Time Running Out

The realities about global warming are sinking in. That was demonstrated by the overflow crowd that packed UVM's Ira Allen Chapel last night to hear a speech by Laurie David, producer of the blockbuster flick An Inconvenient Truth. About 1000 people packed the main floor and more than 300 squeezed into the overflow space downstairs.

Laurie David called global warming  "the most urgent challenge of our lifetime."

"This is not just my opinion, but the opinion of the world’s scientists. And although they’ve been largely ignored in the last two decades, and muzzled or rewritten for the last few years, they have now concluded we have less than 10 years to slow global warming down or we’ll be set on a course we will not be able to correct. This is the conclusion of the world’s most respected experts, the most cautious group of individuals on the planet saying we have less than 10 years.

"James Hansen, a scientist at NASA and one of my personal heroes, told me recently and I quote, 'Because of human activity we are already guaranteed two degrees of warming, but we dare not go above that.'

Hearing Hansen, who spent three decades studying the issue, say that, sent shivers up my spine."

As it damn well should.

"There is now more carbon dioxide in our atmosphere than in the last - think about this number - 650,000 years. As CO2 levels go up, temperature goes up with them. This is a fact and it’s indisputable. And the world is putting an additional 70 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere everyday. July 2005 to June 2006 was the hottest 12 month period in the history of temperature measurements in the United States - 2300 heat records were broken in the month of July alone."

Global warming, ignored by President George W. Bush and considered theoretical by GOP congressional candidate Martha Rainville as recently as July, is projected, said David, "to completely alter your forests and lead to the eventual disappearance of the sugar maple.

"Can you imagine the core of who you are as a community changing forever - the sugar maples, the fall leaves, the ski season all at stake? "

Scary. We simply cannot ignore it any longer.

"This is not about politics, it’s about ethics. It’s against every value we all hold near and dear to know we are altering life, screwing up our climate system, wrecking havoc on weather patterns and continue to do nothing about it."

And David told the overflow crowd there is still time to save the planet but action must commence immediately. We must make dramatic adjustments in how we do things, she said, within the next 10 years - max!

Check out StopGlobalWarming.org and read David's amazing piece in Sunday's Washington Post. And then let's start talking more to one another about it. OK?

Comments

[Liz Schlegel]

I was at a conference yesterday focused on Vermont tourism and I did not hear the words "Global Warming" mentioned by the keynote speakers at all. It was sure the elephant in the room as far as I was concerned!

[jessica oski]

In an interview on the radio, Laurie David mentioned that the National Science Teachers Assoication refused an offer of 50,000 free copies her DVD "An Inconvenient Truth". To find out why - check out the article at this link:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112806N.shtml

[mtbikevt]

Yeah and did you catch the news this AM. The comment from the, I believe, President of the Vermont Ski Areas Assoc was that "I would take this weather at this time of year anytime. As long as we get the snow by the Holidays". Me thinks he is part of the problem not the solution to Global Warming. For god's sake he is the president of an organization that relies completely on cold weather and snow and he likes that its 60 freaking degrees on the last day of November. What the hell is the matter with these people.

[Ethan Allen]

I just read yesterday's "responsible gun ownership" posting. We all want responsible gun ownership. What we don't agree on is what that means. For many I fear it means guns would only be in the hands of the police. And the recent shooting of unarmed men by police in NYC shows the police are not there to "serve and protect" us, they are there to serve and protect themselves.
I do not like the mayor saying he is for Responsible gun ownership without explaining exactly what that means. It puts people who disagree with him having to argue that they are not for irresponsible gun ownership.
It reminds me of businesses that use smart in their name: Smart Growth, Smart Cars, Smart Electrical Boxes. Just saying your idea or product is smart doesn't make it so. The mayor calling his ideas on guns responsible does not necessarily make them so.

[Robb Kidd]

Truth of the matter the ski industry is a major factor in the cause of global warming. They use exponential amounts of fuel to create fake snow; tourists pollute the air with their gas guzzling vehicles just to enjoy a short thrill of going down a hill. At the same time they developed and ripped apart the natural environment to give access to the mountain with their energy pollutant lodges. The ski industry is part of the problem causing global warming. While the tourism business encourages tourists to drive around the state in their gas guzzling vehicles purchasing souveniors, most which were not even made within the state. The whole thought process of tourism and environment has to be reworked in order for us all to have a sustainable planet,

[Roger Hill]

RECORD EVENT REPORT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BURLINGTON VT 0515 PM EST THU NOV 30 2006 ...RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES WERE SET OR TIED TODAY AT BURLINGTON, SAINT JOHNSBURY, MONTPELIER AND MOUNT MANSFIELD IN VERMONT...AND MASSENA IN NEW YORK... A RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 63 DEGREES WAS SET AT BURLINGTON TODAY. THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 60 SET IN 1991. A RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 62 DEGREES WAS SET AT SAINT JOHNSBURY TODAY. THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 60 SET IN 1934. A RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 65 DEGREES WAS SET AT MONTPELIER TODAY. THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 61 SET IN 1991. A RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 49 DEGREES WAS SET AT THE TOP OF MOUNT MANSFIELD TODAY. THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 48 SET IN 2001. THE RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 66 DEGREES WAS TIED TODAY AT MASSENA, NEW YORK. 66 DEGREES WAS LAST REACHED IN 1991 ON THIS DATE. ALSO...NOVEMBER SNOWFALL FOR BURLINGTON WAS A TRACE...THAT TIES FOR THE LEAST SNOWIEST WITH SEVERAL YEARS (1915, 1937 AND 1948). FURTHER...MOUNT MANSFIELD SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER WAS ONLY 0.5 INCHES...THE LEAST SNOWIEST NOVEMBER SINCE OBSERVATIONS BEGAN IN 1954. THE PREVIOUS LEAST SNOWIEST WAS 7 INCHES SET IN 1964.

More global warming news being made right here. The last bit about Mansfield highest piece of land in the Green Mountains only having .5 of an inch of snowfall should scare the hell out of everyone! Tip of the proverbial melting ice berg...

Those of you waiting for Florida to come here should leave quickly now.

[DV]

Re: "It puts people who disagree with him having to argue that they are not for irresponsible gun ownership."

GOOD!