior to the calculated spread of anti-Global Warming propaganda through the press, there were 900+ articles submitted to various scientific journals and every single one of them was taken seriously based on the research and factual data. However since the release of An Inconvenient Truth, the neo-cons have mounted a campaign of confusion against environmental concerns, and as a result the same scientific community that once agreed 100%, has now been whittled down to only 47% who are willing to publicly announce that they believe in the existence Global Warming, despite the clear and irrefutable facts. This ties into the Sinclair quote above.

As Gore explains though, this is no surprise. It is a tactic that has been used before, most recently by the tobacco industry. When the Surgeon General originally declared that smoking was hazardous to human health, big tobacco mounted a similar assault on public sanity through the media, with splashy magazine ads making bizarre claims like: "More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette." Though the anti-Global Warming sentiment has yet to reach such a fever pitch, it is only a matter of time before our climate deteriorates to a plainly obvious degree and antagonists will be forced to ramp up their rhetoric and increase pressure on the average citizen to ignore their own senses.

The good news is, we are not without options. Gore provides alternative solutions, that if properly enacted would reduce global CO2 output to levels below those present in 1970, during the climax of the industrial age. Although this will not necessarily reverse the current climate trend, it will at least slow down it's degradation while we research even better methods to heal the Earth. No matter what we do, rehabilitation will be a long process, but one that we cannot afford to ignore any longer. As Gore notes, we have moved into an age of consequence, where everything we do will have immediate and dramatic impacts on life as we know it right here and now, not a hundred years hence.

In summary, and upon personal reflection, Gore states that he has thought long and hard about how to deliver this message in a way that reaches everyone, and realized that the only way to do that was to give his slide show one city at a time, one person at a time if need be, until everyone is eventually aware of the reality that we now face. When I heard him say this, as one who blogs I couldn't help but make the connection between his approach, and the one post at a time - one person at a time manner in which we bloggers communicate our message(s). And through Wandering the Ether, I will continue to support Al Gore and his dedication to increase awareness on this most critical issue.

An Inconvenient Corporate Climate

Whether anyone wants to believe it or not, global warming is upon us. Our climate is changing. Storms have increased in frequency, intensity and size. The glaciers are melting. The ocean temperatures are rising. Tropical fish are branching out into waters that were once too cold for them to survive in. Animals who used to migrate away from polar regions during the winter months, are now staying year round.

Observations show that the oceans have been heating up since 1975. Climate and ocean experts now agree on the cause of the temperature rise -- human-produced global warming.

The good news? We are not completely ignorant to this reality. We have responded in a number of ways including but not limited to: alternative energy sources, emission controls, hybrid engines, recycling, and green living. Yet despite our efforts, the current level of active awareness amounts to very little. A drop in the bucket of what’s needed. So why are we dragging our collective heels on this issue? Is it because of money? Do the corporations fear that attempting to repair the Earth would cut into their profit margins?

Sure there would be a heavy R&D phase, and initial production costs would bite into their coffers, but in the long run, corporations would stand to benefit the most. Why? Because they would hold the technology, and therefore they would set the prices. Next we would see governments writing it into law that all citizens must have items x,y,z and refusal to comply would be unlawful. Don't corporations and governments already scratch each other's backs? How much of a stretch of the imagination is it to assume this behavior will continue?

So please set aside any anxiety you might have regarding the wealthy or elite getting richer, and realize that this is the way that our cash driven world currently works. Whether we like it or not, corporations control the influence, the technology, and the money needed to avert a global climate catastrophe, and they could do it, while simultaneously amassing untold fortunes through scandalous profiteering. So let’s ask ourselves, why don't they?

Al Gore, the creator of An Inconvenient Truth has been under fire recently with allegations accusing him of profiting from the sale of carbon offsets, and making money off global warming. The claims indicate that he stands to gain billions of dollars over the next couple decades, and alarmists seem bent on using this as an excuse to disclaim the existence of global warming as little more than some liberal money making scheme.

In my opinion, Al Gores motives are irrelevant. Whether we believe in the existence of global warming or not is irrelevant. Our Earth is extremely polluted. If the gaping hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica isn't enough to convince us, how about the Cuyahoga river that exists in such a level of filth, that between 1868 and 1969 the water itself has caught fire eleven times!

We consider ourselves to be intelligent beings, but the plain truth is: our actions often reveal that we are not nearly as smart as we think. Have we ever seen a porpoise pollute her environment? Have we ever witnessed an ape waging war against his fellow apes to gain control over a mountain rich in bananas? The answer is no, of course we haven’t, those animals are intelligent; it comes with the territory of being sentient. Why then, are we so stupid? Why do we defecate where we eat and sleep? There is another animal that behaves like this. The cockroach.

Is this innate stupidity responsible for our unwillingness to heal our mother Earth? I don’t think so. I think that ignorance is just something we all hide behind. It saves us from having to do any work, take any risks, become involved with anything. We know that these problems need to be addressed. We know that the lives of our children, and their children, depend on our taking an active role. So why are we still debating it?

Why doesn't the corporate collective jump at the opportunity to save the world, if it means making trillions of dollars, euros, yens along the way? Their approach doesn't need to be altruistic; even a position predicated on greedy self-preservation based profiteering would be something, and that is more than nothing.

You hear that corporate America? Corporate world? Take advantage of us. Play the system, fill your pockets, just like you have been for hundreds of years already. Only now, do it for a reason. Look at it this way. If humanity is wiped out, you will no longer have anyone to profit from. When it’s gone, it’s gone. Open your collective eyes and realize that we are the dinosaurs, here and now.

Do You Believe Global Warming Exists?