...pishawww!



(I'd really like to see that question posed to these guys instead.)

With the debate over global warming slowly shifting towards action, Al Gore's follow up to An Inconvenient Truth promises to open the way for on the ground change and real solutions. Our Choice, his latest book, is set for release on November 3rd, 2009.

Today Vice President Gore announced that his next book, Our Choice, will be published by Rodale in the US and by other publishers internationally on November 3, 2009. Picking up where An Inconvenient Truth left off, Our Choice utilizes Mr. Gore’s forty years of experience as a student, policymaker, author, filmmaker, entrepreneur and activist to comprehensively describe the real solutions to global warming. A co-recipient of the Nobel Peace prize in 2007 for his environmental work, Mr. Gore continues to make sense of the pressing issues we face and Our Choice will unquestionably inspire and rally those ready to fight for solutions that were deemed impossible only a short time ago.

Said the Vice President, "It is time for a comprehensive global plan that actually solves the climate crisis. Our Choice will answer that call.”

It can't come soon enough.

I’m not one to pass along a straight regurg, but today's New York Times op-ed by Paul Krugman’s is superb. He asks the simple question, “Why do Republicans hate Al Gore?”. The simple answer is because he’s right, despite all right-wing attempts to convince people otherwise.

Today, being a good Republican means believing that taxes should always be cut, never raised. It also means believing that we should bomb and bully foreigners, not negotiate with them.

So if science says that we have a big problem that can’t be solved with tax cuts or bombs — well, the science must be rejected, and the scientists must be slimed.

Which brings us to the biggest reason the right hates Mr. Gore: in his case the smear campaign has failed. He’s taken everything they could throw at him, and emerged more respected, and more credible, than ever. And it drives them crazy.

Good stuff.

In recognition of "their efforts to build up and disseminate knowledge about man-made climate change", Al Gore and the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have been announced as co-winners of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.

In awarding the honour, the Nobel committee singled out Al Gore as "probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted". President Bill Clinton expressed similar feelings,

"Gore's ex-boss, former President Clinton, also said he's 'thrilled by this well-deserved recognition,' and credited Gore with 'warning and educating us about the dangers of climate change for decades. He saw this coming before others in public life.'"

Gore stated that he will donate his half of the $1.5 million dollar prize to the Alliance for Climate Protection, an organization he founded to persuade people to reduce global warming by cutting greenhouse gas pollution.

You can see the announcement via YouTube.

Following the conclusion of the G8 summit and climate change talks about a week and a half ago, I had the following to say in my post titled G8 Leaders Agree to Make an Agreement,

The leaders of the group of eight industrial nations have agreed to make an agreement on climate change in what Tony Blair calls "a major, major step forward".

Wow....I say, wow.

Al Gore has issued his statement on the events, and his words were equally tongue in cheek,

"The eight most powerful nations gathered and were unable to do anything except to say 'We had good conversations and we agreed that we will have more conversations, and we will even have conversations about the possibility of doing something in the future on a voluntary basis perhaps."'

The one result from the latest summit was the US agreeing to work with other nations towards "substantial cuts" in greenhouse gases within a UN framework. No firm timelines or goals were agreed to despite the efforts of German Chancellor and G8 Chair Angela Merkel who wanted countries to agree to work towards a 50% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2050.

Talks resume in Bali this December.

PS - A note of thanks to Crooks and Liars for including The Conscious Earth on their weekly roundup.

Renovations of Al Gore's home are almost complete, and the result will be a model of green design, technology and engineering that will put a final end to the latest round of ill-conceived and baseless smear campaign being waged by right wing pundits.

"This plan has been in the works for a long time," the former vice president said in an interview with The Associated Press. "The only thing that has changed is that we're more public about it because of the misleading attack by a global-warming denier group."

Gore's redesigned home is aiming to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards and will include rooftop solar panels, a geothermal heating system, upgraded windows and ductwork, energy-efficient lighting and a rainwater collection system for irrigation and water management.

However, conservative groups and climate change deniers have been working hard over through this same time period to paint Al Gore as an environmental hypocrite who only talks green as a part of an elaborate ploy to enter the US presidential race. Like most spin jobs this one is slim on facts and long on hot air.

The initial assault on Gore's environmental reputation was a laundry list of outright lies that were thoroughly debunked here at TCE. Next came a gem of an effort from the Tennessee Center for Policy Research (TCPR), a right wing think-tank of marginal credibility that, among other things, "facilitates" a three ring circus of global warming deniers. In February, the TCPR dug Al Gore's utility bill out of the metaphorical trash bin and promptly launched a southern style swift boating of the former Vice President - an equally inaccurate attack that conveniently ignored the fact(s) that:

1. Gore pays a premium for green power options in his home,
2. that the environmentally friendly renos listed above had been in the works well before the time of their attack,
   
3. that the only reason solar panels were not installed already is because Gore has been knee deep in a municipal battle over bylaw restrictions, and most importantly
4. that the Gore "residence" is not only a home but also an office for both Al Gore, his wife and runs a commercial kitchen for events.

But it only takes five words to say "Al Gore is a hypocrite", whereas you need a few sentences and a 10 second Google search to reveal the motivation of the TCPR and the green leading designs of Mr. Gore. If the country can't expect that kind commitment to accuracy from their pseudo elected leader, then far be it for me to ask it of the conservative press.

The Assault on Reason, the new book from Vice President Al Gore, is now in stores. Though he departs from the firm environmental focus he's shown in recent years, the implications of this work for all US policy - including global warming - is vivid.

"Why do reason, logic and truth seem to play a sharply diminished role in the way America now makes important decisions?" The persistent and sustained reliance on falsehoods as the basis of policy, even in the face of massive and well-understood evidence to the contrary, seems to many Americans to have reached levels that were previously unimaginable.

The truth of the excerpt above is tangible whether discussing the ongoing war in Iraq, or the campaign of deceit being waged by climate change deniers.

You can order The Assault on Reason online from Chapters/Indigo or Amazon.

London music group Vega4 have joined the fight against global warming with a contest that will offer one lucky fan two tickets to the Live Earth concert in San Francisco later this summer.

Fans and concerned citizens are being asked to film their own earth conscious video or slideshow featuring the band's latest single "Life is Beautiful". The best video gets the tickets.

Conserving energy, using public transport, driving fuel efficient cars, petitioning local governments and demanding that they support bills and laws that hold companies accountable for their actions, and supporting those who are actively changing their corporate policies to make this rock under our feet a better, safer place for us now and in the future.

Completed videos can be uploaded to the Vega4 Youtube Group prior to the contest deadline of May 31st. Visit the group's MySpace page for more info, and click the player below to hear the contest single "Life is Beautiful". It's a great track.






About Live Earth: Live Earth will bring together more than 150 of the world's top musicians for 24-hours of music from 9 concerts across all 7 continents. Live Earth will bring together an audience of more than 2 billion at the concerts and through television, radio, film, and the Internet. That audience, and the proceeds from the event, will create the foundation for a new, multi-year global effort to combat the climate crisis led by Vice President Al Gore. Kevin Wall, Worldwide Executive Producer of Live 8, is producing Live Earth.

In addition to this weeks highlights, a quick recap of last week's return to Congress by Al Gore is in order. Visiting Capitol Hill for the first time since overseeing the Senate during Bush's inauguration in 2001, Al Gore completed a celebrity return and made the case before key panels in the US government for sweeping federal action on global warming. His ten key recommendations were:

1. An immediate "carbon freeze" that would cap U.S. CO2 emissions at current levels, followed by a program to generate 90% reductions by 2050.

2. Start a long-term tax shift to reduce payroll taxes and increase taxes on CO2 emissions.

3. Put aside a portion of carbon tax revenues to help low-income people make the transition.

4. Create a strong international treaty by working toward "de facto compliance with Kyoto" and moving up the start date for Kyoto's successor from 2012 to 2010.

5. Implement a moratorium on construction of new coal-fired power plants that are not compatible with carbon capture and sequestration.

6. Create an "ELECTRANET" -- a smart electricity grid that allows individuals and businesses to feed power back in at prevailing market rates.

7. Raise CAFE (auto emissions) standards.

8. Set a date for a ban on incandescent light bulbs.

9. Create "Connie Mae," a carbon-neutral mortgage association, to help defray the upfront costs of energy-efficient building.

10. Have the SEC require disclosure of carbon emissions in corporate reporting, as a relevant "material risk."

Despite wrong doings in 2001 that led to George Bush taking office, the course of history may look back to consider Al Gore's thwarted presidential bid an unlikely moment of good fortune. Free from the shackles of campaign management and the political tight rope, Gore has been able to champion an undiluted and passionate campaign for solving global warming. His uncompromising testimony in Washington further reinforces that commitment, while silencing critics who have dismissed his high profile environmental message as lead in to another run at the presidency.

Maybe one day Gore will run again, but his growing international leadership in this single issue will keep him on the international stage and drive change far more effectively than the special interests of Washington would ever allow.

Let Hillary have the White House. Gore has more important work to do....for now.

Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe, an energy funded climate change denier made famous for saying that global warming is "the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people", was put in his place by the new Chair of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, Barbara Boxer, during Al Gore's testimony last week.

After Inhofe attempted to turn the proceedings into a PR spectacle, Ms. Boxer kindly reminded him of what his job is. Film clip below.

I really didn't want to respond to this story, but given all the Google hits I'm getting from associated searches, I opted to throw a voice of reason into the debate.

In what was clearly a pre-planned smear campaign against Al Gore - timed to launch on the heels of An Inconvenient Truth's Oscar win - the right wing think tank the Tennessee Center for Policy Research reported that Al Gore's home consumes 20 times the power as the national average - an assertion that was lasciviously lapped up by Drudge.

Whether or not the figures disclosed by the TCPR are true or not scarcely matters as they are entirely beside the point. In seeking a solution for global warming, the goal is to attain 'carbon neutrality'. For those who failed grade school math (i.e. the people at Drudge) what this means is that you take responsibility for offsetting any greenhouse gases that you produce. If you produce 1 tonne of carbon, you need to do something to ensure 1 tonne is removed from the atmosphere in some other way. Allowing offsetting in this way makes sure that everyone has the ability to reducing their carbon footprint in the most cost effective way. This is precisely what Al Gore does.

Responding to Drudge’s attack, Vice President Gore’s office told ThinkProgress:

1) Gore’s family has taken numerous steps to reduce the carbon footprint of their private residence, including signing up for 100 percent green power through Green Power Switch, installing solar panels, and using compact fluorescent bulbs and other energy saving technology.

2) Gore has had a consistent position of purchasing carbon offsets to offset the family’s carbon footprint — a concept the right-wing fails to understand. Gore’s office explains:

What Mr. Gore has asked is that every family calculate their carbon footprint and try to reduce it as much as possible. Once they have done so, he then advocates that they purchase offsets, as the Gore’s do, to bring their footprint down to zero.

Similar efforts have been attempted before. For the a previous high profile smear against Gore see my post - Al Gore Cracks the Conservatives Lies - the false accusations there are bound to crop up again now.

On a more fundamental level, the issue points to a core difficulty westerners have with any good act. Somewhere in our cultural history we drew a very strange line in the sand that in essence says, "You are free from any allegations of wrong doing or immorality, unless you endorse improving a wrong, or the state of the world at large. In that case, you need to be a saint or else you're a hypocrite."

This is diseased mindset that is grows from a culture of unaccountable capitalism that knows no morality and perceives sees any good act as a threat to its survival. There are no perfect people, only best intentions and actions, and Al Gore represents both because he does walk the walk - he lives a carbon neutral life.

More to the point, in the issue of global warming, the time is long past for absurd personal attacks as most of the western world is now moving towards solving this problem. It's time for the far right of the political spectrum to start joining in those solutions.

An Inconvenient Truth took home the Oscar for Best Documentary at last night's 79th Annual Academy Awards. The award was received by director Davis Geenheim and producers Lawrence Bender, Laurie David and Scott Burns - but the winners immediately handed the gold statuette to Al Gore, whose vision and drive has propelled the film and the issue of global warming into the forefront of public consciousness.

Onstage, Guggenheim handed the Oscar to Gore, who said, "People all over the world - we need to solve the climate crisis. It’s not a political issue. It’s a moral issue. We have everything that we need to get started with the possible exception of the will to act. That’s a renewable resource. Let’s renew it."

In total, the film received two Academy Awards with Melissa Ethridge receiving the Best Original Song award for "I Need To Wake Up," the movie's theme song.

Having failed in their religious zeal to exorcise global warming from the political and public landscape, the right wing press is now engaging in the ultimate hypocrisy - accusing an environmental community grounded in solid science of being a new religion.

In Canada, this deft and concerted move of spin began in February 12th's cover story from The National Post - Is Environmentalism the New Religion? That the Post is a newspaper whose spin and political bent flows through the lens and judgement of the Christian religion is an irony that is entirely lost on the both the authors and editor of the article. However, their message has had legs, with the following recent print columns following suit:

Eco-pilgrims gather to 'heed the Goracle' - "They came in their hundreds to hear him speak, and even those left standing outside the crowded hall would not be deterred from lingering in the proximity of the Baptist prophet from Tennessee."

Margaret Wente - "Mr. Gore no longer needs the media to spread the word. His documentary has persuaded millions that global warming is the greatest moral challenge in the world today. And now, thousands of disciples, trained at his climate boot camp and armed with their own Power Point presentations, are fanning out to spread the word."

The Washington Times - "Global warming has become the catechism of a new-age religion, with Mr. Gore as its topmost prelate, entitled to cassock, miter, incense and hot holy water. Anyone who dissents risks a session on the rack, as we have lately seen in calls for punishing 'deniers'."

Deniers of global warming are likely screaming in glee at the quotes above, as a sense of vindication and affirmation sweep over their science battered souls. But nothing in the quotes or articles above speaks to the facts of the issue, and like anyone losing an argument all of them resort to attacking the messenger once they find that the message itself is unassailable.

And through this subtle yet deliberate smear, a pattern and disturbing stripe is revealed in our main stream media. That it is the morally justifiable province of the press to mislead the public for its own ends - ends that go past the denial of environmental concern to include defending the corporate bottom line over the health of citizens, withholding fundamental rights from consenting adults, and endorsing the murder of citizens in foreign countries in the name of fear, oil and profit.

If Al Gore does represent a new religion, then it is one founded on rationality over hysteria, on hope for humanity, on care for the planet, and concern for those who will come after us. That is a moral compass worth following and one that can create a better world for us all.

More to the point Gore's message - unlike the religious zeal of the National Post - is grounded in fact. That single point gives him credibility that the Post can't hope for, and it is the most tangible reason why millions are willing to listen to his message.

The environmental community is a few weeks overdue for some good news. Here are three news items to make you smile heading into the weekend.

1. From the Financial Times, the largest charity concert in history is being planned for July 7th. The theme? Global Warming. The Host? You guessed it, Al Gore.

The event is targeting an audience of 2 billion viewers through a series of coordinated film, music and television events in seven cities including London, Washington DC, Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town and Kyoto. The formal announcement is expected by Mr. Gore today in London. Thanks to Lighter Footstep for the link.

2. Al Gore also checked in with Richard Branson today. Together they launched a $25 million contest with the money awarded to the person who comes up with the best way of removing significant amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

A panel of judges will oversee the prize, including James Lovelock and Nasa scientist James Hansen. Needless to say, Sir Richard will be footing the multi-million dollar bill.




3. Finally, British scientists are proposing a new method of carbon storage to help reduce Europe's greenhouse gas emissions.

Their cold storage technique would involve storing carbon in crystal and liquid form in cool, high pressure ocean sediments, and have already identified several potential test sites in Europe.

Link via Hugg.

Al Gore will speak at the University of Sheffield today, as a part of his keynote address to the Cooling the Planet Conference. The event forms the centre point of a week long initiative at the University called Sheffield Is My Planet Week - launched to help bring together members of the general public and the voluntary, public and private sectors and provide information to make South Yorkshire green and encourage energy efficiency.

Visit the Sheffield Is My Planet website for a complete list of events.

This year's Academy Award nominations are out and An Inconvenient Truth has been named as a finalist for Best Documentary.

The movie has played an invaluable role in galvanizing global awareness about the threat of climate change, while setting an example for sustainable business. Both the film and the book of the same name were carbon neutral projects, while all profits are being devoted to initiatives that are fighting global warming. Although the nomination officially goes to director Davis Guggenheim, Al Gore is expected to attend the Oscar event.

"The film ... has brought awareness of the climate crisis to people in the United States and all over the world,'' Gore said in an e-mail statement. ``I am so grateful to the entire team and pleased that the Academy has recognized their work. This film proves that movies really can make a difference."

The film was also nominated in the category of Best Original Song for "I Need to Wake Up" by Melissa Ethridge.