Trudy Haynes With Al Gore 4/06

[RestoreGore]

Run time: 03:51 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVR_m4RUhgM   Posted on YouTube: July 17, 2006 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: May 16, 2007 By DU Member: RestoreGore Views on DU: 626

 
One year ago, An Inconvenient Truth reached the consciousness of the American people and the world. In this video, Al Gore answers a couple of questions with Trudy Haynes in Philadelphia about the movie, and the preview is shown. The sincerity with which he discusses this crisis makes me proud to be a supporter of this man and his work. He is so correct that this crisis IS the challenge our generation and the next generation must address, but it will only be solved (what can be solved now) by everyone joining in a global plan of action from changing our lifestyles all the way up to demanding policy changes on all levels of government.

That is why I wish to ask: In the year since this important film came into your consciousness, what have you personally done that you would like to share in regards to lifestyle changes and other actions to help solve this crisis? I certainly hope that one year from now we are not still sitting here waiting to act. I certainly hope we are not here discussing another Hurricane Katrina or some other catastrophe that will take place because we continued to wait.

As the words of Melissa Etheridge's great song for the movie state:

I need to move
I need to wake up
I need to change
I need to shake up
I need to speak out
Or something's gonna break up
I've been asleep, and I need to wake up now.

That I is you and me.

[RestoreGore]

1. No replies to the question?

Not one thing? Not changed one light bulb? Wrote one letter? Shared one copy of this movie?

[RestoreGore]

2. OK, I'll start

I have gotten my carbon footprint down to almost zero. I have nothing but CFL bulbs in my home, I recycle, do not use plastic bags, use cloth bags when I shop at the grocery, buy local, do not eat meat, do not leave appliances on standby, check the tire presure on my car regularly, stay within speed limits when I drive which is rare because I choose to walk or take mass transit unless I am going on a highway, and have offset my other usage by donating what I can afford on an American worker's salary to organizations that build water pumps for people in developing countries and plant trees.

I have written letters to my Governor, my Senators, my Mayor, my city council, my local newspaper, and have written many letters to other publications that have trashed Mr. Gore's work to set them straight. I have talked to hundreds of people about An Inconvenient Truth, given copies to my high school, the university, my co-workers, and have loaned my own copy out to at least twenty people including my son's Science teacher who have in turn showed it to their families, etc. I applied to the Climate Project because I was prepared to learn the slide show unfortunately not being one of the 1000 selected to this point, but that hasn't deterred me from getting the word out, and I did one presentation in my home on this that actually converted my neighbor in regards to understanding this crisis, so that at least was a start.

I have literally signed hundreds of petitions, blogged about this every day, talked to people everyday, participated in environemtnal events calling for carbon reductions, and continue my work regarding the global water crisis. I currently have a petition that is located in my signature that plants a tree in the shape of a heart in the heart of Niger for every 100 signatures I get to mitigate deforestation and poverty (thank you Tree Nation) that is being signed by people all over the world pledging to become climate messengers.

And I'm not finished yet, because this crisis is the greatest challenge we will face and I believe An Inconvenient Truth was the catalyst for a grassroots movement to see the damage WE are doing to this planet and to realize that the pale blue dot we all survive on is precious and rare and will not survive unless we do our duty to preserve it. And the most important thing I have done and am doing, is to instill this in my child which is why I am taking him to Live Earth because this is most definitely a moral issue.