Al Gore on the Climate Crisis

By Michael J.W. Stickings

If you only read one thing today -- other than this blog, of course, and the blogs of my great contributors -- this should be it: Al Gore's "The Crisis Comes Ashore" at The New Republic. It reminds me once again why, to me, Al Gore is the world's greatest political figure, and certainly the political figure I admire most. If I could pick one person to be president of the United States, or even leader of the world, he'd be it.

Make sure to read the whole thing, but here's a key passage:

It is understandable that the administration will be focused on the immediate crisis in the Gulf of Mexico. But this is a consciousness-shifting event. It is one of those clarifying moments that brings a rare opportunity to take the longer view. Unless we change our present course soon, the future of human civilization will be in dire jeopardy. Just as we feel a sense of urgency in demanding that this ongoing oil spill be stopped, we should feel an even greater sense of urgency in demanding that the much larger and more dangerous ongoing emissions of global warming pollution must also be stopped to make the world safe from the climate crisis that is building all around us.

It is a brilliant articulation of the need for concerted international action to combat global warming, as well as a firm rebuttal to the industry-funded anti-climate propaganda that threatens "our ability to understand and trust the conclusions reached by the most elaborate and impressive scientific assessment in the history of our civilization."