Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Sex, Lies, Snowmobiles and Waterfront Property.
So, Al Gore won an Oscar for his slideshow on global warming. Why should anybody be surprised? If alleged actors like Ronnie and Arnold can be elected to public office, why can’t a former public official be voted an Oscar? As Mel Brooks has said, “The thing you gotta know is everything is show biz!”
A counter to that sentiment might be that everything is politics. Some folks, notably those who vote Republican, have questioned Gore’s program and have even accused him of lying. Imagine, a politician accused of lying. I’m shocked, shocked to hear there is lying in politics!
But I don’t believe Al is lying. He’s been studying environmental issues for decades. His opinion about global warming is based on hard truths. That photo he presents of Mount Kilimanjaro with its glacier (the “snows of Mt. Kilimanjaro”) sharply receding is for real.
And Al is not alone in his thinking. Recently, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a report stating that they (more than 100 nations on the panel) agree that humans are responsible for global warming due to burning fossil fuels and the resulting greenhouse gases. That’s over 2500 scientists in the world’s leading authority on climate change.
They believe the world is in for a long period of very harsh weather. There will be rivers drying up and causing large deserts to form. There will be severe droughts, forest fires, insect infestations and disease. Climate change could cause crops to fail, producing hunger for vast populations. The group predicts that the forest industry could be hit by a warming climate. Wildfires, insect infestations and disease could result in losses in the timber industry of $1 to $2 billion over the next century.
And get this. The snowmobile industry, currently estimated at over $27 billion could suffer because it is dependent on natural snowfall. The network of developed snowmobile trails in the northeast will disappear. You might be able to get a real deal on an Arctic Cat!
The IPCC’s report also predicts a rise in ocean levels that could last for centuries. Hey, the vacation house we bought last summer on Cape Cod might just become oceanfront property yet!
Is this a wake up call?
A counter to that sentiment might be that everything is politics. Some folks, notably those who vote Republican, have questioned Gore’s program and have even accused him of lying. Imagine, a politician accused of lying. I’m shocked, shocked to hear there is lying in politics!
But I don’t believe Al is lying. He’s been studying environmental issues for decades. His opinion about global warming is based on hard truths. That photo he presents of Mount Kilimanjaro with its glacier (the “snows of Mt. Kilimanjaro”) sharply receding is for real.
And Al is not alone in his thinking. Recently, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a report stating that they (more than 100 nations on the panel) agree that humans are responsible for global warming due to burning fossil fuels and the resulting greenhouse gases. That’s over 2500 scientists in the world’s leading authority on climate change.
They believe the world is in for a long period of very harsh weather. There will be rivers drying up and causing large deserts to form. There will be severe droughts, forest fires, insect infestations and disease. Climate change could cause crops to fail, producing hunger for vast populations. The group predicts that the forest industry could be hit by a warming climate. Wildfires, insect infestations and disease could result in losses in the timber industry of $1 to $2 billion over the next century.
And get this. The snowmobile industry, currently estimated at over $27 billion could suffer because it is dependent on natural snowfall. The network of developed snowmobile trails in the northeast will disappear. You might be able to get a real deal on an Arctic Cat!
The IPCC’s report also predicts a rise in ocean levels that could last for centuries. Hey, the vacation house we bought last summer on Cape Cod might just become oceanfront property yet!
Is this a wake up call?
