http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/conte...OA.html?sid=101

Gore calls for quick action on warming

Monday, May 5, 2008 3:15 AM
By Jennifer Smith Richards

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH


More than 3,000 heard former vice president Al Gore discuss the environment in a speech at Value City Arena.

Last night, Al Gore preached to the choir.

The polar ice caps are melting at an alarming rate, droughts are dragging on, floods are getting stronger and today alone, an additional 170 million tons of carbon dioxide has been dumped into the Earth's atmosphere, he told a crowd of believers at Value City Arena.

"The planet has a fever," he said. It needs to be saved, to be fixed immediately.

"This is our home. We don't have another planet to go to. Don't let anybody tell you we're going to get on rocket ships and go to a new planet. We couldn't even evacuate New Orleans."

Ohio State University students got free tickets to yesterday's show, which was casually called a lecture but drew a crowd of about 3,000. Gore, a former vice president who ran for president twice and has become a publicist for planet Earth, cracked jokes about his life as an environmental crusader.

He said this, by way of introduction: "I am Al Gore. I used to be the next president of the United States of America."

Nonstudents shelled out $37.50 plus service fees to hear the same call to action that Gore has been delivering for years in his even-keeled southern drawl.

There was nothing flashy. Gore's backdrop was a simple stage with red curtain. He didn't show clips of his 2006 movie, An Inconvenient Truth, which won two Academy Awards.

He didn't hawk the accompanying book. He didn't speak of his Nobel Peace Prize. He said he was not interested in re-entering politics and he would not say which of the presidential candidates he prefers.

And he didn't care if the media attended. No credentials were issued to reporters who wanted to cover the event, although the promoters said they couldn't explain why.

"He's not saying anything new. He's just collecting everything and presenting it in a forceful manner. He just makes the point very convincingly," said Christian Schnell, a graduate student from Germany who is studying math.

A volunteer from the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium and an ambassador for polar bears came to learn and advance the cause of climate-change awareness.

"We lost 1 million square miles of ice last summer alone, and if you don't have ice, you don't have polar bears," said Robert Buchanan, president of Polar Bears International.

Buchanan was in town to help promote the zoo's upcoming polar bear exhibit.

Gore told the audience, "I don't know if you've noticed, but the price of oil is going up and coal is dirty. The climate crisis is, in my opinion, the single biggest challenge the human species has ever confronted."

And this, he said, is how to confront it: Force politicians to hold major polluters accountable for their contributions to global warming.

"We can change our light bulbs, but we also have to change our laws," Gore said.

Inform yourselves, he told the crowd, spread the word and, most importantly, log on to www.wecansolveit.org, a project of Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection.

Do you think AL is really concerned with global warming or is he GOING GREEN by lining his pockets and making his bank account bigger


Note to dbomb: Your warn level has been elevated to 100%. Anymore posts like this and they'll be deleted and you'll be permanently banned. Thanks, The Management

He has given most of his money that he has won to his global warming project. He made his money from his business not from the green effort.

What business is that????????????

Current TV, Investment Company, Apple and Google, speaking engagements to name a few.

This is the newest attack line by the "haters" out there of Gore, the right, the global climate change deniers, etc., I've noticed. There are lots of articles floating around the net about how Gore is profitting from investing in climate change. Well, guess what? There is NOTHING wrong with that and EVERYTHING right with that! We should all be investing green!!!! It is all part of the effort to save the planet and what is wrong with capitalism, isn't that one of the things that the global warming deniers are so upset about, that divesting from fossil fuels and the status quo and investing in a greener life will somehow cost jobs and ruin the economy, and is all somehow part of a vast, left-wing conspiracy to lead us from capitalism to socialism? Gore is leading by showing green investment pays off. Good for him!!! PLUS, he has donated MILLIONS of his own money into creating awareness and action in the world to turn around global climate change. In other words: it is all good, so take your hater spin somewhere else. We admire and love Gore around here. I personally am a working-class pup who only makes around 30k per year but I plan to chat to my 401(k) plan advisor soon to switch all my piddly little investment per paycheck into green investments. Currently, I only have about 15% going into a specifically green fund. I'm going to put the whole enchilada in there, even though it isn't good to have all your eggs in one basket. But the planetary crisis is urgent and, as the old Wrice anti-drug march chant goes, "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem". Investing green is a GOOD thing, and if it pays off for the investor as well as the planet, even better! No shame in that, Gore should be proud. I'm proud of him. I aspire to be like him. He's leading us to a better future. To even having a future at all, actually. There is no way you can spin that and make it a bad thing. The right is supposedly all about capitalism, so what is bad about making money from green investing? I see only good, admirable qualities in Gore.

Why is it that Republicans always have such a problem with Dems making money? Are Republicans the only ones allowed to get rich?

True, James, but the more important point here is for people to understand that Gore isn't profiting from his green crusade. But because he's such a visionary [sigh :rolleyes:], he became involved with businesses that yielded him enormous amounts of money, such as Apple, Google, etc.

Good for him. :clap:

But, Earth-M, as I said above, even if Gore DOES profit from green investing, isn't that a GOOD thing? Isn't that leading by example, putting your money where your mouth is, and showing that green investing pays off to the investor, too, not just to saving the planet (which apparently is secondary to the repug types out there...who cares if they have a planet to live on, as long as they make money while the ship is going down)? Isn't that something to be proud of?

As I said, Gore has donated a tremendous amount of his personal money to campaigns to educate and activate us all about global climate change. And, of course, he has donated a profound amount of his time and energy to the cause as well. There is no "conflict of interest" if he also makes some profit from green investing, in fact, he is putting his money where his mouth is.

It is the OPPOSITE of a conflict of interest, as Gore is putting his money where his interest and passion is. Good for him! As James said, are repugs the only ones allowed to make money? If repugs want to be outraged about a REAL conflict of interest, tell them to watch "Fahrenheit 9.11" and see how Bush's entire presidency is about one thing: enriching himself and his oil cronies. PERIOD. And he doesn't care how much American blood, ethics, reputation, rule of law, economic health or anything else is shed in the process. Where is the outrage of the right over that? Instead they are mad that Gore invests in green, visionary corporations that respect the earth which sustains us and make money at the same time?

I will never understand the right as long as I live. It's that simple.

True, H-Chad. I just want to be sure people like dbomb understand that most of Gore's wealth has come from personal business investments unrelated to his green crusade. And they should also know that most of the proceeds from things like An Inconvenient Truth have gone toward fighting climate change, as has the Nobel Prize money.

Global Warming?!

Or French! :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: