My Choice

After a very long break from blogging...

The dogmas of the past are quite inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew.

So said Abraham Lincoln in his Second Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862. Last year, Al Gore recalled these words to express the need for greater clarity in thinking and greater urgency in acting on climate change.

I admit that I am feeling the need to think anew on the issue of climate change. I am relatively ignorant and passive at the moment, partly because I feel the science is too far over my head, but I see that that is not a worthy excuse. I am in two minds over whether I will try and read Al Gore's latest book, Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis. I am sure it will be based on good scientific research and I like that it is analysing various solutions rather than just describing the problem. That said, I didn't like the last Al Gore book I read, The Assault on Reason. Although I thought it had some really important things to say, it was so infuriatingly political and intolerably biased. As a 'call to action,' Our Choice promises to be more of the same. Also, since I probably won't be able to see where the science is weak, I will basically have to choose to trust it. And, as a general rule, I don't trust politicians too much.

I was very interested to read that the book incorporates 'the spiritual dimension of climate change, the idea that God gave man stewardship over the earth, and that preserving it for future generations is a sacred obligation'. In an interview, Gore said that he had 'trained 200 Christian ministers and lay leaders' in a presentation 'filled with scriptural references'. He said, 'It's probably my favorite version [of the presentation], but I don't use it much because it can come off as proselytizing'. (Imagine that! A politician hesitant in proselytizing. I would have thought his whole career, including this book, would be based on converting others to his own beliefs - certainly that has been the case in every word I have ever heard come out of his mouth. I know, I know, he means specifically religious proselytizing, but it's still pretty ironic.) Anyways, even if the spiritual is referred to only as a point of connection with the religious, I am impressed that Gore is trying to look at the issue holistically.

At least if I do get around to reading the book I can do so in good faith knowing that it 'will feature 100% recycled paper, locally produced and sourced editions, low VOC inks, and will be carbon neutral' (which should save 1,513 trees and 126,000 pounds of carbon dioxide) and all profits go to Gore's initiative, The Alliance for Climate Protection. What is there to lose...except for $15.78?