[NYTr] Comment on Al Gore's Nobel Prize Speech

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

[Don't know what all this "G_d" stuff is about. Seems to refer to the
alleged god. Otherwise, an interesting essay. If a "creator" exists, why
should we even be concerned? About anything? -NY Transfer]


sent by vantari - Dec 10, 2007
http://vantari.com/

Al Gore's Nobel Prize Speech

Al Gore's Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech today, December 10,
2007, was a turning point in human history. There are only two
options, either he is exaggerating an unfolding silent catastrophe
that he, and most knowledgeable scientists, believe is happening, or,
perhaps tragically, he and the consensus of the international
scientific community is right and we as human beings are careening
down the road to our own self destruction.

I would take the option with the least danger of failure, namely,
that we are in danger of destroying the climate on Earth, and that we
must take bold and radical action to prevent it. If Al Gore is
exaggerating the global climate change calamity, we will see the
current climate trends to normal in a few years, no problem. But if
he is right, we will have wasted a few very important years, years
that could be crucial to our survival, while we continued to digress
into our vulgar video entertainment and our narcissist materialism.

How could his have happened to us, if we are so technologically
advanced? How could the cacophony of modern political discourse be so
fragmented as to ignore such a dire warning from our best scientists
and political leaders? Al Gore's speech, important it was, will not
be more than a flash of light in the video fireworks of the day, but
it will be recorded for posterity, for all of our children to see,
G_d willing.

Some day our posterity may wonder what kind of people would ignore
what is an obvious fact? The climate of our planet is changing, it is
getting warmer, colder, harsher, faster, longer, it has become
chaotic! Our climatic models are useless, they were written by
meteorologists who did not have to deal with the dynamics of green
house gases and pollution. Our political system is broken, fragmented
into video sound bytes controlled by powerful business interests, our
Universities have become business career mills promising advancement
in exchange for lucrative student loans, our leaders are pulling us
into military conflicts using lies and deception, for the sake of
dominance over oil reserves. 

How can we expect to solve these problems if we can not even listen
as a people? How can we raise the political will needed to take on
this and other urgent ecological and social problems, if we as human
beings have no direct access to the decision making process, if we
have to rely on passing e-mails and messages to those who are
supposed to represent us, but who in fact represent the power of
money?

Al Gore rightly stated in his Nobel acceptance speech today that the
problem we as human beings face is essentially a political problem.
We lack the political will to make the sacrifices necessary to
control the effects of global climate change, before it becomes a
problem that has no human solution. Nature has a problem, we caused
it, we must try to solve it, or nature will solve it for us.

We need to find a way to have the people act on this problem in a
social context, not only as individuals caring for their own "carbon
footprint". While it may be true that individual measures do help in
remedying the effects of climate change, we can not solve this global
problem with individual solutions. We must find a way for the people
to know the problem, to understand its full implications, and to
take action in a global context to prevent any further damage.

It is my belief that our Creator [sic] has given us the means to solve
this problem, if we are willing to change our reckless consumption of
"things" requiring massive amounts of fossil fuels to produce and
transport. We need to return to a harmonious way of life, one which
regards Nature as our home, not as a "thing" to be conquered for the
sake of money. We need to find ways to reduce our energy needs and
our consumption of fabricated trinkets. 

We do not need whimsical gadgets and ostentatious vehicles, we need
technology that is sustainable and harmonious with the environment.
We have lost our ecological balance due to our individualistic drive
to success in a material world. We have lost our very sense of what
life is about, and have become slaves of our own technology. It is
not by money that we will solve this problem, but by changing the
system of "things" that has brought about this potential catastrophe.
May G_d help us in this vital endeavor