Why I Believe Al Gore Is A Great Man

One reason is because he is not a good "politician." And I say that with the highest regard for him, because to me a "politician" is the label I put on someone who is just part of the status quo fabric of this corrupted political system. Someone only out for their own benefit. Someone who plays the game at others' expense. Someone who does not see any higher purpose in what they do. So no, Al Gore is not a good "politician" and that is really a good thing.

However, he is a magnificent statesman (regardless of whether I may agree or disagree with him on some matters,) a passionate and effective advocate for this planet, and above all to me, a man who has sworn off all of the pretense that comes with political life to see the big picture and bring it to as many people as he possibly can with a sincere purpose at heart. There is no higher achievement to me for a person than to see beyond the horizon and to keep going even when going through the fire burns you.

For many, continuing to do nothing but cajole this man to once again enter that "political" system seems to them to be the highest achievement regardless of anything else. I say that is false. Right now in this man's life he has achieved an awakening of spirit that goes beyond the platitudes and pretense and now has a burning desire to share that with the world and has made that his mission in life, and it is noble. As I have stated before, I am heartbroken at what transpired in years past and with all of my heart wished to see him take that oath of office (when I was naive enough to think it a system that actually worked for the people) and like many worked hard to see it come to pass. However, life is strange with its twists and turns and I firmly believe that some things happen the way they do because they bring you to a better place.

We will never know what really would have been... but I do know what can be, and Mr. Gore's words and passionate advocacy for this planet at a time when that is paramount for our survival have me believing that we may just have a chance, and isn't that really our purpose on this planet? To work to make it better regardless from where we do it? I also don't know what the future holds, but I do know that from wherever Mr. Gore chooses himself to be the change he wishes to see in this world I will be right there being the change I wish to see as well. So again, not being a good politician in this day and age is not something to be too heartbroken about, because from where I sit Al Gore is an exceptional human being and right now we need more of those to see us though this fire.

And that last sentence is exactly stated in response to his book, The Assault On Reason in placing blame for that lack of reason where it belongs... on us. What is wrong with America goes so much deeper than any one candidate regardless of who it may be, and he sees that and is approaching changing it in a truly brilliant way. He is doing so much more than we could have ever expected of him based on the past, and I believe nothing will change regardless of candidate unless we now do it in the way in which we demand change and in the way we relate to a media that has done nothing but work against reason.

There is much we can do as citizens to get out truth. I am starting a book on the global water crisis and even though it scares me a bit because I have never attempted to write a book before, I am compelled to do it because I have armed myself with knowledge that I feel I have to share, and because the environmental advocacy of Mr. Gore was a great inspiration in that decision.

The Internet is a place of great potential for that truth as well, and so are the other options open to us as citizens to now become a part of the process instead of always waiting for others to do it for us. Mr. Gore and those involved in this noble cause have opened up those possibilities and given us our chance for our voices to be heard and our actions to be part of the solution, and that is really what Democracy is all about.

And while he will always be my president and I will support any personal decision he makes on his own, he is a great man more so to me because he is doing this for the good of this country the way he now sees fit, and I am not about to apologize to anyone for how I choose to support him now simply because I don't support the soundbite, jingoistic, status quo way others still wish to continue to do things year in and year out... the very ways that got us nowhere in the past.

He is a great man because he sees beyond all of that to new horizons and is walking on a new road, and that is the road I now wish to travel as well because I believe it is the road that will now be most effective in saving this planet and our relationship to it because it is a road built on truth and reality.

crossposted here:

http://progressivesforgore.blogspot.com/
http://www.politicalcortex.com

I believe in Al Gore.

and years ago. He himself admitted recently on Larry King's show that he does not know how to run for president. (Although I would like to remind him that he won easily; he would have won in a landslide against any fair-minded, non-cheating candidate.) He is indeed a statesman and a patrician in the manner of our founding fathers like Jefferson and Madison. I will join you in supporting anything he does. I am now hoping that he wins the Nobel Peace Prize, which he certainly deserves and which will aid him in his fight to save our planet.

Yes, winning the prize for his work on the environment will most assuredly give him an added plus in his mission to inspire us to help us save ourselves. It will also give him much influence regarding international efforts to mitigate climate change that he is already beginning with his slideshow training going to South America, India, China, and I hope eventually, Africa. I see him at head of the table as a global environmental liason and statesman bringing countries around the world (principally the U.S. China, and India) together to form a new "Kyoto" style treaty by 2009.

If Mr. Gore can as a global environmental ambassador and statesman bring China, India, and the U.S. to the table to work with each other and other countries to put together a new global climate change treaty in the style of Kyoto (though I agree with him that it should not have Kyoto in the name) it will literally save lives. He was just in Hong Kong this past Thursday at a conference and explained that China can switch to renewable energy sources without hurting their economy. At this stage I agree wholeheartedly in seeing the imbalance their quick rise economically is causing to their environment and the risks it is bringing to their people and other species.

From June of this year:

Gore: China in for more pressure on pollution

Gore: China in for more pressure on pollution

23rd June 2007, 6:30 WST

China’s emergence as the world’s biggest polluter will intensify the pressure it feels from the rest of the world to cut its greenhouse gas emissions, climate campaigner Al Gore says.

Figures released this week showed that China might already have overtaken the US as the biggest emitter of the main gas, carbon dioxide.

“I think that when China is recognised as the largest emitter — it may have happened this week or it may happen next year — it will produce a subtle but significant change in the pressure China feels from the rest of the world to be part of a solution to this crisis,” he said. “But in order to apply that moral pressure, the United States has to join the world’s efforts to solve the crisis. That is why I am spending so much time spending every effort to reach a political critical mass to solve the climate crisis.”

Mr Gore was in London on Wednesday to promote his Live Earth 24-hour concert next month estimated to reach two billion people in every continent, which has been criticised by stars including Roger Daltry and Bob Geldof.

Declining to criticise Geldof, whose advice he claimed to have taken, Mr Gore said it was a “wake up call” that would deliver “powerful messages about the climate crisis” and be “the beginning of a multi-year campaign”.

It will have simple messages like the slogans at the end of his film, An Inconvenient Truth — change lightbulbs, don’t waste water, don’t leave things on standby, drive a more efficient car.

“It will be something people enjoy enormously but it will also send out powerful messages,” he said.

end of excerpt
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So I wonder if the Live Earth concert in Shanghai had any impact on the moral imperative China has in not building two coal fired plants a week and in cleaning up the pollution of 95% of its rivers? China unfortunately is in a precarious position... the country is feeling the affects of the climate crisis very severely in the North with drought, and in the South with floods. They have suffered economically as crops have failed and millions go without water with what is left too toxic to use. Add to that the glaciers in the Himalayas that are melting faster than predicted along with desertification, and you have a recipe for ecological catastrophe.

However, their country claims the pollution is as bad as it is because they are now the main supplier of goods to the United States. Their penchant for economic growth is now tipping the scales ecologically which poses a great moral dilemma. However, how much of what they state about the pollution being caused because of their trade with the U.S. is actually correct? Would pollution be less in China if we did not outsource millions of jobs to their country?

And now that it is or soon to be the country emitting the most in GHGs, how would the U.S. choose to move them to greater moral responsibility? By pulling our business from them and thus catapulting our economy into a freefall as they sell off all of the paper they own? Amazing the interweaving of this situation in that even with the world heading for a tipping point it is greed that takes precedence. This then surely must be a moral reckoning of biblical proportions if we are to see any progress whatsoever regarding balancing economic growth with the insatiable desire to be "number one."

Renewable investments that showcase moral responsibility with ethical business practices while concentrating on growth markets are essential now not only for the U.S. but China as well. I surely hope they begin to see the light and feel that pressure on a global scale as Mr. Gore seems to think will happen and soon. Of course, that can only come about if those who need to put that pressure on them have that moral awakening as well. The U.S. will look hypocritical putting pressure on any other country when we can't even get our own people to see the urgency of this crisis and lift it out of the partisan political framework it is in now.

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSSIN93573

China can cut emissions without hurting growth-Gore
Tue Aug 7, 2007 6:13AM EDT

SINGAPORE, Aug 7 (Reuters) - China can cut its carbon emissions without jeopardising economic growth if it uses new technologies that do not emit greenhouse gases, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore said on Tuesday.

Gore cited the mobile phone industry as an example of a business that does not need to burn fossil fuels such as oil and coal.

"There are ways to leap-frog the old, dirty technologies," said Gore, who was speaking at the Global Brand Forum in Singapore.

China, like other developing nations, is worried that plans to cut carbon emissions would cripple its economic development.

But Gore said the Chinese government needs to be more aggressive in fighting global warming because the country's chronic water shortage is tied to climate change.

"China has a great deal at risk," he said. "The water crisis is very closely related to the climate crisis." Millions of people in China, which is on course to overtake the United States as the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, have no access to clean drinking water.
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I have been saying this for a few years now... the global water crisis is inextricably linked to the climate crisis, and Asia, Africa, Australia, and South America as well as our own country which is feeling drought in a swath of 2/3 of this country in some form or another due to falling river water tables, wildfires, waste, etc. need to rethink their priorities and how they are going to deal with this on a prolonged basis with rising populations and a lack of moral will.

We can talk about political will until we are blue in the face, but if we don't first start out as citizens with the moral will to change our own lives and then trickle that up to government, business, and other citizens, political will means nothing. I am very happy he is mentioning the water crisis more and I hope he continues to do so, as wars over water in my view will be unavoidable should these conditions continue with no real changes taking place in the next couple of years tops.

His metamorphosis into a world leader has been a beautiful sight to behold.

Al Gore is many admirable things (statesman, visionary, humanist, etc.) but the chief reason I support him and hope he will be encouraged to run again is that e is NOT a politician.

Is precisley why he has made such progress regarding the climate crisis now. I have talked to many people who claim that they most definitely can get behind him now regarding his efforts for this planet. I then hope he is encouraged to follow his heart.