Al Gore: Earth is in 'Full-Scale Planetary Emergency'

[nam78_two]

http://www.space.com/news/061026_gore_space.html
snips:

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico—Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore has called for better use of the "space resource" to battle Earth's climate crisis, enlisting entrepreneurial muscle to help solve global issues that threaten the planet's habitability.

Gore said he has long been a fan of faster, cheaper, better approaches that allow the private sector to exploit the space resource "in a responsible and creative, and cost-efficient way."



Serious mistake

Labeling himself as a "recovering politician", the former U.S. Vice President under the Clinton Administration rebuked the recently released space policy by U.S. President George W. Bush.

Gore called the newly issued Bush space policy "a move in the wrong direction" and "a very serious mistake," and urged Summit listeners to analyze the policy "very carefully."


Humankind's actions

Earth's climate pattern is now being put at risk by humankind's actions, Gore said. "We face what I think should be described as a full-scale planetary emergency."

While aware such a phrase sounds shrill to many ears, Gore added that "unfortunately, I believe it is exactly dead-on accurate."

Gore cited increases in carbon dioxide, the thickening of the atmospheric blanket enveloping Earth, rising sea levels and the increased acidification of the world’s oceans that could completely disrupt the marine food chain.

"We have a climate crisis," Gore said. Humans first became aware of this fact while in space, he said, pointing to the 1968 flight of Apollo 8, when astronaut snapped a photograph showing a distant Earth, in all its beauty and fragility, rising beyond the Moon's barren horizon. The image, one of the most famous in history, caused a dramatic change in the consciousness of humankind, Gore said.

It was also the scientific study of near-Earth planetary neighbors—including Mars and Venus—that spurred the start of the earth sciences, Gore said. "It's still shocking to me that we have more detailed information in some fields about Mars and Venus than we have about Earth."

"Getting a perspective that can give us the ability to really understand and then effectively deal with the climate crisis is from the perspective of space," he said. "And government is not doing it, unfortunately. The private sector can."

[sam sarrha]

1. there are more jobs in resolving the environmental crisis than messing it up

and the Fascists want to keep the jobs tied up and cheap makin them money.. it is time for a revolt, grab your pitchforks and torches..

[bananas]

2. Wow - great quote: ""If the crib catches fire..."

Our planet has a rising fever, Gore said. "If the crib catches fire you don't say: ‘Hmmm, how fast is that crib going to burn? Has it ever burned before? Is my baby flame retardant?'"

[nam78_two]

3. Yup

:headbang:

Big Al rocks :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[The2ndWheel]

4. "faster, cheaper, better approaches"

"in a responsible and creative, and cost-efficient way."

This is the EXACT goddamn process that got us into this fucking mess. Just a bunch of jackass's.

It's always good to know that we will change nothing to solve problems. Just continue doing the same things that caused the problems. I don't know, seems brilliant.

[nam78_two]

7. I agree that I sometimes get tired of the

"lets use technology to fix this" meme.

But I have become so disenchanted and downhearted after years within the environmental movement-the people are often times as big a problem as the politicians and the corporations. No one wants to give up anything ya know....what can you do :shrug:?
I can give up stuff in my personal life, but in a free country you can't force people to do what you think they should do and excessive consumption seems the order of the day :(.

At this point I will take whatever I can get-Al's approach is at least gettign the genxers to pay attention-which while a slow and possibly doomed start, hey at least its a start of sorts...

Its something...

I am not as idealistic as I was when I was 17-I will take the lesser evil, I will take the lesser solution and so on to at least get the show started...

[The2ndWheel]

13. Yeah, that's the basic problem

Everyone wants everything. Even though we don't think we do, we still do have limits. We only artificially extend them. Like you said, what can you do? Other than to sit there and wait for the collapse into a more simplified form(entropy), there isn't anything to do. Individually you can do something, but if you don't use that extra _____, someone else will come along and use it instead. Not only that, we like making things more efficient, but that only causes more people to use, want, and expect more. So that does nothing to stop consumption.

It's a runaway train at this point. We can't stop voluntarily, because that would be killing billions around the planet. We will either continue to grow(as long as we have the required energy), or collapse. If we continue to grow, we'll have more of an impact on the eco-systems, which will then increase the possibility of collapse. So we're going to make things a lot worse, but we can't stop.

[Recursion]

12. As my engineer friend said:

"Good. Fast. Cheap. You can only pick two."

[The2ndWheel]

14. Yeah, tell that to humans

You'll be run out of town in a fast and cheap way.

[wiggs]

5. More dems candidates should talk about global warming and env. nt

[babydollhead]

6. kick

[rman]

8. climate crisis, resource crisis, fascism again

That's "Full-Scale Planetary Emergency" alright.

[progressoid]

9. Who cares? Lets talk about Madonna's baby.

[Uncle Joe]

10. Thanks for posting nam

Al said this too, regarding the urinary pResident's views on space policy.

"Gore said that the new space policy, in his view, ignores international law and consensus.

"If one nation takes it upon itself to assert its own unilateral definition of what world law should be -- without respect to what the rest of the world thinks about it—that's usually a mistake," Gore told Summit attendees. "Policy matters. Law matters. International law matters."

Hell, Bush can't think far enough ahead to go to the restroom without Condi's permission, it's dangerous for him to be thinking about space.

Kicked and recommended



:kick:

[Apollo11]

11. Simply The Best !!!

Nobody is better qualified to be President that Al Gore.

Almost makes me cry each time when I think what should have been ...

Gives me hope and strength to imagine what might still be ...

In Gore We Trust :)
www.algore.org
www.draftgore.com
www.draftgore2008.org
www.climatecrisis.net

[Porcupine]

15. Sorry Al, humans are stupid that way. Waiting for the Die Off...........

before they try and fix a problem they know is broken. Look how many people we let die before we put seatbelts on every car. Now multiply that cost-incentive imbalance by about 10 million.

[Gloria]

16. Gee, I didn't even know he was here....The insert in the paper didn't

list him on the program....

I'm not really sure the X-Prize and the Spaceport push for commercial space stuff is especially helpful to the planet. Sending up remains on the first trip seems a waste of money and just another source of emissions (the test failed and they couldn't locate the rocket for a couple of days--and couldn't figure out a way to reach the thing for a couple more days).

Then there is the Spaceport we're supposed to pay more taxes for...so that Branson can send up rich people like Victoria Principal for joy rides.

I'm not getting it.

Let's see if Gore's pleas to use some of all this to actually learn about Earth are heard instead of just being jaunts for those with money.