Global Warming Movie Draws Big Crowd to State Theater; Debate Heats Up
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Only 24 percent of Americans polled consider Al Gore an environmental expert.
Pete Sinclair is a local expert on the cutting edge of global warming issues.
The YWCA of Bay County drew a big crowd to the showing of "Inconvenient Truth," the Al Gore produced Oscar winning documentary, and a follow-up presentation and question and answer period by local expert Pete Sinclair last Friday night.
Rasmussen Reports said a survey conducted in December found that 45% of Americans consider Global Warming a "very serious issue."
But, there are partisan divisions visible throughout the data, according to Rasmussen. Fifty-six percent (56%) of Democrats say human activity is the cause while 51% of Republicans identify long-term planetary trends as the culprit.
A Fox News commentator during a lively debate last week said "the American people will not tolerate a reduction in their lifestyle" that will be required to deal with global warming.
Overall, 47% see a conflict between environmental protection and economic growth. Twenty-nine percent (29%) do not.
Earlier surveys by Rasmussen Reports have found that Americans strongly prefer development of alternative energy sources rather than conservation efforts. Most also support development of new nuclear power plants.
Former Vice President Al Gore, who won the Academy Award for producing the film, is the subject of nationwide controversy. Only 24 percent of Americans consider him an expert on the environment and 47 percent say he is not an expert, according to Rasmussen Reports, one of the nation's best known polling firms.
According to Rasmussen, some 54 percent of those polled say it is not likely Gore will run for President, an issue that is the subject of much speculation. This columnist disagrees; after watching the film, a large part of which is the Al Gore life story, it seems clear that if Gore is not going to run for President he went to a great deal of trouble and expense to produce the film.
In the opinion of this columnist, this isn't, and shouldn't be a partisan issue. In that sense, it is too bad that Mr. Gore is such a large part of the film because that in itself triggers partisan dissent and takes away from critical analysis that is so crucial to this issue. If Mr. Gore is even partly right we have a major world crisis to deal with, and fast. When large corporations, pension funds and insurance companies are out front, you know the issue is for real: can you say MONEY?
Mr. Sinclair of Midland, an artist, nurse and environmentalist, updated the movie and answered questions after the film shown at the State Theatre last week, commenting:
"Make no mistake, EVERY major scientific group that has devoted resources to the climate issue has very clearly stated that 1) global climate change is real, 2)Humans are doing it, and 3) The consequences will be severe, if we do not act.
These groups and websites for reader reference include:
The American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Meteorological Society http://www.climatepolicy.org/ http://www.ametsoc.org/policy/2007climatechange.html)
The American Geophysical Union The National Academy of Science http://dels.nas.edu/globalchange/)
Mr. Sinclair continued:
"In fact, the National Academies of the US, UK, Canada, France, Germany,Italy, Russia, China, Japan, India, and Brazil, have all signed a joint statement warning of Climate Change and its consequences. That statement is available online at http://nationalacademies.org/onpi/06072005.pdf
"Now the economic community has weighed in. Sir Nicholas Stern, who heads Britain's Government Economic Service and formerly served as the World Bank's chief economist, states, "There's still time to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, if we act now and act internationally,... But the task is urgent. Delaying action, even by a decade or two, will take us into dangerous territory. We must not let this window of opportunity close." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/30/AR2006103000269.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6096084.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6098362.stm
"Echoing Stern, highly respected economist Paul Volcker, former Federal Reserve Chairman under Ronald Reagan, has recently stated that arguments that measures to mitigate warming would be economically harmful are "fundamentally false..... First of all, I don't think (such a step) is going to have that much of an impact on the economy overall. Second of all, if you don't do it, you can be sure that the economy will go down the drain in the next 30 years."
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/02/06/news/FIN-GEN-Egypt-Volcker-Global-Warming.php
Now, major corporations and investment houses in the US are taking Climate seriously, arguing that the US government should expedite policies to make uniform rules to reduce CO2/greenhouse emissions by 50 to 90 percent by 2050.
Governments around the world are taking action. Australia has banned incandescent light bulbs, and is moving toward high efficiency lighting that could reduce electrical demand for lighting by 50 to 80 percent. Ontario, and California are following suit, and a bill has been introduced in Congress for a national ban in the US. http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/ca36_harman/March_15.html
General Motors has introduced an electric vehicle concept, the Chevy Volt, for production in 2010-11, Toyota is promising a super efficient plug in hybrid version of their Prius. Both of these vehicles could improve normal commuter's gas mileage effectively to over 150 miles per gallon. http://www.chevrolet.com/electriccar/ http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/01/the_buzz_around.php
"Political will is needed to craft a US law that is as effective and forward looking as the recent legislation in California, Minnesota, New England, and other states, that set bold targets for cutting CO2 emissions." http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/10/15/ING3JLM9791.DTL
"Many giant corporations are finding that reducing greenhouse gas emissions is not only easy, but very profitable. www.sciam.com/media/pdf/Lovinsforweb.pdf
Impacts and resources for Climate solutions in Michigan http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/global_warming/ucssolutionMIfinal.pdf
http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/global_warming/ucssummaryMI-updated-final.pdf ###
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