Al Gore and WE
July 11, 2007
“Moving Beyond Kyoto”, The New York Times, July 1, 2007 1
“We – the human species – have arrived at a moment of decision.”
“What is at risk of being destroyed is not our planet itself, but the conditions that have made it hospitable for human beings”.
“We – all of us – now face a universal threat. Though it is not from outside this world, it is nevertheless cosmic in scale.”
With these empathetic words Al Gore claims, that this is not a political but a moral issue that affects the survival of human civilisation, in a recent article in The New York Times1.
Should WE – all of us – be happy that Al Gore not only makes ‘Live Earth’ concerts available around the globe, but also demands the rapid conclusion of a tougher climate change pact, to reduce carbon emission, as it appears to him, that there is, after all, a planetary emergency; or
Should WE – all of us – be on high alert when being advised by someone who seems to care little for historical context when saying:
“Just in the last few months, new studies have shown that the north pole ice cap – which helps the planet cool itself – is melting nearly three times faster than the most pessimistic computer models predicted” 1;
Such claim is imprudent, superficial and grossly misleading as long as the dramatic arctic warming at Spitsbergen from 1918 to 1940 is ignored and not sufficiently explained.
WE – all of us – should be very reserved, if a well-documented climatic event only 90 years ago has neither been thoroughly investigated nor reasonably explained until now.
(see on this site: Chapter D – 20th Century Climate)
WE – all of us – and Al Gore should ask 2:
ARCTIC WARMIG – Where? When? Why?
Footnotes:
- Al Gore, “Moving Beyond Kyoto”, in:
THE NEW YORK TIMES, OP-ED, Sunday, July 1, 2007, WK 13 - Click here: http://www.arctic-warming.com
Note: This is the current Hot Topic on www.1ocean-1climate.com. You can click here for the Hot Topics Archive.
