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.

There has been a lot of rumbling in the deny-osphere in the past week concerning the results of a lawsuit brought by one Stewart Dimmock against the British Secretary of State for Education.

The case was launched by Mr. Dimmock in opposition to the distribution of An Inconvenient Truth to UK classrooms. The verdict? Despite the blustering of the right-wing press, the court's decision upheld the use of the film in classrooms while new information has cast Mr. Dimmock himself in dubious light.

In the decision itself, Justice Michael Burton cited a short list of concerns about the film that deniers throughout the media and blogosphere have been quick to jump on while ignoring the actual judgment. Justice Burton endorsed the use of An Inconvenient Truth, its accuracy, and allowed it to remain in British curriculum.

"(The film) is substantially founded upon scientific research and fact."...."The Defendant (Secretary of State for Education) will not be promoting partisan political views by enabling the showing of AIT in the context of the discussions facilitated by the Guidance Note, and is not under a duty to forbid the presentation of it in that context."

Subsequently, the man who brought this so called David vs. Goliath case to court has proved to be a stooge funded by the fuel and mining lobby.

This court case, and the mainstream coverage of it, is simply the latest ill founded attack on Gore and global warming. And for the umpteenth time deniers and their blogging supporters have followed suit without so much as a thought....because their entire argument against global warming is itself devoid of thought.

Thanks to DeSmogBlog for the great coverage of the issue.

As Conscious Earth visitors read last month, free copies of An Inconvenient Truth were made available to every high school in British Columbia thanks to the charitable contribution of the Tides Canada Foundation. Now, Surrey school trustee Heather Stilwell wants the widely discredited mockumentary The Great Global Warming Swindle to be shown alongside Al Gore's global warming documentary.

"I am not sure. I mean I see evidence. I think there is climate change, there's no question about that. Whether what Al Gore says about it is the truth, I have questions."

There are also a lot of people with questions about Heather Stilwell. For those unfamiliar with local BC politics, Ms. Stilwell was previously known for her involvement in the banning of books that depict same sex marriage from Surrey's public schools - a policy that was eventually struck down by the Supreme Court of Canada.

Heather Stilwell is also a former leader of the Christian Heritage Party of Canada, and her political views are so far to the right that she was rejected by the federal Conservatives in her bid to run for office.

Trustees will vote on the motion to air The Great Global Warming Swindle in two weeks. You can contact Heather Stilwell directly here:

Heather Stilwell 18341 - 59 A Avenue Surrey, BC V3S 6A4

Home: Fax: Email:

(604) 576-4412 (604) 576-4429 stilwell_h@sd36.bc.ca

Every public high school will get be receiving a free copy of An Inconvenient Truth. The announcement came this morning during a press conference outside the Vancouver School Board offices.

Funding for the project comes courtesy of the Tides Canada Foundation, while the distribution of the DVDs will be taken care of through the Novex Courier's clean fleet of hybrid and low-emission vehicles and bicycle courier service. The original vision for the project came courtesy of Gregor Robertson, Member of the Legislative Assembly for Vancouver Fairview and former CEO of Happy Planet beverages.

Vancouver businessman Will Cole-Hamilton has begun a national initiative to place a copy of An Inconvenient Truth in every Canadian secondary school. Through his newly founded non profit group, the Learning Climate Educational Society, Cole-Hamilton and his partners are looking to raise $50,000 to fund the project.

In a few short weeks they have already raised $10,000. Now you can help benefit the project, Canadian students, and the global warming issue by donating online, or you can mail your cheque payable to the Learning Climate Education Society at the following address:


Learning Climate Educational Society
c/o 1834 B Napier Street
Vancouver, BC V5L 2N3


More updates to come as the campaign moves forward.

Update: Members of the public can contribute directly to the campaign with their financial contribution. Visit the Conscious Earth post here, or the Learning Climate Education Society for information on donating online, or mailing your cheque.


Calling An Inconvenient Truth a "life altering event", Vancouver businessman Will Cole-Hamilton has launched a fundraising campaign to pay for the distribution of the global warming documentary to every high school in Canada.

Through their recently founded Learning Climate Educational Society, Cole-Hamilton and his partners have already raised $10,000 of the $50,000 they need, and they are also working on an educational package to accompany the film.

"Young people are going to be dealing with the opportunities and the challenges of climate change for the rest of their lives. And I think that a film that can give them a clear and comprehensible introduction to the scope and shape of that challenge is something that they need as they head forward."

Their efforts have so far been welcomed, which is in stark contrast to the situation in the United States. Four months ago, the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) created an uproar when they refused 50,000 free copies of the DVD. It was later revealed that Exxon-Mobil is among the NSTA's funders.

Though better than the efforts made down south, Canada still lags noticeably behind the world leaders. In Britain, the government is distributing the movie to every secondary school in the nation, and it is required viewing for all students in Norway and Sweden.

However, provided the initiative isn't derailed by irrational parents (as was the case in Washington State) Canada's students, and the education system, stand to be the better for Cole-Hamilton's efforts.

If anyone has information regarding how the public can support this fundraising drive, email me at odiyya@fastmail.fm

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.

Yesterday, the Exxon funded Fraser Institute released a farcical rebuttal to the UN climate report. For anyone who is still following the issue, or for general fans of oil funded reports like this one, RealClimate has an excellent analysis of the document.

An unofficial, "Independent Summary for Policymakers" of the IPCC Fourth Assessment report has been delivered by the Fraser Institute. It's a long, imposing-looking document, resembling, come to think of it, the formatting of the real Summary for Policymakers document that was released on Friday...The Fraser Institute has assembled an awesome team of 10 authors.

According to the press release, the (Fraser Institute) London kickoff event will be graced by the presence of "noted environmentalist" David Bellamy. It's true he's "noted," but what he's noted for is his blatant fabrication of numbers purporting to show that the world's glaciers are advancing rather retreating, as reported here.

By contrast the official IPCC report drew on the expertise of 2,500 scientific reviewers and 800 authors.

There you have it. Another "market based solution" to an inconvenient truth brought to you by The Fraser Institute. Always available......for the right price.

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.

It turns out that the NSTA are not the only people who want to restrict student access to An Inconvenient Truth. The Federal Way School Board has implemented new restrictive rules for teachers screening the film in response to a complaint from a single parent.

The parent in question, Frosty Hardison, asserts:

"Condoms don't belong in school, and neither does Al Gore. He's not a schoolteacher," said Frosty Hardison, a parent of seven who also said that he believes the Earth is 14,000 years old. "The information that's being presented is a very cockeyed view of what the truth is. ... The Bible says that in the end times everything will burn up, but that perspective isn't in the DVD."

More disturbing is the response of the school board. New rules implemented this week state that any teacher showing the film, or who has shown the film, must present "a "credible, legitimate opposing view". School Board President Ed Barney was specifically quoted as saying,

Students should hear the perspective of global-warming skeptics and then make up their minds, he said. After they do, "if they think driving around in cars is going to kill us all, that's fine, that's their choice."

Unfortunately, "skeptics" fall into one of two camps. Either they are paid members of the oil industry or they live in fantasy land. The parent in question falls clearly into the latter category. Parents living in the Federal Way school district should do their children a favour and find out what camp their school board members fall into.