More on Gore – Radio City Music Hall Lecture Series Part Two

Vice President Al Gore spoke last night before an enthralled crowd at Radio City Music Hall here in New York City.  Yesterday’s post was a prologue to the real meat and potatoes of the presentation.  I was  awestruck by the transformation that occurred in this man, having first met him in 1988 when he ran for the Democratic Presidential nomination, making his last stand in the New York Primary. I was a young 22 year old just out of college and was an enthusiastic, true beleiver in his campaign. But Al Gore was very centrist then. He presented himself as the “raging moderate” in a field dominated by Michael Dukakis and the Reverend Jesse Jackson. That was 20 years ago. Al Gore has grown and so have I.  Back in 1988, I was fresh out of college, naive, and grasping for something to beleive in. It was the Reagan years and I had just entered the job market shortly after the famous October 1987 stock market crash. The booming 80s that are so glamorized in film and lore came crashing to an end. Al Gore and I showed up late to the party, and both of us still had a lot to learn. In his concession speech that night in 1988 at the Hotel Intercontinetal, Al Gore said he did not enter the race to “stop Jesse Jackson, he entered to start Al Gore.”  In many ways he did. The winner of the popular vote in the 2000 election has recovered from politics and is on a new mission to save the planet for future generations and trying to get individuals to tranform the way they think about things – to become more informed on global climate issues specifically, but also to become active participants in our democracy. Now please don’t get me wrong, I am not here to lay a series of bummers on people. Life is hard enough getting up, going to work everyday, paying the bills, getting the kids to school, going through your own personal issues. I know very little about my carbon footprint and am still trying to figure it out.  I recycle, take public transportation, and try to use non-toxic cleaners. I think the whole point I am trying to make, and I think Al my pal would agree with me is, WE should not have to be worrying about this becaue WE elect people who are supposed to be keeping an eye on the ball. Well, they are not, and they are being paid to do so by lobbyists and special interest groups who are determined to keep our collective assess dependent on oil, and, to quote from my favorite John Lennon song “keep us doped on religion and sex and tv.” Hell, I have unplugged my TV for the last three months. I ahd some more important stuff to take care of and when there was a debate to be watched, I just tuned in on the internet.  When our elected officials don’t act in our best interests, it’s our turn to take the lead.

With the rise of the Internet, the people have more power at the fingertips now than ever before. The media conglomerates have competition – it’s called We the People. Blogs are everywhere now. I can communicate with someone in China or Japan or Antartica with as much ease as I can call out for a pizza. Whle the media shirk their responsibility as a public service to keep the people informed, the people can themselves become informed and pass that information along.

Gore talked about some pretty bleak facts that have been proven by science.  While mocked by some of the talking heads at Fox News and ignored by other media outlets, the damage to Planet Earth inflicted by it’s inhabitants is showing its ugly head. Here is a just a sample of some of the facts that Gore spoke of so passionately last night:

·        The North Polar ice cap is normally about the size of the the Continental United States, the lower 48.   If the melting trend continues, the polar ice cap could be completely gone during the summer in five years and this is not by a natural cycle of the planet

·        70 milllion tons of global warming pollution is emitted into our atmosphere every 24 hours

·        Tropical Storms and Hurricanes are more fierce in their intensity, droughts are lasting longer, the seasons are becoming mixed up, shifting the habitats of animals and even having an effect on the microbiological level. Microbial diseases that never occurred before are showing up in regions where they were never seen.

Gore went on to say that you would think that the United States would take the lead on this, and that the rest of the world looks to the US to take up the mantle. There is some truth that at one time, the United States was looked at as the moral leader by the rest of the world.  After World War II, the US did not do the usual thing done to a vanquished enemy – which was to punish. They instituted the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe after the devestation of World War II and paved the way for democracy to flourish. The United Nations was formed as a forum where all nations could gather to work together towards global solutions to problems. The U.S. has on several occassions has set a moral example internally when the scourge of segregation was confronted, when the War in Vietnam was questioned by those at home, and the women’s rights and gay rights movements began to take form in the 60s adnd 70s.  Sadly, our moral authority has been depreciated sonce then. Gore challenged us to take a look around, and take a stand on the environmental crisis, the disgrace of Darfur, the use of child soldiers on drugs in the Congo, the rape and pillage of the oceans, and the disappearance of one acre of rainforests every second of every day. So what are we doing, and more importantly, what is our government doing?

Instead of leading, our beloved country is blocking action. Gore got really emotional when he said these words. At the Indonesia climate conference, one nation blocked action that the rest of the world approved – That nation was the United States. When the rest of the world wanted to institute measures to turn the tide on the climate crisis one nation stood up and said – I object.  That nation was the United States.  A young delegate from one of the poorest nations on earth  Papua/Nw Guinea politely stood up and addressed the US delegation, and basically said, lead, follow or get out of the way. Well that sent the rest of the room into tumultuous applause and the US delegate running to a phone trying to get his damage control instructions.  And he did – he said we would get out of the way.  Gore’s point is – we should be more than getting out of the way the leadership should come from us

Election season is upon us, and we have been through several rounds out debates. There have been about six questions asked about climate change.  The media gave more coverage to the funeral arrangements for Anna Nicole Smith, Paris Hilton, Britney’s meltdown, and why, because it sells and we’re buying. I’m as guilty of this as the rest of us.

But Gore challenged us last night. He reminded us of the legacy left behind by the founding fathers of this nation, the legacy and promise of hope and freedom, and we, those of us alive today, may be the last best hope. We can make decisions for ourselves based on knowledge and the rule of reason.  We can use our voices and the internet and stand up for the rights and principles of individual dignity. Our best chance is now to join together as one people on a fragile planet and make the choice of the hard right as opposed to the easy wrong. As Americans, we have to act in an extraordinary way to redeem the promise of America  that once meant so much to this world.  We have to make a huge investment in sun, and wind and other renewable resources of energy and it can be done for the cost of one week’s current expenditures of prosecuting the war in Iraq.

Gore got tremendous applause as his solo time ended, and he sat down for a one on one with Russell Goldsmith.  I was going to detail that here but that will have to wait for part three. I had no problems after the lecture going out for a nice dinner, and enjoying a Friday evening in New York City. I do not intend to become one of these liberal scolds who is hell bent on making everyone feel guilty that they are not doing more for the planet. I intend to try to do my bit, help people when I can, clean up after myself, and take care of my personal ecology.  I intend to be a responsible citizen and take part in this political process that is going on now. Because I demand so much morefrom myelf, I am going to start demanding more of our public servants. They need to stop playing around with $4000 an hour hookers and having lunch with lobbyists and grow a pair of balls and make the hard right decisions for the long term. Last night was a special night for me. And in the next blog  – a very special interview from a unique perspective – a non-American citizen observing the American political process in action, her thoughts about America, the climate crisis, and America’s claim to moral authority.  The name of this blog is Libertad – Spanish for freedom and that is what I promote here.  Sometimes you will get very serious topics and then you will get ridiculous articles involving Jessica Alba and Penguin Species-infighting.  I will end by saying Gore did not show any leg whatsoever as far as endorsing either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, a he did declare himself as one of the rare uncommitted superdelegates to this summer’s Democratic National Convention.  So more on that, plus some photos from the event and closing thoughts on the Gore appearance.