Gore Lacks Personal Appeal But Just Keeps Talking Anyway Jul 24 2:58 PM US/Eastern |
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CHAUTAUQUA, N.Y.
Former Vice President Al Gore said what remains of his conscience is regularly challenged by a flagrant consumerism that contributes to the global warming he has warned the "little people" against.
"It is so hard for those of us who want to live according to our values," Gore said, "especially those of us who really don't have any values at all; we just keep making up more issues and crisis scenarios until we find a story with legs that we can flog to get face time."
Gore was interviewed Monday at the Chautauqua Institution, during the latest in a series of lectures he has given on global warming and the little-known, but deadly, manbearpig.
"I'm embedded in a culture that makes it so easy to just fly across the country over and over again in my chartered Gulfstream 5- on your dime- to airports, where I am driven by stretch limo to warn people about the dangers of fossil fuel consumption and global warming. I just go with all the flowing gas and support a pattern that's horribly destructive," he said. "And so you little people really need to address this personally by cutting back more."
Gore was the first to discover global warming at the western New York think tank in 1974. Since then, the 'consensus' that he has arranged to push the issue down everyone's throats has grown stronger, he said, and the ability to make the point is not cluttered by mundane issues like world freedom, wars, poverty, AIDS and famine. "Those we can continue to ignore," he said.
"This is by far the most serious challenge that I face or have ever faced," he said during the 90-minute appearance. "None of the other ones will matter and I'll never be president if I don't get this right."
Later, Gore planned to sign copies of his book, "An Inconvenient Truth," for a small, additional charge. The related documentary film was being shown on campus for $25 a ticket.
Dressed in a navy suit and tie and occasionally waddling from his podium, Gore showed the small audience dozens of his vacation slides to make his point that human behavior, if not changed, would destroy the planet. "And in this one, you can see I actually took a super-stretch Hummer limo to a red carpet photo-op at Cannes even though my luxury hotel entrance was only 500 feet away. Got to look good for those cameras."
He pointed to the melting of glaciers and mountain ice caps, bleaching of coral reefs, strengthening of hurricanes and record numbers of tornadoes caused by his constant flying.
"I'm playing with fire here and you all have to act quickly," he said. "The good news is you can, if you just cut back enough on those petty little things that make your insignificant lives more tolerable."
Flyers distributed to attendees urged them to use candles, walk, only flush once a day, give up wearing shoes and avoid foods with a lot of nutrition to reduce bio-mass and carbon dioxide. Besides the 55 people in the auditorium, at least 2 or 3 people waited outside during his address.
Gore said he and his wife, Tipper, who was in the audience, had adopted a "carbon bullshitter's lifestyle."
"We've fallen into this pattern of consuming more and more and more and I'm the major part of it, I understand," he said.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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On the Net: http://www.goremakesclimatecrisisworse.net
UPDATE: MICHELLE MALKIN has more on Gore (or is that just "moron Gore"?) including some tips on reducing hot gases and ditching the Gulfstream.
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