Al Gore is all talk and no action...

from the film An Inconvenient Truth:

"The world must embrace a "carbon-neutral lifestyle." To do otherwise, he says, will result in a cataclysmic catastrophe. "Humanity is sitting on a ticking time bomb," warns the website for his film, An Inconvenient Truth. "We have just 10 years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet into a tailspin."





It seems that Mr Gore is a little CONFUSED when he says "WE".

news.yahoo.com...


I am sorry to say that I wasn't surprised. Just upset with myself because the optimist in me thought maybe, just maybe, he would be practicing what he preached. The optimist in me is rarely not disappointed these days. Sigh.

Holy crap noone has blamed this on a Neo-Con, BushCo, Karl Rove conspiracy!

Originally posted by W_Smith
from the film An Inconvenient Truth:

"The world must embrace a "carbon-neutral lifestyle." To do otherwise, he says, will result in a cataclysmic catastrophe. "Humanity is sitting on a ticking time bomb," warns the website for his film, An Inconvenient Truth. "We have just 10 years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet into a tailspin."





It seems that Mr Gore is a little CONFUSED when he says "WE".

news.yahoo.com...


I am sorry to say that I wasn't surprised. Just upset with myself because the optimist in me thought maybe, just maybe, he would be practicing what he preached. The optimist in me is rarely not disappointed these days. Sigh.

The point isn't whether or not he "practices what he preaches." The point is that what he says is true and the fact that things have gotten this way and that so many people don't seem to know or care about the issue is FAR more upsetting than the "news" that a politician is two-faced.

Its pretty clear that gore doesn't even beleive his own rhetoric, he was vice president for 8 years, and did NOTHING.

Now we're supposed to beleive that he's out to save the world?

Originally posted by Nygdan
...he was vice president for 8 years, and did NOTHING.

Pure unadulterated nonsense. :shk:

Environment

While a Representative, Gore co-sponsored hearings on toxic waste in 1978-9, and hearings on global warming in the 1980s. While a senator working on his book Earth in the Balance, Gore had traveled around the world on numerous fact-finding missions. During Gore's tenure as Vice President, he was a proponent for environmental protection. On Earth Day 1994, Gore launched the worldwide GLOBE program, an innovative hands-on, school-based education and science activity that made extensive use of the Internet to increase student awareness of their environment and contribute research data for scientists.

In the late nineties, Gore strongly pushed for the passage of the Kyoto Treaty, which called for reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

Link.

1980s: Representative Al Gore (D-TN), who had been a student of Revelle's, co-sponsored the first Congressional hearings to study the implications of global warming and to encourage the development of environmental technologies to combat global warming.

Link.

Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit

What's most inspiring about Earth in the Balance is who wrote it. It's a big deal, after all, that a sitting senator was willing to write, "We must make the rescue of the environment the central organizing principle for civilization." And that's not all. In his 1992 book, Al Gore also wrote:

I have become very impatient with my own tendency to put a finger to the political winds and proceed cautiously.... [E]very time I pause to consider whether I have gone too far out on a limb, I look at the new facts [on the environment crisis] that continue to pour in from around the world and conclude that I have not gone far enough.... [T]he time has long since come to take more political risks--and endure more political criticism--by proposing tougher, more effective solutions and fighting hard for their enactments.

And the buzz on the street is that Gore actually wrote those words himself.

When Earth in the Balance first came out, it caused quite a stir--and for good reason. It convincingly makes the case that a crisis of epidemic proportions is nearly upon us and that if the world doesn't get its act together soon and agree to some kind of "Global Marshall Plan" to protect the environment, we're all up a polluted creek without a paddle. Myriad plagues are upon us, but the worst include the loss of biodiversity, the depletion of the ozone layer, the slash-and-burn destruction of rainforests, and the onset of global warming. None of this is new, of course, nor was it new in 1992. But most environmentalists will still get a giddy feeling reading such a call to action as written by a prominent politician.

More...

The GLOBE Project(Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) is an internet-based program that was begun on Earth Day 1994 by U.S. Vice President Al Gore. Since that day the program has grown tremendously and now reaches thousands of schools...

Link.

GLOBE is an interagency program funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF), supported by the U.S. Department of State, and implemented through a cooperative agreement between NASA, the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) in Boulder, Colorado and Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado. GLOBE is a cooperative effort of schools in partnership with colleges and universities, state and local school systems, and non-government organizations. Internationally, GLOBE is a partnership between the United States and over 100 countries who manage and support their unique national and regional program infrastructure and activities.

Link.

See also: The GLOBE Program

December 8, 1997

Since we gathered at the Rio Conference in 1992, both scientific consensus and political will have come a long way. If we pause for a moment and look around us, we can see how extraordinary this gathering really is.

We have reached a fundamentally new stage in the development of human civilization, in which it is necessary to take responsibility for a recent but profound alteration in the relationship between our species and our planet. Because of our new technological power and our growing numbers, we now must pay careful attention to the consequences of what we are doing to the Earth—especially to the atmosphere.

More...

Remarks By Al Gore Climate Change Conference Kyoto, Japan

Vice President Al Gores's Environment Initiatives

Al Gore has long been at the forefront of efforts to protect our environment and quality of life in ways that promote strong, sustainable economic growth...

As Vice President, Al Gore has been instrumental in launching new initiatives to meet key environmental challenges. His Livable Communities initiative has helped communities across the country grow in ways that ensure a high quality of life and strong, sustainable economic growth. With his leadership, the Administration has adopted the strongest air quality protections ever, cleaned up three times as many Superfund sites as the two previous Administrations combined, and undertaken initiatives to protect more land in the lower 48 states than during any Administration since the time of Theodore Roosevelt. And he has continued fighting to protect the global environment, playing a critical role in negotiating a strong, cost-effective treaty to combat global warming.

The Vice President also has led the charge in encouraging America’s business leaders to develop innovative new technologies that strengthen our competitiveness while protecting our environment. Through the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles, he has worked with auto makers to spur new technologies that promise dramatic increase in automotive fuel economy – reducing our reliance on imported oil while saving consumers money. And he has worked with President Clinton on a series of Executive Orders that establish the Federal government as a model for innovative, cost-effective environmental management.

Vice President Al Gore has an unrivaled record of action and leadership in protecting our environment. We invite you to explore recent environmental announcements made by the Vice President.

More... SEE THE LIST...

In my view, there appears to be very little attempt in this thread to deny ignorance...

On a larger note, if you can't attack the science...then go after the messenger... Now, there's a sound principle...



[edit on 11-8-2006 by loam]

Originally posted by loam
Pure unadulterated nonsense.

BUNK! The guy was second in command of the most powerful country in the world at a time when it was actually influential within the world!

If he actually did try to do something, but failed, well that doesn't say anything good about him either, and what can he possibly do now, as an out of work private citizen, that he couldn't do then!?

I never saw him use his influence to forge an infrastructure for the hydrogen economy, I never saw him demand from the steps of the white house that we have miles per gallon standards on fuel burning cars, nor that such and such percentage of vehicles on the road at least be hybrids! I never saw him get shuttled around by the secret service in an alternative energy vehicle for that matter!

The most influential policy to come out of the gores was tippers attempt to villify 'satanic rock'!

co-sponsored the first Congressional hearings to study the implications of global warmin

And he invented the internet too! The guy had a chance to do something, and he did nothing.

We must make the rescue of the environment the central organizing principle for civilization

He was a fraud then, and he's a fraud now. He was vice president for eight years, when was the environment's resuce the 'central organizing principle for civilization' back then, eh? I mean, even if Clinton was opposed, he'd've at least jumped at the chance to have a distraction during his impeachment proceedings, but still, NOTHING!

On a larger note, if you can't attack the science...then go after the messenger

Bullcrap! I haven't attacked the science of global warming, i haven't said that its not happening, I haven't said that its some sort of conspiracy, all I've said is that Al Gore is a hack, and thats the truth.

Originally posted by Nygdan
BUNK! The guy was second in command of the most powerful country in the world at a time when it was actually influential within the world!

Apparently, you didn't read the links... Most importantly, the last one specifically detailing his initiatives and accomplishments. Moreover, Gore brought to the political arena a discussion about such issues at a time when almost no one was discussing such matters.

Originally posted by Nygdan
If he actually did try to do something, but failed, well that doesn't say anything good about him either,

Careful. That argument cuts both ways. Shall we apply that logic to the present administration? Oh, and was Al Gore President or just the Vice? And who controlled Congress for most of those eight years?

Originally posted by Nygdan
and what can he possibly do now, as an out of work private citizen, that he couldn't do then!?

He is no mere "out of work private citizen". The simple fact we are discussing him now indicates otherwise. He clearly remains influential...or the ideologues wouldn't be wasting their time trying to discredit him.

Originally posted by Nygdan
I never saw him use his influence to forge an infrastructure for the hydrogen economy, I never saw him demand from the steps of the white house that we have miles per gallon standards on fuel burning cars, nor that such and such percentage of vehicles on the road at least be hybrids! I never saw him get shuttled around by the secret service in an alternative energy vehicle for that matter!

Because you obviously weren't looking then, and didn't bother to do so even now.

Here is but a small sample of his approach to science, government and the subjects you raise:

The Technology Challenge: How Can America Spark Private Innovation?

REMARKS BY VICE PRESIDENT AL GORE PARTNERSHIP FOR A NEW GENERATION OF VEHICLES

Gore and the internal combustion engine

Following the publication of his book, Earth in the Balance, some conservatives criticized Gore for his call to eliminate the internal combustion engine, based on a passage of that book (emphasis added):

Consider that the United States spends tens of billions of dollars on frenzied programs to upgrade and improve the technology of bombers and fighter planes to counter an increasingly remote threat to our national security, but we are content to see hundreds of millions of automobiles using an old technological approach not radically different from the one first used decades ago in the Model A Ford. We now know that their cumulative impact on the global environment is posing a mortal threat to the security of every nation that is more deadly than that of any military enemy we are ever again likely to confront. Though it is technically possible to build high-mileage cars and trucks, we are told that mandating a more trepid transition to more efficient vehicles will cause an unacceptable disruption in the current structure of the automobile industry. Industry officials contend that it is unfair to single out their industry while ignoring others that also contribute to the problem; I agree, but their point only illustrates further the need for a truly global, comprehensive, and strategic approach to the energy problem. I support new laws to mandate improvements in automobile fleet mileage, but much more is needed. Within the context of the SEI [Strategic Environmental Initiative], it ought to be possible to establish a coordinated global program to accomplish the strategic goal of completely eliminating the internal combustion engine over, say, a twenty-five year period.

This passage was part of a chapter in which Gore discussed, at length, a wide array of policy options whereby government could foster the development of alternative technologies, energy sources, and transportation methods. Jim Nicholson, chairman of the Republican National Committee, stated that Gore was "a wasteful dreamer" who was trying to "do away with the internal combustion engine [and] the automobile". (New York Times, 1999-03-16). Nicholson also said, "That unlike Clinton (who is liberal but pragmatic), Gore is an ideologue who believes the combustible engine (i.e., the automobile) is the earth's greatest enemy. (Washington Post, 1999-04-30). Jack Kemp, former U.S. House Representative from western New York and former Chairman of the House Republican Leadership Conference, stated, "Al Gore said the other day he wants to eliminate the internal combustion engine. Now let me ask you-we've got 162 million internal combustion engines on the earth. Do we want 162 million horse-drawn carriages?"

Link.

Notice the political climate even then? ...at a time when we didn't have the world self-destructing around our ears...in a way that served as obvious tangible support for his assertions...like now?

Originally posted by Nygdan
The guy had a chance to do something, and he did nothing.

C'mon, Nydgan, even you can not be that politically naive.

Originally posted by Nygdan
He was a fraud then, and he's a fraud now. He was vice president for eight years, when was the environment's resuce the 'central organizing principle for civilization' back then, eh? I mean, even if Clinton was opposed, he'd've at least jumped at the chance to have a distraction during his impeachment proceedings, but still, NOTHING!

Again...nonsense... Apparently you must not like the links I provided...

Originally posted by Nygdan

On a larger note, if you can't attack the science...then go after the messenger

Bullcrap! I haven't attacked the science of global warming, i haven't said that its not happening, I haven't said that its some sort of conspiracy, all I've said is that Al Gore is a hack, and thats the truth.

Actually, I was referring to Peter Schweizer, who was the source of the article this thread is based upon (Know anything about the Hoover Institute?)...and others like him. But if the shoe fits...

[edit on 11-8-2006 by loam]

loam, thank you for the links. I agree that Gore has done more than others give him credit for. I also realize that politics is not as cut and dried as the "he was there" mentality. Going against companies that make thier living by polluting is a daunting task at best.

What stung me from the article was the lack of personal responsibility. If the article is even halfway accurate, it still indicates that he is saying one thing only to do another. Personal responsibility was a theme of his film as well as political responsibility, and I, for one, loathe the "do as I say, not as I do" mentality.

to quote the article-

"Public records reveal that as Gore lectures Americans on excessive consumption, he and his wife Tipper live in two properties: a 10,000-square-foot, 20-room, eight-bathroom home in Nashville, and a 4,000-square-foot home in Arlington, Va. (He also has a third home in Carthage, Tenn.) "

That is just a simple waste of resorces from a man who tells us not to waste. The counter argument may be that he has every right to own and waste so much, and this is true. But he indicates that "We have just 10 years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet into a tailspin."

And of course-

"Gore has held these apocalyptic views about the environment for some time. So why, then, didn't Gore dump his family's large stock holdings in Occidental (Oxy) Petroleum? As executor of his family's trust, over the years Gore has controlled hundreds of thousands of dollars in Oxy stock. Oxy has been mired in controversy over oil drilling in ecologically sensitive areas.


Living carbon-neutral apparently doesn't mean living oil-stock free. Nor does it necessarily mean giving up a mining royalty either.


Humanity might be "sitting on a ticking time bomb," but Gore's home in Carthage is sitting on a zinc mine. Gore receives $20,000 a year in royalties from Pasminco Zinc, which operates a zinc concession on his property. Tennessee has cited the company for adding large quantities of barium, iron and zinc to the nearby Caney Fork River. "


All I know is that when I feel strongly about something, I don't play around. I stand by my feelings and beliefs, even at my own expense. Is this an easy way to live? You all know the answer. But that is what I believe is right. And when I observe someone who says one thing, then does another, I feel that they should endure, at the very least, a proper lashing on some internet forum.

Originally posted by W_Smith
All I know is that when I feel strongly about something, I don't play around. I stand by my feelings and beliefs, even at my own expense. Is this an easy way to live? You all know the answer. But that is what I believe is right. And when I observe someone who says one thing, then does another, I feel that they should endure, at the very least, a proper lashing on some internet forum.

Fair enough!

However, where this narrow issue is involved, I'll take Gore's brand of imperfection over the alternative of some of those who are currently in power.

Basics:

Lets' say that eating pink and only pink on every 3rd Wednesday of the month will automatically save the world.

Al Gore comes on stage spouts truths, half truths, lies, becomes THE dictator of how your life is run...as far as cotton candy goes.

There are still some more questions to be asked. How much Cotton Candy that is only pink must be eaten in that one day...and how many people have to do it to make it effective? Does the cotton candy eating (only PINK!!1 PINK, I TELL YOU!) have to be spread evenly around the whole globe because 10 bites eaten in a city still leaves 10 uneaten bites in the rainforests?

Oh, and the volcanoes belch more green cotton candy (death to us all) in one setting than all cotton candy eating of any color ever done by man since he was a munkey. So we is going to die, anyway, for all our pink cotton candy eating...

Just enjoy your cotton candy and take care of what's a necessity now.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy many conservation efforts. They save me money, if not time, irrelevant of whether or not they make my home mroe liveable (and much of that is still debateable). But all having EGORE for a sponsor does is turn people away from wanting to conserve.

I think we have some Al Gore Haters here. I don't really care for him but to say he did nothing is a bit naive. Could he have done more, certainly but to say he did nothing sounds a bit juvenile.

[edit on 13-8-2006 by kleverone]

The first person that invents a robot that tells the time and weather with any degree of accuracy is going to have the whole of America in the palm of its hand.

God help you, and God help us all.

Originally posted by loam
Careful. That argument cuts both ways. Shall we apply that logic to the present administration?

They clearly aren't concerned about global warming either.

even you can not be that politically naive

I refuse to beleive that a person as powerful and influential as the vice president of the united states, given two terms, can't accomplish anything, wrt 'combating global warming', regardless of him facing a congress that is opposed to his actions.

If anything, if he couldn't get major work done then, then what can he possibly realistically or effectively do now? 'raise awareness'?

jlc163
There are still some more questions to be asked.

There is resounding scientific agreement that the earth is warming, and there is no one in science that can explain it in terms of any of the natural cycles that control climate.
Meanwhile, the globe warms, coincident with a man-made increase in atmoshereic concentrations of a known green-house gas. I'm not trying to say that global climate is simple to understand, but lets be reasonable.
None of that has anything to do with Gore. Thats the major problem here. Gore is nothing more than a politico, the people that want to help the environment, who recognize the danger, are pinning their hopes on the wrong donkey. Gore couldn't do anything when he was in the executive branch of the most advanced and industrialized nation on the planet. Him doing anything now beyond being used as a celebrity name to attach to 'movies for public consumption', is a waste of time.

I stopped reading the link after reading this from it:

For someone rallying the planet to pursue a path of extreme personal sacrifice, Gore requires little from himself.

"Extreme personal sacrifice" is a right-wing, anti-green caricature of the action called for, NOT an accurate description of it. We currently WASTE about 90% of the energy we produce; it would not be that hard to improve this figure by a factor of four. Some of the measures Gore recommends would contribute to doing so.

If we do increase efficiency, we will not be USING less energy, we will simply be WASTING less. We get no value from the energy we currently WASTE anyway, and so we would not experience any "personal sacrifice" whatever, let alone "extreme" personal sacrifice, in doing so.

A fourfold increase in energy efficiency -- which, again, is very doable -- means at least a fourfold decrease in energy produced for the same enjoyment, which in turn means a fourfold reduction in carbon emissions, even without switching the way we rely on to produce energy.

That's a 75% reduction in carbon emissions. All without pain.

Factor Four: Read this, please

[edit on 22-8-2006 by Two Steps Forward]

Originally posted by Nygdan
I refuse to beleive that a person as powerful and influential as the vice president of the united states, given two terms, can't accomplish anything, wrt 'combating global warming', regardless of him facing a congress that is opposed to his actions.

Well, the Vice President of the U.S. is hardly all that "powerful and influential," and I rather strongly suspect that he faced not only a hostile Congress, but also a hostile or at least indifferent president. Bill Clinton was and remains a superb politician. We have not, in my opinion, seen his equal since Franklin Roosevelt, and like Roosevelt, Clinton never moved too far ahead of public opinion. During his two terms, the public saw little in the way of dire threat. True, dire threats did loom on the horizon -- not only global warming but also terrorism, peak oil, a crisis in the economy which is becoming maldistributed to an alarming degree, and a crisis with regard to America's superpower status which, with the fall of the Soviet Union, has lost the purpose that once justified it. But none of that was foreseen by most people during Clinton's terms, and so the people didn't care about any of it much -- and so neither did Clinton.

Gore is often excoriated -- with some justice -- for failing to live up in office (and that includes Congress, not just the Veepdom) to the principles he has articulated in writing and film. The most likely explanation of why he failed to do that is that it was inconsistent with keeping his elected office. The people simply were not ready.

And that means he is in a position, perhaps, to do more now that he is out of office and so doesn't have to worry about keeping it. Like Jimmy Carter, he may make a much better ex-pol than he did a pol.

No one is letting him take action