A convenient set of otherwise unrelated facts

I was fortunate enough to be invited to an advance screening of “An Inconvenient Truth” last night. The highlight was where I was sitting. In the seat in front of me was punked out luddite- white streaks in his hair and metal in his face, and a girlfriend with an equally unappealing visage and a Greenpeace patch on what was left of her jacket. The seat directly behind me was the former Prime Minister (L- Not my father's windsor) and at least two members of his campaign team that I recognized. It was a bad Agatha Christie novel gone bad- ten little environmentalists.

In eight years of working experience on the climate change file, I have never seen a better piece of advocacy. Al Gore (D- Tennesse/Antartica) is the best environmental lobbyist I have ever seen. This is indisputable. It is too bad that most of his would be colleagues lack the articulate and convincing style that he has.

His presentation is perfect in what it includes and leaves out- for example (a particularly germane one, give a few recent conversations I have had) when dealing with scientific uncertainty on the impact of climate change, he said “there is virtually no serious disagreement remaining on any of these central points that make up the consensus view of the world scientific community.” What he doesn’t tell you is that the consensus position is:

a) we need more study;

b) there are about 50 other important variables that we actually know about that have to be factored in and;

c) the central point to which he is referring to is that climate change is happening.

The "consensus" does not suggest that humans are contributing to it, nor does it suggest that the alleged greenhouse effect is causing it, or that the alleged greenhouse effect is caused by CO2, Methane, Nitrous Oxide and HFC/PFC and SF6. It is a “choose your own scientific adventure” of “if not NOx then why?”

The last time Al Gore wrote a book on this issue, the main thesis was the United States had a moral obligation to export a revolutionary environmental policy in the form of a “global Marshall plan.” One chapter was dedicated to how Senator Gore (D- Tenneszzzzzz) (as he then was) believed it to be un-Christian to do otherwise. Earth in Balance also made Gore a millionaire. In government circles, however, it was almost entirely ignored.

This new foray is not directed at the government directly, though it is critical of the current administration on many levels. The thesis of this newest work is that the problem is with you, the viewer. He says it is a political issue, a moral issue. I couldn’t agree more.

In fact, taken in the abstract, there were only three sentences uttered in the movie that I did not hole-heartedly agree with. Ultimately, it is how the droid pulled them all together that is the problem- not just with his piece, but with the movement in general. What Al needs is a lesson on the three C’s: causation, correlation and coincidence.

Of course, he did take a shot at the Oil industry and claimed by proxy that they killed the electric car. Malarkey. EWE (you, the new environmentalists) wouldn’t spend an extra $12,000.00 on the electric car, which is what killed it. If only about 20,000 more EWEs wanted to spend the money, then repairing it wouldn’t have cost $650 an hour. Market. Forces. Drive. Change. Period. If I could own a hydrogen car at the same price, I would. Alternatively, if I could write off the full value of the electric car, I would own one tomorrow.

This movie is also not an add for the flawed Kyoto protocol. Kyoto is an unworkable framework for future reductions of GHGs. If Al was serious about Kyoto, he wouldn’t have allowed for the third world exception when he wrote it. In fact, he shows how the third world is/will be the key source of the “problem” in the future.

I truly believe that CO2 emissions should be reduced. It is, by even the most liberal definition, waste. Waste is bad for the economy. He said that we can do something to curb our waste, and we have worked politically to solve an environmental problem before- his example of CFCs is perfect. I agree with both statements.

CFC’s are not, however, the same as GHGs. Carbon Dioxide is a necessity for life. Our planet creates more CO2 in a minute then all of the oil industry does in a year. When I say that to environmentalists, they say “but we are the straw…” And here, Al breaks from the pack. He says that CO2 levels are way above normal, and will be three times the highest peak they have ever been in 45 years. The problem with this analysis is that it is taken in the abstract and is defined to show a problem that hasn’t had a chance to heal itself. Yes, you heard me. Heal itself. Our planet is the most awesome force on it.

That said, I am going to do the things that Mr. Gore said- I am going to tell everyone that I know to see this film. Why? Because this movie is really just a 90 minute advertisement for clean, safe and underdeveloped nuclear power. If Al had said that at the end of the movie, most of the luddite classes head’s would have exploded.