Al Gore At The NY Botanical Gardens

[RestoreGore]

I wrote this last September after taking part in listening to this most informative symposium on climate change on the Internet from the NY Botanical Gardens. I wanted to share it because to me these kinds of events bring home the passion and conviction Al Gore has for this issue, as well as showcasing other voices in this cause. This is being posted as first written last September.
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I just came from the live webcast at the NY Botanical Gardens where Al Gore and an array of very distinquished climate scientists and environmentalists spoke this morning, so please excuse any inconsistencies in this report on it, as I am writing it from memory.

Their information was invaluable, and the message from all of them was clear: WE have to start to truly take this seriously and bring that urgency on an enmasse scale to politicians and others and force them to now make changes to mitigate the effects we are already seeing from our rapacious consumption and lack of human will to stop it.

Dr. Thomas Lovejoy was the first speaker, and he gave a very informative talk about the changes of climate and its effect on biodiversity, mentioning rising sea levels, CO2 rise in concert with rising temperatures, and retreating glaciers (mentioning that tropical glaciers will be gone in 15 years.) He also spoke about increased intensity of storms and cyclones, earlier flowering dates and bird migrations, the reduction of Arctic winter ice, and the proliferation of wildfires that are increasing.

As the climate warms animals react, and so he also discussed migration of species and the cloud forest of Costa Rice, noting that the first species to be lost due to human induced climate change was the Golden Toad. The Quetzel, a bird held as sacred by the Mayans was also noted as moving up in altitude because of changing conditions in the cloud forest because of the increasing number of dry days. The Amazon which is the lungs of our planet was also discussed in regards to stark changes in climate and drought conditions.

Acidity of the oceans was covered by him as well as other speakers as it is very important to the biodiversity of the ocean which also is the link to the food chain that also threatens our sustainability as well. Increased acidity causing a severe reduction in PH balance is causing many shell creatures to not be able to survive as they lack the calcium carbonate needed to regenerate, and also stops the regeneration of coral reefs. He also explained that there is 30% more acidity in the oceans now than in the pre industrial age.

He finally explained changes because of methane being released from warming of tundra specifically in Siberia, and that the changes may well be abrupt and explained the "global convenyor belt" which is the flow of oceans from the Pacific which is warm, to the West Indian Ocean where it cools thus becoming denser, sinking, and then recycling itself back. That could be in great jeopardy with an influx of fresh water from melting glaciers which may stop that process.

Solutions were increasing conservation, connectivity with other species, and reducing the stresses on natural systems... all of which we have more than enough power to do (that was my personal feeling.)

The next speaker was Cameron Wake, who discussed primarily changes in the Northeast and showing documentaiton of how and why climate changes. His charts regarding natural variability and human influence both combined show without a doubt that in the last thirty years we can see a definite spike in warming due to human contribution.

The Northeast as well has warmed over the last thirty years with winter temperatures up 4.3 percent between 1971-2002, as opposed to only a 2.3 increase before. This does have an effect on precipitation as well regarding the amount of events and their intensity, which also then does effect other species and also the management of resources in these areas. One thing he also mentioned that was very important was that the coast here is sinking while the sea level is rising.

Dr David Wolf, the next speaker, then talked about climate and farming, particularly regarding apples in the NY region that are not producing as they used to because of warmer climates, but also mentioned that the wine industry is actually picking up because of the importation of European wine grapes that take to warmer climates. However, he explained that the warmer climates would cause more detriment than good regarding climate changes by using apples an example. Obviously, because we can't live on wine. He also said there were two reports coming out on this, one on October 4 and one in January 2007, and that anyone who wished more detailed information on this can go to: http://www.climateandfarming.org

The next speaker was Elizabeth (sorry have to get her last name) who gave a very good talk about her stay at a station in I believe one of the poles, but I had to then restart my computer because it was givng me a problem so I missed a couple of minutes of her talk. However, the ending where she explained that the boobs in this administration believed that as long as we cannot tell when catastrophe will hit we can keep going on as usual was spot on. She specifically mentioned Paula Dobriansky, a do nothing no show when it comes to attending climate talks for this adminsitration. She also spoke of ice sheets, their rate of retreat, noting that ice sheets in Greenland have doubled in retreat between 1996-2005, and acidity levels in oceans.

Next there was a brief panel discussion, and though I cannot recall all of the names of those on the panel, they were intelligent and spot on in their discussion of this issue and in the fact that there has not been the groundswell from the public on this that there must be (though it was beginning with the 238 towns which signed onto the Mayor's Initiative, California's legislation, and other states) in order for politicians to listen to it. I actually find it sad that politicians actually need such a groundswell in order to know what the right thing is. You would think if they had a moral compass they would already know that... oh well... A very true point made by one of the panelists was that if we cannot once again bring forth the same moral response to this as we did regarding the Civil Rights movement (especially among our youth) that we have no chance in this.

Anyway, they then had a brief question and answer session that was going along well until of course, someone stood up to ask the panel that had been trying to reach people to do something, if they could persuade Al Gore to run for President... they immediately went on to another question. Thank God. WHY does someone always have to ruin it by validating that for all of the serious talk out here about US needing to do something, it matters not to those who think all they need to do is call for a savior as if everything being said before that meant nothing! (But of course, on certain sites as usual, some only wished to once again desribe this event as a political pep rally for Al Gore which is a bald faced lie and unfair to his conviction on this issue.)

Sigh.

Mr. Gore then spoke and he was focused, serious, and actually to me a bit agitated as he discussed this topic today. Perhaps because the discussion previously was again validating that the reaction this issue got thirty years ago from the political beltway still has not changed on a grand scale at the Federal level, mainly because most money donated to candidates goes to ADS rather than IDEAS. Mr. Gore (who also referred to politics as his "former" occupation) spoke on that a bit and also about the moral aspects of this issue, saying that it was a challenge to his moral imagination how we could be destroying this planet and that he always had difficulty discussing that. I say amen to that!

I believe as he is traveling this world and seeing how truly serious this is even though we have what we need to mitigate this crisis, the slow pace of movement on a global level especially from this country is starting to concern him, and frankly, it is me as well. I do believe political will is a renewable resource too, but you need moral politicians to renew it and you need informed citizens willing to do more than just talk about it. He spoke again about disenthralling ourselves, our rapacious ways (including very wasteful tar sands oil development in Canada which he equated to a junkie using his toe to inject his fix because he simply has to have it,) and our lack of communication and overcoming pettiness to solve this crisis in an age of technology and increasing population. He talked about an initiative being brought forth soon by the Alliance for Climate Protection that will call for a carbon cap program, sequestation, and a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2025 (which I personally do not believe is enough.)

He then spoke about the slideshow training that he is going to be starting in Nashville this month and announced that training is expanding to Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Africa! And yes, I am VERY excited about that! His words once again appealed to our moral conscience, and the more I listened to him speak of this with the courage of conviction regarding this issue in his voice, the more I realized that he truly has found a higher calling. And lucky for this planet that he has. However, it won't be saved unless we all find that calling.

I know I didn't get it all, but I tried to give the jist of this most informative and important event. Thank you to the NY Botanical Gardens for this live webcast. It informed me, educated me, and will move me to more action, for that is the next stage after education: ACTION.

See:
http://www.iian.ibeam.com/events/nybg001/20218/

[RestoreGore]

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