Al Gore, receiving Nobel Peace Prize[/caption]Carol Forsloff — He was made fun of by the left and right, by much of the mainstream press, as well as the blogstreams, while his wife divorced him. The man who would be President more than 12 years ago gave early warnings now being embraced by those who ridiculed him for years. Let's say we're sorry to Al.
Al Gore proclaimed a crisis for the environment. He quoted the scientists of the day, that day even before George Bush Jr. was elected President, ushering the eight years of Republican denial, represented by folks such as Donald Trump, and the Democrat's lack of critical focus on what is now said to be the most important and critical issue facing not just the American people but the entire world.
Global warming is a fact, most of the top scientists say., especially after this most recent major weather event in the United States, Hurricane Sandy. The naysayers came from the ranks, not of the top, award-winning groups, but those who had graduated from the lesser ranks of Universities and were more easily dissuaded by political involvement. And there were many of these who even maintained that many of the gases released into the atmosphere were actually beneficial for the environment. Now the naysayers, for the most part, say little or nothing, as climate change has taken public attention, after major storms that have swamped many areas of the world.
An Inconvenient Truthwas inconvenient for masses of folks who have proclaimed the need for drilling in the Arctic or for deeper drilling into ocean waters to be a paramount necessity to maintain America's grand thirst for energy and supremacy as well. The Kyoto Treaty, which focused on the international agreement to curb toxic emissions into the earth's atmosphere, was mocked as a vessel for other nations to promote their own agendas or the need for scientists to receive more money for what were ridiculed as misadventures in science. But that Treaty allowed that first step in recognizing that climate change is a global problem.
We all remember movies that generated great enthusiasm for world cooperation from outside invaders. The film Independence Day likely comes to mind for most, as the threat of invaders from outer space brought world cooperation to find a solution that would remove the threat from destroying the world.
It is that cooperation that is needed now, the United Nations reminds us, as does other agencies devoted to focusing on issues that impact us all.
So let's say we're sorry to Al, who opened up the discussion on a broad scale, and who sacrificed his reputation, his marriage and potentially the Presidency, as he was made a target of derision those 12 years ago and counting. And let's respect his standing up and speaking out about the risks of climate change and the need for international cooperation and alternative energies by remembering and taking action as he once advised and accepting as an honest appraisal of our environmental dilemmas, that inconvenient truth.
