[AGL] period of consequences

[Connie Clark]

Yesterday was my 62nd birthday, and fate gifted me, through the kind gestures of friends and family, tickets to hear Al Gore's multimedia talk about Global Warming.  He was brought to speak in Houston by the Progressive Forum, and every seat in the Hobby Center was filled.
   
  Noted in the program was:
  "This Event's Carbon Footprint is Zero
  Associated emissions from the theater's power usage and your transportation to and from the event have been offset by a generous donation by DrivingGreen.com which supports agricultural greenhouse gas reduction projects by AgCert, Dublin, Ireland."  
   
  Basically, this is what we all need to aim for in every thing we do, if we are going to alter the progress of global warming. Buzzword: carbon neutral.
   
  Another message from the lecture/talk was:
  We can not wait for change of political will, or politicians, the change in policy needs a grassroots movement asking every politician and every business now "what are you doing about global warming".  That is what his personal appearances, book and movie is trying to encourage.
   
  My fear is that we are so used to issues-of-the-day, and distracted from one cause to another, that this one will soon be 'last seasons' emergency issue.
   
  Evidently, Al Gore has spent a lot of time over a number of years face-to-face with scientists and visiting locations gathering information. He was a delighful speaker last night, going through power-point charts, graphs, photos - all of which are in the book. You may have read about the Larsen shelf in antartica - the whole of Greenland is showing signs of the same demise.  When Greenland goes, so goes major coastal areas of large human populations.  His talk was full of clever asides, joked a lot about himself.  One of the funny lines was: "You win a few, lose and few, and then there is that other category..." This particular Houston audience was very encouraging and appreciative, surpising that so many people in Houston (oil industry center) would pay to hear his story.  We stood in line for an hour to get our books signed.  Made my birthday!
   
  The Houston Progressive Forum has been bringing some very good speakers to us since it was formed a couple of years ago. Last year we had Molly Ivins, Seymour Hersh and Robert Kennedy, next year E. O. Wilson, James Hansen and Bill Moyers to name just a few.  Our own Rangeroo David Crossley is listed on the board of directors for this 501(c) (3) oganization. www.houstonprogressiveforum.org
   
  We were told that Gore's book,  "An Inconvenient Truth", launched this week, will debut #3 on the NYT best seller list. Published by Rodale Press.  Paperback edition only (lots of color photos) $21.95.
   
  Go see the movie, and turn off your lights, hope for and work for a strong grassroots movement in this country for joining the Kyoto Treaty, lifestyle choices, support environmental groups, buy green power, and anything we can do to reduce greenhouse gasses.
   
  Oh btw, I am about to conclude from all said, that he is not going to run for president - he is far more interested in what he is doing now, including Current TV and chairing an investment firm called Generation Investment Management (sustainable investment).  Did you know he is a board director for Apple, and senior advisor to Google?  About US's Iraq war he stated something like "the single biggest strategic error in the history of this country."
   
  Appropriate quotes from the book, lecture, movie:
   
  Speaking of fascism, Winston Churchil said
  "The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to its close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences."
   
  "Denial is a not a river in Egypt" - Dire Straits
  "Despair is not the tire in the trunk - Al Gore
   
  Connie
   
   



Connie 

http://www.gatherthewomen.org/

 __________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.pairlist.net/pipermail/austin-ghetto-list/attachments/20060608/109fa00e/attachment.html