Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

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ANALYSIS

Oscar could cement Gore as activist

His influence has grown without elective politics

February 23, 2007

BY CHUCK RAASCH

GANNETT NEW SERVICE

WASHINGTON -- Marla Romash remembers nearly 20 years ago when reporters would chortle as Al Gore hauled out his global warming slide shows and flip charts.

"Those people are not laughing now because, guess what? He was right," said Romash, a longtime Gore adviser who, like her ex-boss, has moved away from elective politics.

The transformation of Al Gore from the bitter, disputed loser to George W. Bush in the 2000 presidential election to the global warner could be complete Sunday night if, as odds makers suggest, Gore wins an Academy Award for his documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth." But the moment would not surprise Romash, a professional caterer whose last contact with Gore was to send Valentine's Day cookies.

"I do truly believe he is at a place where this issue is bigger than anything else, and bigger than a political campaign," Romash said.

end of excerpt

Oscar could cement Gore as activist/His influence has grown without elective politics

He is already cemented as far as I am concerned. ;-) I am definitely going to need a box of tissues next to me watching the Oscars, and the fact that this movie is up for the Best Documentary award as well as Melissa Etheridge for her inspiring song is the only reason I am watching it at all. Because after all of these years to see him finally come full circle on this crisis and to see it getting the attention it must get, not crying is simply not an option.

For anyone who is an environmentalist and has fought the fight for our Earth, this too will be a moment that we will never forget. Not since Rachel Carson has there been such a human being of such passion and conviction on this issue that is the core of all life on Earth. There are no words to express how emotional that is for me, because I do see the big picture.

And when you see the big picture, I think you can truly appreciate the task he has taken on along with so many others, and that it is a task that far surpasses any one political campaign and election. Such vision and selflessness is rare in this world today, and I am so proud of him for his inner strength and his conviction that has far surpassed all the Rw smears and the indifference and ignorance of those from pundits, to the media, to political operatives on blogs pumping out their speculation 24/7 in lieu of real solutions who still fail to see that this is not a political issue.

And though I sound like a broken record, again, THANK YOU to all of the producers of An Inconvenient Truth, to Mr. Gore, and to all of us still out here fighting the fight for our Earth, because she is the only home we will have and she is worth fighting for.

And he shows at every presentation that it is for the environment to inspire US to become better stewards of this planet as we now have no other option, not for our entertainment:

An Emotional Truth

Excerpt:

There were, however, two interesting differences between Gore's live presentation and his filmed one. First, there was even more scientific detail last night, and a greater recognition of the complexity of the climate change issue. That's significant, because said complexity is often used by paid deniers (some of whom, by the way, are actually the same people who used to take money from the tobacco industry to tell us smoking didn't cause cancer) to try and create confusion.

Gore also updated his slideshow to include the latest science and more current examples (some as recent as last week). For example, in the movie a big deal is made of the possibility that melting ice in Greenland could stop the flow of the Gulf Stream. That now seems less likely to scientists, and Gore told us so. (On the other hand, a lot of the science has gotten more dire.)

The second main difference is how much more emotional the facts are when delivered in person. Three quarters of the way through the presentation, Gore piles on the bad news: carbon concentration in the atmosphere is higher than it's been in a million years; positive feedback loops (like the melting of the permafrost, which releases even more greenhouse gas) have already started to kick in; 100% of world fisheries have already peaked and declined in production; coral reefs are already starting to dissolve in more acidic oceans; floods and droughts (seemingly contradictory phenomenon caused by overall climate destabilization) are already costing people their water, food, and lives; both antarctic and arctic ice (the two "canaries in the mineshaft") have already started to break up much faster than was predicted.

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At the end of the presentation, Gore told the story (if you've seen the film you've heard it) of when his six-year-old son slipped from his grasp, ran out into traffic, and was struck by a car. His son was in intensive care for months before pulling through. It's the story of a father almost losing his son, and feeling like he could have done something to prevent it. It's an impossible moment to replicate, but trust that everyone in the room was leaning forward, holding their breath. "If I could go back in time," Gore explained, slowly, quietly, "I would go back to that moment right before his hand slipped from mine, and hold on tight."

Then, turning to the image of the Earth on the screens behind him, Gore delivered his final message in the most urgent of whispers. "It's beginning to slip from our grasp. I want you to hold on to it."

This is where I started to cry reading this. It is so obvious how much this means to you, and how drastic the damage is that we have done to our Earth. I am not despairing believe me, but I am really trying hard to believe that people on the whole will get this message and act now, and I do think that is happening little by little. Just today I talked to a man about alternate fuels and hybrids and he said his next car was going to be a hybrid and that he would visit the climate crisis.org site. WE can do this, and it is because you are the leader of this environmental campaign that I believe we will do this. There is no one who can evoke the emotion and moral retrospection on this that you do from out here, Mr. Gore.

Reading this article it is also obvious why Davis Guggenheim intertwined scenes of your life crises within An Inconvenient Truth. This is your life coming full circle. You as many of us, know what it is to lose someone you love and to almost lose one of the people in your life you love most, and now know that this Earth is slipping from us and that we cannot let it go.

And I will never believe the speculation that intimates that you are using this issue and any success related to this endeavor as a means to manipulate us into doing nothing but talking about "drafting" you or making this about you. I am convinced that this is not about you to you at all, this is about US as it should be. To me it is such a shame that some only seem able to use this to get their own 15 minutes of fame instead of joining now in the cause to mitigate anymore damage to this planet, because I believe that is your true message here. We have wasted too much time already waiting for someone else to do it and following the status quo business as usual way.

We not only hold the hand of Mother Earth which is slipping from our grasp, but we too hold the hands of our children. I will not let my child's hand slip from my grasp nor Mother Earth's. And thanks to you and the producers of An Inconvenient Truth, many more people will see this and begin to hold on tighter.

How gratified I am then that you went through the metamorphosis you did. As you said in the movie which I too say so many times, that which does not kill us makes us stronger. How I hope that is the case now. Thank you for baring your soul and for taking this tremendous challenge on. This IS the one endeavor out of many that I believe you will now be a part of as a free man that will not only have you remembered by countless generations, but will hopefully inspire us to be all we have yet to become.

And should the movie win and you do get to go on stage I hope you will tell the global audience you will have that it is time to take action on this urgent crisis. You will have the world stage to tell people who may not even know this movie was made to see the truth and to join in becoming part of mitigating this crisis.

The CO2 that has been accumulating in our atmosphere for hundreds of years is now causing affects that will be felt for hundreds of years to come on a scale that will be catastrophic if we do not join together as a world community with rich and developed countries leading the way to cut the amount of CO2 and other greenhouse gases we are emitting into it our atmosphere.

I hope you use the platform you would have to speak about our moral obligation as humans not only to this our only home, but to other species who are feeling the affects of this planetary emergency as well. AIT is the culmination of all you have been warning about for thirty years that was ignored by those who now find your words prescient. Hopefully now they will follow through by doing their part for their planet.

To see you facing the world to finally speak of this urgent message that has been your heart for so long will also be very emotional for me because the environment has been my heart since I was a young girl, and I couldn't be prouder that you now speak as our global environmental ambassador. This will be one of the defining moments of your life (and many others) which will hopefully inspire more people into becoming better stewards of our planet.

Good luck to AIT!