This week was Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. It also was the fifth aniversary of Bush's infamous "Mission Accomplished" speech. This aniversary was unique in that for the first time the Bush administration has admitted that the banner was a huge mistake...though John McCain blamed it on the military, excusing Bush for the fiasco. The Republicans are finally acknowledgig the dismal failure of "Mission Accomplished" but refuse to take the blame. Typical. Absolutely typical. Republicans wouldn't know responsibility if it bit them in the ass.

Al Gore has arrived in Oslo, Norway, in preparation for receiving the Nobel Peace Prize this coming Monday, December 10, in Oslo City Hall. To me this is more than just a date to collect a prize. This is a date with his destiny and more importantly, the beginning of a new chapter.

This is an absolutely brilliant move on the part of Al Gore. With this move he will now be able to use the Nobel Peace Prize he will receive in a ceremony in Oslo next month to truly seek effective and expedient changes in how the world does business, which will hopefully foster peace.

Al Gore's next act: Planet-saving VC
The recovering politician is teaming with a legendary venture capitalist and bigtime moneyman to make over the $6 trillion global energy business. A Fortune exclusive.

Now, joining a venture capital firm may not seem like such a move, but when you look into what invesments are made and the motives behind them, in Mr. Gore's case it is indeed to further the truth that leads to action that leads to peace.

Al Gore is now an Ambassador to the world, and to me that far surpasses anything a president in the military industrial complex can do to motivate a global response to this crisis now. I have always believed that those who serve their conscience serve well. Mr. Gore is now living proof of that  in showing us all that we can and must do it too.

In October the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize will be announced and Al Gore is one of the main contenders for the prize this year and deservedly so.

As a parent, one real challenge is how to deal with the most serious issues, how to communicate the world's ills without terrifying and creating utter despair while remaining honest.  

Might it be surprising that the dinner table conversation in my household can range from Constitutional violations to terrorism to national debt to the need for national health care to environmental challenges.

How do you explain 9/11 to a five-year old?

Well, as one actively working to help find (and shape) a path toward a sustainable and prosperous future, my challenge is often toward Global Warming and children.  

And, the National Wildlife Foundation (NWF) has just put the Climate Classroom online.

Let's take a tour together ...

As a parent, one real challenge is how to deal with the most serious issues, how to communicate the world's ills without terrifying and creating utter despair while remaining honest.  

Might it be surprising that the dinner table conversation in my household can range from Constitutional violations to terrorism to national debt to the need for national health care to environmental challenges.

How do you explain 9/11 to a five-year old?

Well, as one actively working to help find (and shape) a path toward a sustainable and prosperous future, my challenge is often toward Global Warming and children.  

And, the National Wildlife Foundation (NWF) has just put the Climate Classroom online.

Let's take a tour together ...

That slow burning fire has been at the heart of Al Gore's endeavors for the last thirty years, and it is now time for the world to feel that moral strength in their own lives in order for us to be able to face the challenge of this generation and the next generation... the climate crisis.

No ultimatums, no foot stomping, no looking for him to word his sentences a certain way in order to know that his heart is firmly set to doing what he has been trying to do for thirty years. This is what he went through the fire to get to. This is the result of him looking into the abyss and seeing his soul and finding his character. And this is what many of us will see when we look into our own abyss if we dare look... The challenge of a lifetime that requires a moral strength unlike anything we have ever seen before. A moral strength that far surpasses the daily political rhetoric, and a moral strength that is sustained like a slow burning fire every day for all our lives because it is kept alive by the search for truth.

The petition I have up at Tree Nation is asking people to pledge to become climate messengers in response to Al Gore's movie and book An Inconvenient Truth, and has drawn signatures from around the world of those pledging to do just that. And for every 100 signatures, Tree Nation (which is also sponsored by the UNEP) has planted a tree in Niger in their goal to plant 8 million trees in the shape of a heart.

You don't need anymore polls, anymore political rhetoric, anymore political expectations and being put under the microscope. You don't need anymore of being used as a symbol just to prop others up or to appease political operatives. You don't need anymore bickering over trivial matters like shirt colors and weight gain. What we need however, is you speaking truth to power and inspiring others to join you in this greatest fight of all. That is the mark of a true leader and a legacy worth leaving.

Al Gore is now running the greatest campaign of his life but more importantly the greatest campaign that WE should be a part of, and yet political pundits and operatives can only see their own interests at the end of the tunnel.

I happen to believe that the preponderence of unsubstantiated political rumor put out by a media at the behest of certain interests that doesn't seem to want to educate on this crisis but only trivialize it is hurting the environmental movement as a whole because many of all political predispositions look up to Al Gore now in light of his selfless actions regarding bringing this information and solutions to the people in a grassroots effort that doesn't get nearly the airtime or attention that all of this political frivolity gets.

To me that speaks volumes about our toxic system as Mr. Gore so accurately described it, and the motives of those "advisers" who claim to support him but who clearly have other agendas at play.

This was originally written by me after Al Gore's appearance last year at the Chautaqua Institute in N.Y. I am repeating it because on this Earth Day this coming Sunday I will not only be reflecting on how much I love this planet and will continue to show that love, but I will also be thanking those who throughout my life gave me inspiration.

Teresa Heinz Kerry's two marriages bring together two American political traditions, the Republican Heinz family and the Democratic Kerry family, and shows how good people in both parties have common ground. Much of her philanthropic effort has focused on two areas: the environment, and women's health and economic security. Since 1996, Teresa Heinz Kerry brings these two issues together in an annual conference called the "Conference on Women's Health & the Environment," held at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh. In preparation for this year's conference, Teresa is participating in a blogtour, a relatively new concept where she participates in a series of mini-interviews with bloggers around the country on the subject of women's health and the environment. More below...

Energy will be one of our number one issues in coming years. The conflicting pull of increased demand overwhelming our grid and the need to cut carbon emissions to battle global warming before our 10-year window has passed. Both of these conflicting needs are critical needs and we have to find a way to address both.

I took it upon myself to write this because I respect Al Gore immensely, and because I also respect President Franklin Roosevelt who has always been one of my true political and personal heroes. I wished to note some similarities between them in discussing Mr. Gore's life, and for me this was truly a labor of love that I thoroughly enjoyed writing from my heart. So in celebration of Mr. Gore's birthday which is today I wished to post it again.