Listen to the Former Future President

I saw Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth yesterday. This is something everyone should see.

Vice President Gore - or, as he jokingly referred to himself, "the man who used to be the Next President of the United States" - offers a clear, understandable, personal, relatable lesson on all of the history, science, and predictions of global warming. Much of the movie shows Gore's power-point lecture where he explains what global warming is, what the symptoms are, what "canaries in the coal mine" are giving us hints of worse damage to come, and what the possibilities for the future are if we continue to damage the environment at the current rate. Let it be said... if we had all seen this Al Gore in 2000, the funny, personable, passionate, inspiring man rather than the focus-grouped, pollster-ed Gore-Bot, he *would* be our President.

I won't even attempt to explain the science of it here, just go see the movie. There are fascinating and astounding statistics about how our civilization - the golabal civilization - both abuses and depends on the Earth. Did you know that 40% of the world's population gets its drinking water from runoff from Himalayan glaciers? And that these glaciers are receding at an alarming rate? Did you know that the melting of the ice caps and/or Greenland - which is already happening now - could change the ocean currents and have a dramatic effect on all of the world's climate? Did you know that the higher intensity storms and the migration of such formerly tropical diseases as West Nile Virus are related to the warming of the Earth? Did you know that a major ice shelf in Antarctica has started to melt and break apart? Did you know that 2005 was the warmest year on record, ever?

Suffice it to say the possible scenarios for the next 50 years are not something we want to happen. They're not something we should let happen.

The movie and its companion site provides a number of recommendations for what people can do to help turn the tide.

• To start out with, check to see if your city is one of the 243 that has signed the Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. The US as a nation may be refusing to sign the Kyoto Protocol, but the state of California and many major and mid-sized cities and towns across the country have pledged themselves to reduce emissions and work for a greener future. Washington, DC has signed the Agreement.
• Calculate your own carbon footprint. Mine is 10,500 pounds/year, less than the American average of 15,000 pounds/year, but that's mainly because I don't own a car. Learn what you can do personally to increase your energy efficiency and reduce your own carbon pollution.
• Walk. Take Metro. Carpool. Buy a hybrid car, or encourage others to.

Mr. Gore is going to be speaking at noon at Olsson's Penn Quarter on Wednesday. I'm going to try my darnedest to be there and get a little inspiration in person.