http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-horton...html?view=printDavid Horton
09.21.2006
Al and Tipping Gore (7 comments ) I know we are all holding our breath, fingers crossed behind our backs, hoping this is what it looks like when the climate change nightmare starts to turn around. And what it looks like is that, thanks to Al Gore, the world may have reached another kind of tipping point, the point at which awareness of the problem reaches a critical mass, and action gets underway to deal with global warming.
I have previously referred to the 'Poland moment' (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-horton/the-poland-moment_b_28698.html). I thought we would have to wait until some catastrophe happened that no one could ignore - a series of Katrina storms, the complete melting of the Arctic. But I hadn't counted on Al Gore.
Nobody would have counted on Al Gore. It is strange, but his loss in 2000 has proved to be the world's gain. Seems to me that such a clear injustice was done to him that he has gained great moral stature. It is as if for the last 6 years he has been in exile, or falsely imprisoned, and has born it with dignity.
A comparable world figure has been Nelson Mandela, and for the same kind of reasons. But whereas Mr Mandela has used the resulting moral authority in the areas of human rights and international relations, both enormously important, Mr Gore has put his moral authority to work on the even more important issue of saving the very fabric of the world in which we live.
Had Al Gore become president in 2000 could he have acted on climate change and prevented these disastrously wasted 6 years? Well, probably, but he would also have been up against the deep pockets and immense bad faith of the energy companies. George Monbiot has a new book coming out (http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1875587,00.html) in which he analyses the way energy (and tobacco) companies have created fake 'debates' where there were none. Here is a telling comment about how the tobacco companies changed the meaning of words - '"Junk science" meant peer-reviewed studies showing that smoking was linked to cancer and other diseases. "Sound science" meant studies sponsored by the tobacco industry suggesting that the link was inconclusive.' This same terminology was then used for the climate deniers, and you will see echoes of this kind of misinformation ('junk science') in the trolls that infest HuffPo. Whether the trolls are paid by these same organisations, or have just been fooled by them, doesn't really matter, the effect is the same.
They have created a public and media environment in which action even by 'President Al Gore' would have been extremely difficult. But as a kind of king in exile, Mr Gore has been free to come out and pull aside the curtain hiding the Wizard of Oz and say boo. He has gained immense moral authority by having the presidency taken away from him, political capital if you will, and he has been spending it to enormous effect.
I have been very gloomy about the future, even as my daughter announces that a third grandchild is on the way. The 'Poland moment' seemed to be far distant, the tipping points (for example methane release from what is now tempafrost) coming at a frightening rate. Now I allow myself just a glimmer of hope. If Al Gore has really made the breakthrough, can the rest of us rush to consolidate before the energy companies fight back?
I might almost become a betting man and have a bet on that.