Apr 03 2008
Al Gore: We Can Solve the Climate Crisis
Former Vice President Al Gore has started a new project recently. It’s called the We Campaign and is self-described as “a project of The Alliance for Climate Protection — a nonprofit, nonpartisan effort founded by Nobel laureate and former Vice President Al Gore. Our ultimate aim is to halt global warming. Specifically we are educating people in the US and around the world that the climate crisis is both urgent and solvable.”
It’s odd that they would describe themselves as nonpartisan. Other partisan groups that describe themselves as nonpartisan or bipartisan include the Fraser Institute, Heartland Institute, Discovery Institute, and The National Center for Policy Analysis.
In general, it seems that environmental groups do not advertise their nonpartisan status. It’s not because they think that environmental issues are inherently partisan. Nor is it because they are more partisan than the groups above. I doubt that anyone can tell me that the above four groups are actually nonpartisan with a straight face, even members of those groups. To be fair to the groups listed above, I checked out four environmental groups to see how they describe themselves. For three of the groups, I could not find the word nonpartisan being used to describe the group on their website. Those were the National Resource Defence Council, World Wildlife Fund, and Earth First. I did find mention in a state newsletter of the Sierra Club mentioning that they were nonpartisan.
Michael Tobis had a post about this yesterday that I mostly agree with.
People who don’t understand the facts aren’t especially likely to come up with useful actions.
Last weekend I went to the store. That not that unusual, I usually go to pick up my weeks worth of food and other necessities. While I was there, I picked up some light bulbs. I bought 2 of the old incandescent variety and 2 of the new compact fluorescents (CFL). As I was checking out, the bagger asked “don’t you know these [incandescent] blubs cause global warming?”
There aren’t many things that really irritated me, but this did. [Note: there are many, many things that slightly irriate me.] I know that incandescent bulbs are less energy efficient than the new CFLs. That’s why I bought two of the new ones. But why did I buy the old inefficient ones if they’re not as good as the new ones?
First of all, I rent an apartment. I recently had the second of four light bulbs go out on a four bulb fixture. When there was only one bulb out, it still provided enough light to function. However, when the second bulb went out it didn’t output enough light. So I got the two CFL bulbs to replace them. However, I decided not to renew my rent for next year. Those CFL things are expensive - mine cost about $10 each. I’ll only be in this apartment for about 4 more months. That’s quite a price to pay for two light bulbs. So I decided to take the CFLs with me to my new place. Hence, the cheap incandecents.
But even if I didn’t have a reason to buy the old bulbs, they still don’t cause global warming. The carbon dioxide emissions are not coming from the bulb, they come from the energy source. This is most likely a coal-fired power plant. But for all I know, I could be getting my electricity from solar panels. It’s unlikely in my case because I’m connected to the power grid and don’t pay to have the “green” energy.
However, the bagger at the store had no idea that I didn’t have an array of solar panels on my roof. Or if there was some special reason why I needed the incandescents. If you’re bagging groceries, ask yourself what those plastic bags are made out of. If you can’t think of anything besides “plastic”, then keep your thoughts on saving the environment to yourself.
Energy conservation and environmental issues are important, but what’s more important is to know why they are important. Slogans to “save the environment” or “save the polar bears” and other public relations stunts are worthless unless there is an public understanding of why it is important to do so.
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5 Responses to “Al Gore: We Can Solve the Climate Crisis”
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First, non partisan has very particular legal meaning related to endorsing candidates and lobbying for legislation. Second, climate issues are not by nature partisan.
[Reply: I'm not sure about the first issue, but the second one should be true. Not just for climate issues, but for all science issues. However, it seems from casual observance that those on the left side of the aisle have higher degree of support for science issues than their counterparts on the right. The point was that just because some group says they're non partisan doesn't mean they don't play partisan political games.]
Did you say anything to the guy?
[Reply: I mumbled something about needing them. But in general, I don't know what to say in situations like this. I like that he was obviously thinking about the environment and really don't want to discourage that. However, I equally don't want him to become a thoughtless, tree-hugging drone either.]
Nonpartisan allows tax exempt donation.
Figures Al Gore was behind all of those idiotic ads. I figured who ever it was was very well funded, and I noticed at the end they seemed to suggest that those stupid destructive wind mills were some sort of solution, which they are not at all.
Wanna take a bite out of Global Warming? Forget wind mills and goofy lightbulbs, support and use public transportation. 50% of our CO2 comes from our cars, if we are going to do anything about Global Warming we should start by reducing our need to drive everywhere. Then we will not have to worry about the price of gas.
Forget alternative energy too! Not just wind farms but all of it. Poor people are going to start starving this year because they cannot afford grain, because we are burning it all, and hydrogen is never going to work. Quit wasting money on stupid crap where us common people see no benefit.
Simply build better cities, and better railroads so people do not need to drive or fly, then tax the shit out of gas. With the tax revenue from the gas, you can fund the transit programs and build nuke plants.
Will the politicians say this? Hell no! Al Gore already has big plans to make the big bucks off of his carbon trading market, which will do nothing to reduce carbon consumpsion, nothing for the public benefit like mass transit would, and just make everything more expensive.
Screw Al Gore!
Have the cashier check the label next time - there’s a good chance the CFL bulbs were made in China while the old school incandescents were made in the USA. How much “global warming” is “caused” by shipping the CFL bulbs from China vs shipping incandescent bulbs within the US? The energy used in the manufacturing process in the US is also typically “cleaner” than that used in China, too.