Al Gore will pen a solutions-focused sequel 9

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1. 

   wildleaf Posted 5:13 am
   08 Sep 2007

   Gore is more than environmental guruI'm on the last chapter of his book that came out last May called "The Assault On Reason." This book is a condemnation of the Bush administration covering 911, the Iraq War, torture, and Katrina. He doesn't mince words and with the utmost care he points out over and over the deceptions, carelessness and criminality of our current administration. I am happy to hear that Al Gore is writing another new book but I would be much more excited to hear that he has won the Nobel Peace Prize and is running for President. Gore has shown true vision now that he is out of politics I want more than ever for him to get back in. He is being boxed into the environmentalist position when in reality, while he obviously has great concern and love for nature, he is instead a leader in confronting the great crisis of our times and finds global warming accurately to be the biggest. While writing the book for recovery is ok, I wish instead he were the one responsible for implementing the book. I don't think that any current democrat or republican running has the courage and knowledge to change the direction of this country as well as Gore. I hope that I am proved wrong.

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2. 

   yoder Posted 11:04 pm
   08 Sep 2007

   I hope Mr. Gore does not run for President...precisely because he is much more effective and doing more good on the outside.  I have much more respect for him now than I ever did for him as VP or presidential candidate.

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3. 

   stevenearlsalmony Posted 1:05 am
   09 Sep 2007

   Bravo Al Gore!More than ever before, we need to hear from Al Gore now.
   From this humble perspective, it appears that my generation is mortgaging and threatening the future of our children and coming generations by remaining religiously focused upon the endless accumulation of material wealth, the unrestrained increase in per capita consumption of limited resources, and the continuous consolidation of our hegemonic political, economic and military power.
   Despite all the cascading rhetoric to the contrary, we need not look far to see that money, power and privilege for ourselves, for our bought-and-paid-for politicians, and for our newly-made rich minions are the primary object of life.
   Regardless of the human-driven calamities -- derived from per human over-consumption, unbridled economic globalization and skyrocketing global human numbers -- that might befall those who come after us, we choose to live large, many of us having celebrity status, in a patently unsustainable fantasy world (we call it reality) of idle comforts, effortless ease, conspicuous consumption, secret handshakes, exclusive clubs, exotic hideaways and thousands of private jets, having abandoned our regard for the less fortunate among us, for the maintenance of life as we know it, and for the preservation of the integrity of Earth. Think of the single-minded pursuit of material wealth, power, and privilege to profligately consume and recklessly ignore the requirements of practical reality as our raison d'etre.
   When my not-so-great generation of elders has completed its `mission' on Earth, I fear young people will look back in anger and utter disbelief at the things we have done and failed to do............ all the while proclaiming ourselves "masters of the universe" in the performance of uniform exercises of virtue.

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4. 

   Delay And Deny Posted 11:44 pm
   09 Sep 2007

   Physician, Green Thyself!
   
   Al Gore was elected to the board of Apple computers in 2003 (just before its precipitous stock rise).
   Yet, 4 years after this appointment, Apple is ranked worse in pollution by Greenpeace.
   http://www.alternet.org/environment/47228
   In December of 2006, Greenpeace released a report ranking the overall environmental policy of major technology companies. Dell was at the top but Apple found itself at the bottom. While top companies like Dell and Nokia have made great strides to eliminate the most toxic chemicals from their products and offer strong recycling programs, Apple has not.
   "Today you can't recycle most of these products because you're recycling toxic waste," says Rick Hind, legislative director of the Greenpeace Toxic Campaign. "We're looking at it from a complete life cycle approach, from where we make these to where they end up. Twenty to 50 million tons of e-waste a year end up in China; that [e-waste] is endangering to migrant families trying to remove a very small percentage of the materials for recycling."

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5. 

   Mary Posted 4:57 am
   10 Sep 2007

   Hopefully he'll address the biggest problemThis time, hopefully he'll address the biggest problem: animal agriculture.
   "According to recent UN Food and Agriculture Organisation research, animal agriculture generates 18 per cent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions - more than the 13.5 per cent produced by all forms of transport combined."
   However:
   "For Al Gore, the fact that his diet is a leading contributor to global warming is a highly inconvenient truth...":
   both excerpts from:
   
   ACTIVISTS TAKE AL GORE TO TASK ON HIS DIET
   
   Telegraph, Philip Sherwell, Sept. 9, 2007
   
   http://tinyurl.com/2loc7c
   See also:
   
   VEGANS COMPARE FOOTPRINTS WITH GREENS
   
   The Vegan Society CEO talks to Green Party Conference
   
   September 10, 2007
   
   http://tinyurl.com/2m7bw4
   Respect Life -including your own- Go Vegan:
   
   http://www.TryVeg.com

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6. 

   CyberBrook Posted 1:42 am
   11 Sep 2007

   Meat Eating and Global Warming
   
   We need to face the facts. get informed. Get active. Make a positive difference!
   Here is a nice collection of links demonstrating the global warming and other negative environmental between meat and climate change:
   Meat Eating and Global Warming
   
   http://www.ivu.org/members/globalwarming.html
   This is the kind of stuff Gore has to include in his new book. Given that the livestock industry contributes more to global warming, according the UN, this issue need to be given priority, not simply a brief and diluted mention on one page as he did in his book.
   
   

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7. 

   huckaman Posted 3:09 am
   11 Sep 2007

   Focus The Nation to offer solutions too!I've recently learned about a very interesting project called Focus The Nation that will happen at college campuses this winter. Looks to me like it's shaping up to be the largest national teach-in in our country's history. So far as I can tell, it sounds like an educational forum to help people get educated on the issue. Then in the evening, senators and politicians will visit the campuses and sit down with students to get educated themselves about what the issue. At the end of that session, a ballot of 20 solutions to Global Warming will be presented by the organizers, and the top 5 from all over the country will go to Washington the next day.
   Check out http://www.focusthenation.org
   
   Not sure if "non-students" can go to the teach-in, but Huckaman will definitely try to sneak in...

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8. 

   stormcrow333 Posted 11:34 pm
   12 Sep 2007

   Al GoreI think it is so interesting that everyone sees Gore as such a saint. Everyone seems to forget the time when he and his wife Tipper (who could forget her!) were instrumental in the movement to censure art and music by requiring labels and categories for ART of all things based on their religious beliefs (rabid christians). (see the congressional hearings where Frank Zappa and other musicians and artists stood up against them (see the internet for the "Mothers of Prevention" material.). I believe since Gore was a flop as a politician, he jumped on the "ecology" bandwagon to ensure further financial gain. If a guy could "jump camp" so easily, I mistrust his motives. I will not buy his book. Actually, I wouldn't help him up if he fell on the ground. So go ahead and educate yourself on his past, then make your own decision.  

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9. 

   wildleaf Posted 1:01 pm
   14 Sep 2007

   Knocking down good people is not progressiveI've educated myself on his past, have you? You bring up some good points though, I cannot support censuring art! Gore's stance is very clear though, he is for parental control of a child's content viewing. The rating system hasn't seemed to have hurt sales or produced censuring. Main stream music might have toned down but that is hardly art anyway! He is against censuring though! He has proven this in several ways. First he is one of the biggest advocates for net neutrality, which prevents corporations from controlling most of the content on the internet by keeping the entry costs low for new media and individuals like us on grist! As far as Christian, yes, he is one, but rabid? Hardly. Though he is devout he has repeatedly defended the separation of church and state. He has openly expressed contempt of the current administration's mixing of religion and government!
   As to the "jump camp" theory. I agree that it is despicable when politicians hollowly jump on popular issues for financial gain, but with Gore this is not the case! In 1992 Al Gore wrote "Earth in the Balance" which featured global warming at a time when it wasn't talked about! His House and Senate record also backs up the case that says Gore was deeply into this well before the media and mainstream was.
   As to his eating habits, I appreciate the reminder that eating meat is a major cause of global warming and other atrocities against nature. I only wish that consideration is given towards whether bashing an ally on global warming and environmental issues because of his eating habits is acceptable from a progressive point of view. Might it be better to criticize his eating of meat while praising the things he does well?
   I am not a strict vegetarian or vegan although I applaud those that are because I believe it is very conscientious and earth friendly. But is there something that I do better than someone who doesn't eat meat? Possibly. I don't drive a car anymore and I work consistently in the environmental field helping to restore landscapes, build trails, or study fish and amphibian populations. Does that make up for me eating meat occasionally? The answer depends on whether eating meat is viewed religiously or not. If it is viewed religiously I would ask those people for tolerance of the people who simply don't see it that strongly. I would then ask them to measure that person's other attributes according to their values and set the intolerable variant aside to be mentioned and condemned but while keeping the rest of their value judgments intact for a multifaceted view.
   I don't see Gore as a saint, but I look up to him especially after reading his books and many articles written about him. His current book is actually very progressive and made me optimistic that a new future is possible. He is an excellent writer no doubt because of his years working as a journalist and his books are a great read. I would help him if he fell on the ground, but that might be because I believe in helping anyone who falls on the ground even though it might be difficult for me if Cheney did. I'd probably look around for other people to do it then I'd help him up rather gruffly and tell him he's a fucking idiot in the process.

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