Zach LarkinsROCK STARS
Guess who showed up in Toronto the other day with all sorts of groupies clamoring for tickets to see him? Right, former US Veep Al Gore, whose conversion from wooden politician to inspired eco-warrior brought him to Canada to promote his popular Oscar-nominated climate change documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" to sold-out audiences in Montreal and Toronto. I guess he's finally found his true calling. Instead of lying to people about politics, he is now lying to them about the effect glo-bull warming is going to have on us lowly minions.
Activists who have served for decades in the trenches of Canada's environmental movement welcomed the events, crediting Gore's newfound celebrity status with helping to silence naysayers in Canada and bringing badly needed credibility to the science of global warming. It's not what the ‘Deniers' are saying, but they are to be ignored as they disagree with Gore and his companion David Suzuki. The Deniers say that Gore, Suzuki, the UN and the IPCC are all ignoring the true reality of glo-bull warming and their ‘scientific credibility' is suspect to say the least. My earlier articles on Kyoto spell out what some of the scientific community has said about this subject, but as I stated, they are ignored or dismissed in favour of giving the Gore/Suzuki tag team the answers they want.
Stephen Hazell, executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada says, "(Gore) has given the claim that this is a serious issue a lot more credibility." And here I used to think the Sierra Club was one of the last bastions of reasoned thought. I guess I had it wrong.
"It's awfully important for Canada to live up to its reputation," Gore said before entering the Toronto event, but he also conceded it's "hard for me to say because my country is doing the worst job of anybody." Huh? The way I hear it, the US has reduced emissions more than Canada has. This has even been admitted to by Canadian politicians and scientists. While US emissions declined, Canada's rose by over 37%. How does that lead one to believe that the US "is doing the worst job of anybody."? I guess Gore might have had a political relapse.
Public relations guru Bernie Gauthier of Delta Media says that what is clear is that "people are excited, they're drawn to him, there's a buzz around Al Gore, which is a rare commodity." Gore's ability to draw audiences to a crisis that the former (recovering, in Gore's own words) politician, along with scientists and academics, has been trying to open eyes to for decades was hailed by University of Toronto professor Danny Harvey. "We've got to keep the pressure on," he said. "What Al Gore's show is is someone sighting the iceberg (and saying), 'Hey, there's an iceberg there, it really is there, and we're on a collision course. It has sensitized people but the point to emphasize is, the science has been clear for 30 years." Well, no it hasn't, but then if I point people to my articles about Kyoto for some facts, that would make me a Denier too, wouldn't it? I hope I don't get crossed off Suzuki's Christmas card list.
The former politician's reputation as being a rather dull sort didn't hurt either. "It was easy for people to be pleasantly surprised by the fact that, hey, look, he's quite entertaining in this film, he's quite dynamic and seems passionate about this issue," Gauthier said. Gore's star power was also welcomed by Anne Mitchell, executive director of the Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy. "We've got to take what we can," Mitchell said. If that's the best you can get Anne, we're in more trouble than we think.
Gore played to a sold out lecture at the University of Toronto, where he was greeted by a throng of supporters, two of whom displayed a bedsheet with the slogan "Heed the Goracle." Did you just get flashes of anti-Viet Nam war protesters running through your mind? Yeah, me too. In Montreal he spoke to business leaders and described Quebec as "the pivot of Canada," both politically and environmentally. Sorry, Al. Quebec knows how to take advantage of a situation and as long as it means money from Ottawa in their pockets, they'd support just about anything.
It is strange to note that at Mr. Gore's request, media were barred from taking notes at the Montreal event and from even attending the Toronto one. I wonder why? Perhaps some astute reporter would ask a question that would reveal the lies he's trying to spread. Seems to me that Suzuki did the same thing during a radio interview the other day. He walked off the set when asked questions that disagreed with his message. And people wonder why I put the two peas of Gore and Suzuki in the same pod.
Canada is following the trend in which politicians all across the spectrum compete for the green vote. Much to a thinking person's chagrin. Never mind what is right, never mind thinking for yourself, just follow the latest fad. But even those leading the charge know that the high profile cannot last. "It'll certainly fall to the back pages," said Suzuki, who on Monday gave a lecture in Toronto with Sir Nicholas Stern, the British government economist who has tried to forecast the economic costs of climate change. "The media has the concentration span of a hummingbird. Six months from now, people are going to be going, like, 'Ah Christ, we've covered this story a million times. What kind of new angle can we bring to it?' " he said. And with his vested interest, he'd better come up with a new angle in a hurry. The more people learn about the true facts, the sooner Gore and Suzuki will be out of a job.
In an interview earlier this week Suzuki called the current frenzy of interest in Gore's message a "bittersweet moment for me." "It's sweet that the environment, especially climate, has emerged as such a pressing issue. But it's bitter because in 1988 we were already there." Translated, Gore is getting bigger audiences than me and is liable to push me out of the limelight.
Gore by the way, was environmentally friendly, arriving at his sold-out speech to 1,500 at the University of Toronto's Convocation Hall in a gas powered limousine. Suzuki's no better. He is traipsing around the country in a sprawling, "rock-star-style" diesel-burning tour bus, emitting more greenhouse gases during his 30-day tour than many of us do in a year. Yeah, I guess Mr. Kyoto isn't so green after all. Jason Curan, a media staff member on the Suzuki tour said, "It's kind of too fancy for our needs, but it does the job." Yup, one of those big-ass, diesel-guzzling, carbon-spewing beasts, the kind that emits tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and supposedly contributes to some future catastrophic climate event, a veritable polar-bear killer on wheels would more than do the job. How are we supposed to take a guy like Suzuki seriously when he drives across Canada in one of the most polluting modes of transportation available? I don't see a lot of leadership there. Suzuki is the same guy who tells us if we're not car-pooling, switching to smaller, more efficient vehicles, using transit and other alternative modes of transportation, we're sticking it to our grandchildren. We're killing the Earth. You want to know how many people are travelling with Mr. Kyoto in this oversized carbon burner? Seven. Sometimes eight, including the bus driver. Eight people in a vehicle that could probably hold 30. But Suzuki says it's okay for his gang to burn diesel because the tour is "carbon neutral." They keep track of all the greenhouse gases they emit, put a dollar value on it and invest in a corresponding amount of "clean power", like windmills, in developing countries. So I guess you can pollute all you want as long as you "offset" your dirty power by investing money in clean energy elsewhere. So turn up your furnace, dump a few bucks into a green mutual fund and Bob's your uncle. Gore in the meantime was selling tickets to his show at $40 originally. The price soon went up to $500 each. I wish I could get a gig that paid that good. Who knew tree-huggers could be such fierce capitalists as well?
Sources: Tom Brodbeck Eco-icon Not So Green Winnipeg Sun Michele Mandel Tree Huggers Gored Toronto Sun
Joseph Brean Don't Follow US National Post
Gregory Bonnell Crusader Al Gore Canadian Press
Activists who have served for decades in the trenches of Canada's environmental movement welcomed the events, crediting Gore's newfound celebrity status with helping to silence naysayers in Canada and bringing badly needed credibility to the science of global warming. It's not what the ‘Deniers' are saying, but they are to be ignored as they disagree with Gore and his companion David Suzuki. The Deniers say that Gore, Suzuki, the UN and the IPCC are all ignoring the true reality of glo-bull warming and their ‘scientific credibility' is suspect to say the least. My earlier articles on Kyoto spell out what some of the scientific community has said about this subject, but as I stated, they are ignored or dismissed in favour of giving the Gore/Suzuki tag team the answers they want.
"It's awfully important for Canada to live up to its reputation," Gore said before entering the Toronto event, but he also conceded it's "hard for me to say because my country is doing the worst job of anybody." Huh? The way I hear it, the US has reduced emissions more than Canada has. This has even been admitted to by Canadian politicians and scientists. While US emissions declined, Canada's rose by over 37%. How does that lead one to believe that the US "is doing the worst job of anybody."? I guess Gore might have had a political relapse.
The former politician's reputation as being a rather dull sort didn't hurt either. "It was easy for people to be pleasantly surprised by the fact that, hey, look, he's quite entertaining in this film, he's quite dynamic and seems passionate about this issue," Gauthier said. Gore's star power was also welcomed by Anne Mitchell, executive director of the Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy. "We've got to take what we can," Mitchell said. If that's the best you can get Anne, we're in more trouble than we think.
Gore played to a sold out lecture at the University of Toronto, where he was greeted by a throng of supporters, two of whom displayed a bedsheet with the slogan "Heed the Goracle." Did you just get flashes of anti-Viet Nam war protesters running through your mind? Yeah, me too. In Montreal he spoke to business leaders and described Quebec as "the pivot of Canada," both politically and environmentally. Sorry, Al. Quebec knows how to take advantage of a situation and as long as it means money from Ottawa in their pockets, they'd support just about anything.
It is strange to note that at Mr. Gore's request, media were barred from taking notes at the Montreal event and from even attending the Toronto one. I wonder why? Perhaps some astute reporter would ask a question that would reveal the lies he's trying to spread. Seems to me that Suzuki did the same thing during a radio interview the other day. He walked off the set when asked questions that disagreed with his message. And people wonder why I put the two peas of Gore and Suzuki in the same pod.
Canada is following the trend in which politicians all across the spectrum compete for the green vote. Much to a thinking person's chagrin. Never mind what is right, never mind thinking for yourself, just follow the latest fad. But even those leading the charge know that the high profile cannot last. "It'll certainly fall to the back pages," said Suzuki, who on Monday gave a lecture in Toronto with Sir Nicholas Stern, the British government economist who has tried to forecast the economic costs of climate change. "The media has the concentration span of a hummingbird. Six months from now, people are going to be going, like, 'Ah Christ, we've covered this story a million times. What kind of new angle can we bring to it?' " he said. And with his vested interest, he'd better come up with a new angle in a hurry. The more people learn about the true facts, the sooner Gore and Suzuki will be out of a job.
In an interview earlier this week Suzuki called the current frenzy of interest in Gore's message a "bittersweet moment for me." "It's sweet that the environment, especially climate, has emerged as such a pressing issue. But it's bitter because in 1988 we were already there." Translated, Gore is getting bigger audiences than me and is liable to push me out of the limelight.
Gore by the way, was environmentally friendly, arriving at his sold-out speech to 1,500 at the University of Toronto's Convocation Hall in a gas powered limousine. Suzuki's no better. He is traipsing around the country in a sprawling, "rock-star-style" diesel-burning tour bus, emitting more greenhouse gases during his 30-day tour than many of us do in a year. Yeah, I guess Mr. Kyoto isn't so green after all. Jason Curan, a media staff member on the Suzuki tour said, "It's kind of too fancy for our needs, but it does the job." Yup, one of those big-ass, diesel-guzzling, carbon-spewing beasts, the kind that emits tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and supposedly contributes to some future catastrophic climate event, a veritable polar-bear killer on wheels would more than do the job. How are we supposed to take a guy like Suzuki seriously when he drives across Canada in one of the most polluting modes of transportation available? I don't see a lot of leadership there. Suzuki is the same guy who tells us if we're not car-pooling, switching to smaller, more efficient vehicles, using transit and other alternative modes of transportation, we're sticking it to our grandchildren. We're killing the Earth. You want to know how many people are travelling with Mr. Kyoto in this oversized carbon burner? Seven. Sometimes eight, including the bus driver. Eight people in a vehicle that could probably hold 30. But Suzuki says it's okay for his gang to burn diesel because the tour is "carbon neutral." They keep track of all the greenhouse gases they emit, put a dollar value on it and invest in a corresponding amount of "clean power", like windmills, in developing countries. So I guess you can pollute all you want as long as you "offset" your dirty power by investing money in clean energy elsewhere. So turn up your furnace, dump a few bucks into a green mutual fund and Bob's your uncle. Gore in the meantime was selling tickets to his show at $40 originally. The price soon went up to $500 each. I wish I could get a gig that paid that good. Who knew tree-huggers could be such fierce capitalists as well?
Sources: Tom Brodbeck Eco-icon Not So Green Winnipeg Sun Michele Mandel Tree Huggers Gored Toronto Sun
Joseph Brean Don't Follow US National Post
Gregory Bonnell Crusader Al Gore Canadian Press
