The Day The Earth Stood Still

Today, I received an e-mail from Al Gore on behalf of MoveOn.org. In the midst of his plea for Obama volunteers was this gem:

But the stakes this year are too great for any of us to sit it out. We're facing two wars and an economic meltdown. The climate crisis, in particular, is worsening more quickly than predicted and without strong leadership from the next president, we could face consequences right out of a science fiction movie.

No one knows science fiction movies like Al Gore.

R.K. Pauchari Speaking to a Room Full of Journalists

At the Society of Environmental Journalist's annual meeting in Roanoke, Virginia (sponsored by Virginia Tech), the Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and Director-General of TERI, Dr. Rajendra K Pachauri gave the keynote address.

This was a fascinating presentation for the new ideas he presented (new to me anyway) and for the info he presented to an audience that one would assume is in the 99th percentile of global warming knowledge. [snicker]

A quick comment about the fourth assessment report of the IPCC - He devoted the first part of his speech to establishing the science of global warming and bolstering the credibility of the IPCC. I have to admit, it was a little disorienting. It has been a little while since I have had to justify the scientific basis for global warming. I thought the IPCC report from last year closed the debate and I was unsure as to why he spent so much time on this. It could be part of a standard speech but I wonder if SEJ asked him to address it. Listening, I hoped he would get into solutions and business opportunities soon.