SO, my college roommate sends me this today. I have watched it at least 10 times. I have teared up each time. While this video comes from a movement by a guy named Juan Mann, this one is used for aids awareness. But even at the most visceral level, what if? Could you do this? Could I? The courage to stand and offer a hug to whoever. For me, this is not too far out; I am a hugger. I always have been.
Yet there is more. I see things like this and my soul leaps...like, "I am supposed to be doing this, or something like it!"Then, as James Arthur Ray would say, "PARTICLE", my mind sends out a message that, "no, this is silly or irresponsible, or it doesn't make money"...BLAH BLAH BLAH!!!
But I know, the REAL ME, is on his way out of his shell, albeit a thin shell. I love activism, sending messages, helping people, spreading the word. The word is love.
When John F. Kennedy challenged America to put a man on the moon in 10 years, many called it impossible.
Now, Al Gore has given a major speech with another visionary call:
"Today I challenge our nation to commit to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within 10 years."
This is huge. For someone with as much stature and credibility as Vice President Gore to embrace a goal this big and ambitious could be game-changing. But first, you've got to see it for yourself. Click here to watch the video.
Can't you just imagine the media ignoring Al Gore's message? If we pass this along to our friends and family, we'll make sure people hear about this, so our next president will accept the challenge.
We all know high gas prices and our economic downturn is related to climate change and the war in Iraq, but no one is connecting the dots. Until now.
Here's a key bit from Gore's speech:
Like a lot of people, it seems to me that all these problems are bigger than any of the solutions that have thus far been proposed for them, and that's been worrying me...
Yet when we look at all three of these seemingly intractable challenges at the same time, we can see the common thread running through them, deeply ironic in its simplicity: our dangerous over-reliance on carbon-based fuels is at the core of all three of these challenges—the economic, environmental and national security crises.
We're borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet. Every bit of that's got to change...
But if we grab hold of that common thread and pull it hard, all of these complex problems begin to unravel and we will find that we're holding the answer to all of them right in our hand.
The answer is to end our reliance on carbon-based fuels.
Can we really get all our electricity from sources like solar and wind in 10 short years?
Scientists have confirmed that enough solar energy falls on the surface of the earth every 40 minutes to meet 100 percent of the entire world's energy needs for a full year. Tapping just a small portion of this solar energy could provide all of the electricity America uses.
And enough wind power blows through the Midwest corridor every day to also meet 100 percent of US electricity demand.
And of course, all this means more good jobs to re-power our economy:
When we send money to foreign countries to buy nearly 70 percent of the oil we use every day, they build new skyscrapers and we lose jobs. When we spend that money building solar arrays and windmills, we build competitive industries and gain jobs here at home.
With all the political posturing on high gas prices and drilling, it's amazing to hear someone being so honest:
It is only a truly dysfunctional system that would buy into the perverse logic that the short-term answer to high gasoline prices is drilling for more oil ten years from now.
Am I the only one who finds it strange that our government so often adopts a so-called solution that has absolutely nothing to do with the problem it is supposed to address? When people rightly complain about higher gasoline prices, we propose to give more money to the oil companies and pretend that they're going to bring gasoline prices down. It will do nothing of the sort, and everyone knows it...
However, there actually is one extremely effective way to bring the costs of driving a car way down within a few short years. The way to bring gas prices down is to end our dependence on oil and use the renewable sources that can give us the equivalent of $1 per gallon gasoline.
It's truly a remarkable speech. Be sure to see it for yourself:
Check out this note I got today! This illustrates in lovely living color my problem with organized religion!! Thanks Mike!!
Tell me, when you think of taking consistent action in the general direction of your dreams, do you imagine discipline, stamina, work, sacrifice, monotony, courage, and strategies, or are you thinking adventure, discovery, new friends, excitement at the crack of dawn, magic, surprises, fun, laughter, and, on occasion, the Macarena?
