Seven Generational Ruminations

Al Gore, the big time promotor of environmental awareness and alarming people of global warming... you'd think he'd be living in a super green house and driving a super green car, right? One would hope he'd put his money where his mouth is.

Al Gore's home is a typical mansion of the rich elite in all its energy wasting glory.

George W. Bush's home in Crawford Texas is the epitome of off-the-grid living with every sort of sustainable energy gizmo you could think of.

If only GW would do for the country what he does for himself in his own home.

The island, part of a chain called the Sundarbans, was first settled by farmers in colonial times when the authorities decided to expand rice production to feed the multitudes in the city of Calcutta.

But when I visited Ghoramara there was powerful evidence that soil erosion caused in part by farming and the rising surrounding sea level caused by global warming were gradually making the island disappear.

Apparently while scientists are applauding the attention Al Gore is bringing to the issue of global warming, they're (some of them) concerned about the little details and wish he would cool the hype. It's not clear whether this article is the typical bashing that's been aimed in the direction of Al Gore and his movie An Inconvenient Truth, bashing that says he's full of bunk or that there is a legitimate debate going on.

Bears are supposed to hibernate in the winter, right? That's what we were told as school children, etc. Climate Change vs Mother Nature: Scientists reveal that bears have stopped hibernating discusses changing habits of brown bears in Northern Spain. They are most decidedly not sleeping off the winter any longer.

The article describes that since the temperature has risen the bears are now finding it energetically worthwhile to make the effort to stay awake and hunt for food.

Rising sea levels engulfing Indian world heritage islands concerns islands in the Sunderbans that are being submerged by rising water levels. Where are the Sunderbans? Glad you asked because I didn't know until reading this article...

Climate Change Melts Kilimanjaro's Snows ... in An Inconvenient Truth one of the factoids Al Gore mentions is the melting of the glaciers at the peak of Mount Kilamanjaro and some neighboring mountains. One of my co-workers was born in Kenya and last year he made a special trip there so he could climb that mountain one time before the snow on the mountain disappears.

These retreating glaciers are part of a global pattern of long-standing mountain-top glaciers disappearing.

Gore urges scientists to warn public about global warming discusses a speech given by Al Gore to the American Geophysical Union in which he repeats his call for more awareness and urgency to solve the problems of Global Warming. He described television as the cause for the apathy over global warming in this way: "The well-informed citizenry has become the well-entertained audience ... The age of print that began with Gutenberg essentially ended."

Interview: Al Gore explains how you can fight global warming: Is an interview of Al Gore about what people can do to decrease their carbon emissions, and steps individuals can take to fight global warming. An Inconvenient Truth