al gore: another look.
this may surprise many of you but last night i finally watched al gore's an inconvenient truth.
if you haven't watched it, please do. rent it. borrow it from a friend or the library. buy it.
in spite of al gore being an energy hog and trying to justify it by saying he has lots of carbon credits, the man is doing a great thing with this movie he's made. he's a great speaker/presenter, and will have you crying and laughing the entire way through the startling and jaw dropping content.
i've gotta hand it to him. he's taken it upon himself to fight this troubling reality by sharing it with as many people as will hear him. now we have a responsibility to act on it. make a change today.
2 comments:
katie, about that allegations/charges that Gore is an energy hog. The fact is, he really isn't.
In short, the Gores bought a old house that's sort of big (but not huge). Their 80 year old house can't compete with newer construction houses in efficiency, but its energy consumption per cubic foot is about average for their region.
Also:
1. The Gores purchase green energy blocks (the "Green Switch" from TVA) that contribute towards infrastructure for green energy which pays off many times over during its life cycle.
2. They are carbon neutral (as their company, GIM, pays for carbon offsets for all of its employees, including Al Gore)
3. After a long wait (which predates the "energy hog" allegations) for a permit from their local government, they've retrofitted their roof with solar panels. They're now working towards geothermal heating installation for their house.
4. Both the Gores maintain offices at home, and as a former VP they likely have special needs such as inhouse security, etc.
Given all of this, and esp. that they just happen to have purchased an old and almost historic house, the Gores are doing much more than their fair share to be environmentally responsible, and to practice what they preach, namely that: all of should do our best to reduce our respective carbon footprints.
Yes, the movie is very impressive, indeed.
Thanks!
I loved An Inconvenient Truth as well. I thought Gore did a great job. He is really a natural teacher, and he just won't give up on trying to reach as many people as possible with this message. But he is up against a very determined denial machine that just will not stop with the nonsense arguments and attacks. Unfortunately, they seem to be working, as public agreement that we are on the brink of - if not already in the midst of - a serious global climate crisis seems to have leveled off.
Just wanted to second what anonymous said, too. That reflects my understanding of the situation. I thought the whole notion of Gore as an energy hog was something that got started after he won his Oscars and that smear group, the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, released a report about how much the Gore's pay for electricity. But the report of course acknowledged none of the facts that anonymous pointed out and so was really misleading. But it got legs, because . . . well, I guess some people (not saying you!) are looking for ways to shoot the messenger since the message is so scary.
I'm also always hearing people say that Gore flies around the world on a private jet, but he actually flies commercial whenever possible. I think the to-do about his personal consumption is basically a canard to keep people from thinking about or doing something about the larger issues.
I'm hoping that 11th Hour will reach a broader and maybe a different/younger audience the AIT and have a big effect as well.
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