Gore sees 'spiritual crisis' in warming

[DRTYFN]

Wow, he's totally off the deep end. Even more so than usual.

Gore sees 'spiritual crisis' in warming
Anton Caputo
Express-News
Playing equal parts visionary, cheerleader and comedian, Al Gore brought his message of how to fight global warming to a capacity crowd of receptive architects Saturday in San Antonio.
The former vice president referred continually to a "new way of thinking" that is emerging in the country and offered hope in the battle to control the effects global warming will have on the planet.

"It's in part a spiritual crisis," Gore told the crowd in the Convention Center at the American Institute of Architects national convention. "It's a crisis of our own self-definition ? who we are. Are we creatures destined to destroy our own species? Clearly not."

Global warming is the heating of the Earth caused in large part by man-made emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Most scientists agree such warming and the changing climate that comes with it will likely cause a number of problems and crises this century, particularly in developing countries that have few resources to combat the effects.

These looming problems involve flooding and severe coastal erosion from rising seas and increasingly severe storms, more common and prolonged drought, and changes in the growing seasons and migration patterns of many wild species.

Gore told the architects they are in a unique position to help solve the problems by continuing to push building standards and methods that conserve energy and water. The message was in line with the focus of this year's AIA conference, titled "Growing Beyond Green."

Gore, seen by some as a polarizing political figure, has long championed environmental issues. In 1992, he wrote the best-selling book "Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit," and he won an Academy Award this year for his film "An Inconvenient Truth."

His speech was often interrupted by thunderous applause and explosive laughter from the several thousand architects who packed the Convention Center's ballroom.

"I used to be the next president of the United States," Gore deadpanned to the laughing crowd as he introduced himself. "I don't find that funny. Put yourself in my position. I flew in Air Force Two for eight years. Now I have to take off my shoes to get on an airplane."

In between jokes, Gore called for a change in thinking about climate issues and the pollution that causes global warming. He was especially critical of the business community's current focus on quarterly profits at the expense of sustainable business practices.

"That's functionally insane, but that is the dominant reality in the world today," Gore said.

This struck a chord with the architects at Saturday's event because many environmentally friendly building practices cost more upfront, which makes them a harder sell, but end up costing much less over the lifetime of a building.

Gore's speech came on the heels of a report issued by the United Nations' International Panel on Climate Change that concluded cutting greenhouse gas emissions enough to eliminate the worst impacts of climate change is affordable. The international group put the cost at 0.12 percent of economic growth each year.Among the solutions Gore touted Saturday were a cap-and-trade system for carbon dioxide. This is the method of controlling greenhouse gases pushed by the international Kyoto Protocol, an international effort to fight global warming that the United Sates chose not to join in 2001.

Gore also called for a business pollution tax that would be used to offset or eliminate employment and payroll taxes and for the creation of a federal mortgage institution that would help offset the cost of building environmentally friendly homes.

On the request of Gore's media handlers, Saturday's event was closed to the media. Because of the importance of the issue and Gore's status, the San Antonio Express-News chose to cover it anyway.

Since this is such a "monumental issue" why would he close the event to the media? Maybe so he could lie to the loonies?

[BlueHUMMERH2]

I think it went something like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BjrOi4vF24

[KenP]

Originally Posted by DRTYFN

Wow, he's totally off the deep end. Even more so than usual.


Since this is such a "monumental issue" why would he close the event to the media? Maybe so he could lie to the loonies?

It doesn't matter, he'll lie to your face. I love teh algoreweb.

[h2co-pilot]

[bparker]

Gore = Gay