Congrats, Al!
The prize is well-deserved!
I’m surprised, and frankly a little shocked, at all the vitriol he’s getting from the right. Of course I’m also surprised that there are still global warming doubters out there, highly militant ones no less. At this point the science is practically incontrovertible, and the effects readily apparent. And even if the end wasn’t quite nigh, what’s so bad about conserving resources, trying to be less wasteful overall? Yes it will take a bit (or perhaps a lot) of habit-breaking, and in the case of large institutions, instituting and implementing new best practices. (I swear, that’s all the management-speak you’re getting from me today.) But we’re working with finite matter, and we’re bound to turn over several generations before the heat death of the universe. Might as well make our little patch of the cosmos a generally nice place for those that come after us. Granted we’ve also got to stop bombing each other. One step at a time.
But then I suppose some may be out to discredit the messenger, not necessarily the message. After all, he is the former Democratic VP, and riding as high as he is now, an incredibly viable candidate for the top job. Of course he has all but ruled it out-but it seems that the right-wing spin doctors aren’t taking any chances. So out come the big guns for full-frontal character assassination.
Now ordinarily I’d write this off as another incident of right-wingers being right-wingers. I’d be steamed, but not enough to blog about it. The past seven years have worn me down into a steaming little stub, one blatant injustice after another-frankly I’m tired of being so angry all the time.
But here’s the thing. The message is so important that it really shouldn’t matter who the messenger is. What if a Republican of some renown said, “You know what? We’re destroying our planet-what can we do about it?” (Hey, it could happen!) I’d probably not agree with anything else this Republican stood for. I probably wouldn’t vote for them in an election. But if they presented their argument coherently, with mostly solid facts-I’d be willing to forgive a handful of perhaps trivial factual inaccuracies, and even an alarmist tone-I’d listen. I’d spread the word. I’d even buy the thoughtfully-packaged DVD.
As for the pundits? I’d give them hell, but they seem bent on making sure we get it here on earth. If they get their way they’ll get their due. But then we’d have to suffer right alongside them.
I’m surprised, and frankly a little shocked, at all the vitriol he’s getting from the right. Of course I’m also surprised that there are still global warming doubters out there, highly militant ones no less. At this point the science is practically incontrovertible, and the effects readily apparent. And even if the end wasn’t quite nigh, what’s so bad about conserving resources, trying to be less wasteful overall? Yes it will take a bit (or perhaps a lot) of habit-breaking, and in the case of large institutions, instituting and implementing new best practices. (I swear, that’s all the management-speak you’re getting from me today.) But we’re working with finite matter, and we’re bound to turn over several generations before the heat death of the universe. Might as well make our little patch of the cosmos a generally nice place for those that come after us. Granted we’ve also got to stop bombing each other. One step at a time.
But then I suppose some may be out to discredit the messenger, not necessarily the message. After all, he is the former Democratic VP, and riding as high as he is now, an incredibly viable candidate for the top job. Of course he has all but ruled it out-but it seems that the right-wing spin doctors aren’t taking any chances. So out come the big guns for full-frontal character assassination.
Now ordinarily I’d write this off as another incident of right-wingers being right-wingers. I’d be steamed, but not enough to blog about it. The past seven years have worn me down into a steaming little stub, one blatant injustice after another-frankly I’m tired of being so angry all the time.
But here’s the thing. The message is so important that it really shouldn’t matter who the messenger is. What if a Republican of some renown said, “You know what? We’re destroying our planet-what can we do about it?” (Hey, it could happen!) I’d probably not agree with anything else this Republican stood for. I probably wouldn’t vote for them in an election. But if they presented their argument coherently, with mostly solid facts-I’d be willing to forgive a handful of perhaps trivial factual inaccuracies, and even an alarmist tone-I’d listen. I’d spread the word. I’d even buy the thoughtfully-packaged DVD.
As for the pundits? I’d give them hell, but they seem bent on making sure we get it here on earth. If they get their way they’ll get their due. But then we’d have to suffer right alongside them.