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Stanford Lecture on Global Warming« Thread Started on Dec 12

Daily newsbrief journal for December 2005, also see http://www.usdemocrats.com/brief for a global 100-page perpetual brief and follow twitter @usdemocrats


Stanford Lecture on Global Warming« Thread Started on Dec 12

Postby admin » Thu Jan 26, 2012 1:49 pm

Stanford Lecture on Global Warming« Thread Started on Dec 12, 2005, 4:02am » --------------------------------------------------------------------------------Al Gore's speech at StanfordDELIVERS LECTURE ON GLOBAL WARMINGBy Paul Rogersread source: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercuryn ... 347621.htm Mercury News There were no grades, pop quizzes or textbooks. But a speech by former Vice President Al Gore at Stanford University on Tuesday night offered more than 1,000 pupils a crash course in global warming.Speaking at Stanford's Memorial Auditorium, Gore presented little in the way of politics or sound bites, delivering a 90-minute tutorial on climate change, and its causes, effects and predicted remedies.``If we allow this to happen, it is profoundly unethical,'' he said, stalking the stage without notes, clicking away furiously at a video presentation on a giant screen. ``It is deeply immoral. This is not a political issue, it is a moral issue.''The 10 hottest years since the mid-1800s all have occurred since 1990, he noted. Species worldwide, from birds to amphibians to polar bears, already are exhibiting symptoms of disruption and harm. Coral reefs, bleached from warmer, more acidic ocean water, are dying at unprecedented rates.``It is relentless,'' Gore said. ``It is continuing.''Sponsored by the Stanford Institute for the Environment, and titled ``Silicon Valley Takes on Global Warming,'' the presentation was an invitation-only event for Stanford students, professors and alumni. They were joined by environmental leaders, including Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope and Environmental Defense Executive Director Fred Krupp, along with dozens of Silicon Valley business leaders, such as venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, one of the founders of Sun Microsystems.Ironically, although Gore said the public's understanding and the media's coverage of global warming contain far more doubt than climate scientists believe is warranted, he attempted to close the talk to the media. Public affairs officials for several large environmental groups, as well as Stanford representatives, said they were surprised and disappointed by the decision, reportedly made because Gore has copyrighted the presentation and is working to package it for a broad public audience.Although Gore gained attention in the 2004 presidential race after he appeared to move left, endorsing Howard Dean and bitterly criticizing President Bush, Tuesday he preferred to remain in the role of apolitical professor for most of the evening.At one point, the former vice president -- who now sits on the board of Apple Computer, serves as a senior adviser to Google and works as chairman of Current, a new TV network -- displayed a photograph of the Earth from space. When he was in grade school, he joked, one of his classmates noted that the continents seemed to have shapes that might have once fit together -- and asked whether that were true.The teacher laughed at the idea, now a widely held scientific view.``The student went on to become a drug addict,'' Gore joked in slow, somber tones. ``And the teacher went on to be science adviser in the current White House.''The most politically biting jokes were delivered by Gore's opening speaker, Terry Tamminen, the top environmental adviser and Cabinet secretary of Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.Tamminen began his remarks by reading from a piece of paper he said was given to him by TV producer and environmental activist Laurie David: ``The top five things President Bush says he will do to address global warming.''Among the satirical suggestions made by Tamminen: switching the power on Vice President Dick Cheney's pacemaker to nuclear power, and invading Silicon Valley to secure more solar panels.``The No. 1 thing President Bush says he will do to address global warming?'' Tamminen asked as the audience roared. ``Wait two years. President Al Gore will fix it.''Tamminen went on to explain a host of Schwarzenegger's green initiatives, including his proposed ``Million Solar Roofs'' and ``Hydrogen Highway'' initiatives.In one of the more dramatic moments of the evening, Gore displayed a half-dozen photos of glaciers around the world, shown decades ago thick with ice, and today melting or significantly receded. One image of Mount Kilimanjaro showed most of its famous snow gone.Scientists say the warming climate already is causing hurricanes to intensify in power, Gore noted. Last year, Japan also had the most typhoons on record and the United States had the most tornadoes in recorded history.Melting in Greenland and Antarctica is raising sea levels and disrupting currents, threatening to put large sections of Florida, India, China and Western Europe under water by the end of the century. Meanwhile, he added, the oil industry has muddled the debate, attempting to show uncertainty, even as nearly every major scientific body in the world agrees that global warming is occurring and being caused by human activities. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------Contact Paul Rogers at progers@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5045.
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