Last night, my wife and I were able to go and hear Al Gore speak at a local synagogue. So while I try to keep this brief, I could probably write a blog the size of Maine.
While it was mostly his famous “Inconvenient Truth” presentation, three other things struck me.
The first was that the movie was an abbreviated form of the presentation. There was a lot more information, some of which was only a few weeks old. This impresses me in that he’s not resting on his laurels. He’s improving his presentation all the time.
Then there’s his demeanor. Not only is he more passionate than I had seen, but he’s also more humorous. He’s a pretty funny guy. Some of this comes across in the movie in saying things like “I am Al Gore… I used to be the next American President.” But he also related stories to make the experience seem more unique than just going to see a keynote presentation (Apple’s version of PowerPoint).
The last thing that truly jumps out is that I remember is the large amounts of pandering to the organizers in the introduction and peppered throughout the evening. This is part of what seems like either he can’t get away from his political past, or he intentionally keeping it within grasp.
So to reuse some things I’ve said previously, the biggest problem was that like myself, almost everyone in attendance was there just to meet him. We’re not the ones that needed to see this type of presentation. This would have been better if it was in a much larger venue and possibly opened for educational establishments to attend for free or at a reduced price.
Then there’s my overarching view on global warming. The critics call it a ruse and/or call Gore Chicken Little for claiming that the sky is falling. My point to them is lets say we act on global warming and they end up proving that it was not the case sometime in the future… What’s the worst that can happen? We use some money learning to become more efficient and environmental. No one dies like being wrong about armed conflict. It’s things like learning to generate electricity from oceanic tides. How is that so harmful? Chances are that any money we do spend is recouped in the form of technological prowess gained. But if you reverse that scenario, what if global warming is the case and we do nothing about it? But to worry about that is to know the possible consequences. Those possibilities keep me up some nights.
I did see a very funny bumper-sticker in the parking lot that resembled a Prius rally. “Gore / Obama: Let’s re-elect our president”. I really think that he should be president at some point soon. Not only is he more viable than any other current candidate, but he’s also what the world needs in an environmental leader in a position of power with the looming crisis that is taking place.