Well, I finally got out and saw Al’s movie. What can I say? It should be required that every kid in the country see it and then send a copy home with them so they can make their parents watch it. As a film it is very well done, including autobiography that actually has a context for his interest in climate change. The presentation is visually stunning and I’ve never seen complex information conveyed so clearly. Nothing like a lecture at all.
I don’t know what happened to Al Gore but this is probably the best campaign spot ever made. He is confident, sensitive, humorous, and above all, real and passionate. This guy should run for President again so we can rectify the terrible mistake made in 2000.
More posts coming related to this topic- the film is terrifying and entertaining and thought-provoking. You don’t get that combo very often.

The other day on NPR, I heard the first serious discussion of storing food and water in case of a breakdown in services or the need to stay in the house in the event of an outbreak of an infectious disease. These potential outbreaks are another indicator of climate change.
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Pierced.
Orlando, January 1999.
Warm moist green heat dawn. A breeze carries the scent of oleander and chlorine from the hotel pool and I can feel the light rising from behind the buildings on the resort’s campus. I am sitting on a concrete front step surrounded by tropical plants covered in heavy dew, fragrant lawns and winding crushed stone pathways. I’m waiting for a car to take me away and I am tired beyond tired; I wear my weariness like a shroud, a shroud that shrouds not only my movements but my entire outlook.
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You may notice I’ve included the venerable (and venerated) sci-fi classic Dune by Frank Herbert on my Reading list. That’s because this environmental tale has a lot of resonance when compared with various climate change scenarios. The universe revolves around a substance called Spice (oil) that comes out of the ground in the desert. Spice is the only thing that makes space travel possible and without it civilization will fall back into medieval ways.

The mythology and names (Bashar) are Arabic and the Fremen are nomads like the Bedouin. They control the oil, …err I mean spice.

A finely balanced environment creates the climate for spice production. Global powers seek to unbalance that environment to pursue their own agendas. A war breaks out over control of the spice, throwing the entire system into chaos.

The message is familiar: Our addiction to oil has led us to the potential destruction of our planet as a place friendly to human life, yet we continue to burn it and fight over it. And our political leaders don’t have the will to take any action.

Edit: I completely skipped over the response to environmental disaster that underlies the story. Arrakis, the desert planet, has no surface water. It is implied that it once was different. The native people have had to adapt drastically to survive this ancient cataclysm: moisture-reclaiming suits, a society that prizes toughness over any other consideration, the ability to live on very limited resources. Think about what a ten degree increase worldwide would mean to us. These fictional issues wouldn’t seem too draconian in a world where most major cities would be underwater, diseases run rampant and weather is violent and unpredictable.