UK scientists defend Gore film

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk Two of the UK's leading climate scientists have hit out at the judge who made the controversial ruling last week on Al Gore's movie An Inconvenient Truth Professor Chris Rapley, head of the Science Museum (and also a Gore science adviser) and Professor John Shepherd from the National Oceanography Centre accuse the judge of misleading the public by ruling that Gore had made "errors". The professors have no grouse with Mr Justice Burton's main conclusion that Al Gore's film should be accompanied by guidance notes in class. And they agree that Gore presented some climate extreme scenarios. the judge's comments themselves were liable to misinterpretation. He put the word "errors" in inverted commas because the points were debatable rather than wrong. But the professors say the judge should have known the error word would be repeated in the media without its inverted commas. They say in general Gore's film presented an exceptionally high standard of scientific accuracy

Live Earth to reach two billion world over

Al Gore has recruited Australian-based Cathy Zoi to run the Alliance for Climate Protection he set up six months ago.

"It will be the first great note in a worldwide song demanding change that will be heard on every continent in every time zone," Zoi says of the concerts.

"Post Live Earth, the Alliance for Climate Protection is undertaking a three- to five-year campaign to educate people from all walks of life that the climate crisis is both critically urgent and something we can solve."

One such action is the Live Earth's outreach program, called Friends of Live Earth. Some 6000 people have applied for kits to run their own events simultaneously with the concerts.

A key part of Live Earth will be to get people around the world to sign a seven-part pledge that commits them to lobby their governments.

This is much more than a feel-good exercise: the event organisers plan to capture a massive database of people who can be mobilised in future campaigns - and be asked to donate.

On the night there will also be six calls to action, says Zoi. One is to install four energy saving light bulbs in their home. If the event is as big as organisers hope, they will be able to quantify the impact and use it in future publicity.

clipped from www.smh.com.au WILL the biggest global media event in history be enough to convince George Bush and John Howard that climate change is an urgent problem? The former vice-president turned climate change campaigner, Al Gore, certainly hopes it will provide a good nudge along the road to requiring nations to reduce greenhouse gases by 90 per cent by 2050. The Live Earth concerts this weekend, which will be broadcast worldwide on television and the internet to reach more than 2 billion people, begin in Sydney and cascade around the world to Tokyo, Shanghai, Johannesburg, Hamburg, London, Rio de Janeiro and New York where Gore will be. For the first time, China will participate. There are two special events: from Toji temple in Kyoto and from the British scientific base in Antarctica. "The climate crisis requires a global solution," said Kevin Wall - the man behind Live Aid and Live8 - and now this event. "Live Earth is using an unprecedented media architecture to reach a global audience."

At last! Al Gore planning to run...

..his house on solar power. I think it is great that the Get Gore campaign got Gore going. When it comes to walking-the-talk, he is running - emissions-free, from his manor. So thinks Green Options:

clipped from www.greenoptions.com Sign seen in front of Al Gore's mansion in the posh Belle Meade section of Nashville Thursday, indicating Gore is moving forward with plans for solar panels to help power his mansion. Here's a link to the the Belle Meade Board of Zoning Appeals meeting agenda - there are no details on the size of the solar panels, how much power they'll generate, or whether or not they'll be tied into the grid via a "net metering" arrangement so Gore can sell excess power to the grid through a "net metering" arrangement. by Ecotality blogger Bill Hobbs

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Thank god I don't live in that country...

I thought John Howard allowing the fossil-fuel industry to make up our greenhouse gas policy was bad enough, but when a government environment department in another Axis-of-Ignorance country is this brazen about pushing US government propaganda I become grateful for small mercies: :::[U.S. Senate Committee on Environmental and Public Works: GORE REFUSES TO TAKE PERSONAL ENERGY ETHICS PLEDGE]

“Are you willing to make a commitment here today by taking this pledge to consume no more energy for use in your residence than the average American household by one year from today?” Senator Inhofe asked [of Al Gore]

As a believer:
· that human-caused global warming is a moral, ethical, and spiritual issue affecting our survival;

· that home energy use is a key component of overall energy use;

· that reducing my fossil fuel-based home energy usage will lead to lower greenhouse gas emissions; and

· that leaders on moral issues should lead by example;

I pledge to consume no more energy for use in my residence than the average American household by March 21, 2008.”

Gore said no to the stunt. Why would he take such stupid pledge? The rather witless proposition from Inhofe is that people taking their emissions outputs to that of average output will lead to an lower average. But more importantly, energy use is not the problem - it is the energy source, and if Al Gore wants to use more than the average American household, especially more green energy, good luck to him.

This a skirmish in what has become apparent as the War on Gore; Sen. Inhofe did not let Al Gore answer in full after asking for the pledge. He had his EPW website press release in mind.

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Best Documentary: An Inconvenient Truth

In a boon to PowerPoint, Al Gore picked up an unlikely Oscar for his documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. This will bring his message to a wider audience. The more that see his engaging presentation about the current state of the science of global warming, and what it is telling us, the better the catalyses. By any measure this once obscure science being honoured with Hollywood's highest accolade is an astounding state of affairs, and is a reflection of the impact that global warming is having as it moves to the center stage of mainstream consciousness. It is the third highest grossing documentary of all time and has netted over $US24 million to date.

Read Grist.org for their review, still considered and insightful after 18 months, explaining why An Inconvenient Truth works as a cinematic experience.

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Howard's vapourware or Al Gore's hard truth?

John Howard is in China. He's looking to sell Australia's non-expertise in yet-to-be-developed clean-coal messiah technology. It's only expected to potentially bear fruit under favourable conditions at some abstract time in the 20's. In software development this is called vapourware, but the irony of Howard's hawkings gives the term a new context. When considering the value of Howard's offer, the most mercantile Chinese need to understand Howard's view on "core" and "non-core" promises. Especially since he is flogging them nuclear energy as well. Surprising, this ladling uranium in India and China when the PM is not touting the "War on Terror" -- yet another new context for "vapourware".

Meanwhile Al Gore is across the Japan Sea running hard in the other direction. He's explaining to the Kyoto Protocol hosts how short the window is in which to get it right and seriously reduce emissions. Most climate scientists say ten years, so I guess Gore does not have five to waste: :::[Reuters]

Jan. 15 -Al Gore says that he will not run in the 2008 election, saying he was involved in "a different kind of campaign."

Al Gore, who is currently in Japan promoting his award-winning documentary "An Inconvenient Truth", spoke with journalists in Tokyo, saying, "The U.S. should be leading the world toward a solution for this climate crisis instead of leading in the other direction."

So... who gets your vote in this different kind of campaign? Gore may be passing up the chance to run in the US Presidential Elections, but he will be running in a different kind of way in the upcoming Australian Federal Elections. And in the next Japanese elections. And in the elections every country he promotes his movie, "An Inconvenient Truth".

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An Inconvenient Truth conveniently on YouTube

Please note: Video has been since been pulled by YouTube. Go and see it in the big screen.

It's not like YouTube needs its profile raised after featuring in Time Magazines Person on the Year article, but it is now hosting An Inconvenient Truth in nine 10-minute parts. Distributed freely to 16 million unique users per month, potentially, this give a huge reach to a powerpoint presentation that Al Gore's first started touting on the road 25 years or so ago. If you have seen the documentary, you could imagine Al Gore's gratification. This man who has devoted his life's work to his message, possibly the most unpopular one a messenger could have to bear, and got up and did it the old fashioned way, the hard way - going out and speaking to whoever would listen, and doing it again and again. And never quitting. City by city, family by family. At rotary town halls to the US Congress, and then some.



Jeff at Sustainablog is keeping an eye on whether it is an official release or a fan's initiative, favouring the latter possibility. If you, the newby, are blown away by what you see on YouTube, go and spend the $16.00 or so for the glacier cracking and shearing off into the ocean on the big-screen in dolby-stereo experience.





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