Al Gore's Foot Soldiers

[pegkerr]

There are several ways to send a message. You can be bold and yell from a rooftop. You can be subtle and mention a theory in passing. Or if you really mean business, you can make a motion picture and, in order to reach even more people, organize an army to disseminate its message. Al Gore is doing it now. Learn more about the initiative at the Climate Project.

(Man, my respect for that man grows every day. And to think that we could have had him as our President instead of Shrub.)

Did you see An Inconvenient Truth? (If you haven't, you absolutely should.) What did you think of it? Have you made any changes because of it?

(I am planning on making one later this spring. Details will follow.)

Comments

[peacockharpy.livejournal.com]

We made a point of seeing it in the theaters. We are in the process of changing all our light bulbs to fluorescents; I now take my canvas bags to the grocery instead of depending on paper or plastic bags; and we're looking into having a review of our energy usage. We already have a solar water heater, which helps immensely when the weather cooperates, and we try to only use heating and cooling when the weather is unliveable.

Maudlin today - sorry

[nico1908.livejournal.com]

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Science/story?id=2321761

Should Apophis really collide with Earth, nothing we do matters one way or the other. Maybe I'm being silly, but this thing absolutely terrifies me. :(

[handworn.livejournal.com]

I did see it and thought it was wonderful, and talked it up with friends and relatives after.

I didn't, though, make any changes in my life because of it because I'd already done everything I could think of. We already dropped down to one car, take public transportation a lot, use fluorescent light bulbs and installed radiant heating in our house. And so on.

[airemay.livejournal.com]

I saw it last summer. It was fantastic! I thought it was well directed, and was extremely clear. I haven't made many changes, but that's because I was already doing some of the things he suggested. I don't have a car up here, and I walk everywhere. I take public transportation when I go to San Diego (bus+train). I want to start using a canvas bag for my groceries, though. We have too many grocery bags in my apartment! I want to start going to the Farmers Market as well.

[aeditimi.livejournal.com]

I so want to be a presenter!

I loved the movie (except for the part about his farm--where did that come from?), and I showed it at my church. A lot of folks, especially the older ones, were really surprised. For me, there was not much that was eye-opening. I didn't need to be convinced that climate change is real--and negative, as most of the oldest generation in my church did. I wanted the next step--so what do we do? I did an energy audit of my house, which is horribly inefficient, but since the church owns the parsonage and not me, I can't make the major changes to make it more efficient. We've decided (not entirely because of the movie, but it didn't hurt) that our next car will be a hybrid at least, or totally alternative fuel at best (bio diesel maybe?). I had this 'brilliant' insight once, in high school, that the answer to wars and such was for us to fight a bigger enemy. At the time, I thought an alien invasion might be good for bringing us together--think Independance Day--but now I think our own destruction of our planet is our biggest threat. I love the part where Gore says, 'maybe we should be concerned about threats other than terrorism.' Maybe we could focus some of our attention on halting and someday reversing the harm and threat we do to our palent. If we can come together a little bit on that perhaps we have hope for a little more peace in this world.

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

I saw it this summer, the same day I got my Toyota Matrix. (See, American car makers? If you made more fuel efficient cars you might have gotten my dollars!) Afterward I went out and stocked up on fluorescent light bulbs.

[cryptaknight.livejournal.com]

I did watch An Inconvenient Truth, and it made me very sad, and scared, and angry. I just sat there thinking how different the world would be if Gore had been elected, and had been able to throw as much money and resources at making changes to help the environment as Bush has thrown at the war.

Here in Nevada, they make it very difficult for us. I grew up in CA, and we had recycling bins issued to us, that would be picked up with the trash. There's no such thing in NV. The only place I see trashcans designated for recyclables is Whole Foods. I do try to be more conscious about reusing things in the house (like bags and boxes and jars and so on). I would love to get a hybrid car, but until they are more affordable, I will probably have to wait a few years. Until then, I try not to drive if I can walk. We make half a tank of gas last a really long time.

I wish that the government would see how serious this issue is, and make changes that would make it a matter of fact for all citizens to be environmentally conscious.

[mplsvala.livejournal.com]

"(Man, my respect for that man grows every day. And to think that we could have had him as our President instead of Shrub.)"

That's my problem with him. I was a huge Gore fan in 2000, but I can't forgive him for crawling away from the fight with his tail between his legs and vague muttering about the greater good while leaving us all to the tender mercies of Bush et al. Scream. It was his duty to fight for all of us (or at least the majority of voters) and he wimped out.

[lydy.livejournal.com]

It's hard to win when your opponent cheats.

Remember that he tackled the thing through the courts, all right tight and legal, and that it was the courts that acted illegally. One of the things that the press started glossing over almost immediately was that under Florida law, Gore only had the right to request a recount in those counties where the vote had been within a certain percentage. The argument that he was only requesting recounts selectively in an attempt to change the results and that if he were honest he'd request a state-wide recount was propaganda. Legally, he couldn't.

He appealed it to the state courts, Bush appealed it to the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court gave it to Bush in what would appear to be in an illegal fashion (although in a practical way, nothing the Supreme Court does can really said to be illegal). How much more fighting can Gore have done?

He didn't play the same propaganda games as the Bush camp. He didn't get together a bunch of Democratic operatives and threaten violence. He didn't stand in front of TV cameras and tell ridiculous lies such as machine counts being more reliable than hand counts. He handled himself as a gentleman and someone concerned about the state of the country.

I don't think he wimped out. I think that the press, which had been lying about him for the entire campaign (he never did say he invented the internet, frex), just did him again.

What I want to know is why the fuck Kerry didn't fight for Ohio. I think he let that go with far too little fight.