Friday, January 28, 2011

Apocalyptic Poets -Al Gore

Title Unknown
by Al Gore

One thin September soon
A floating continent disappears
In midnight sun
Vapors rise as
Fever settles on an acid sea
Neptune's bones dissolve

Snow glides from the mountain
Ice fathers floods for a season
A hard rain comes quickly

Then dirt is parched
Kindling is placed in the forest
For the lightning's celebration

Unknown creatures
Take their leave, unmourned
Horsemen ready their stirrups

Passion seeks heroes and friends
The bell of the city
On the hill is rung

The shepherd cries
The hour of choosing has arrived
Here are your tools


Apparently found on page 28 of his book Our Choice.  I am not aware of it having a title.  I have not read the book.  I would in general agree that is our choice. 

I am not a big fan of Al Gore, finding him to be a bit odd (for a presidential candidate) at times.  I  recall an NPR discussion with a weather scientist who was working in the  extreme north at the time that An Inconvenient Truth came out.  He was clearly concerned about global climate change, but was a bit worried that many of the findings in the movie could not be backed up by the current research.  My guess was that the scientist was worried that the issue would become even more of political affiliation rather than scientific research:  IMO he was correct.

When you look at a collection of your typical survivalist-preparer (or as I like to say extender) sites, all sorts of potential catastrophes are discussed without the blink of an eye: asteroids, EMP, nuclear war, pandemic flu, peak oil.  But one subject is very sparsely discussed:  global warming.

The problem isn't so much that global warming has become politicized.  But that it has been politicized by the wrong side.  It has become the issue of the Democrats!  And the Democrats are the party of gun control!  It is somewhat the same problem that African Americans often have.  They are easily the most socially conservative group within the Democratic Party, but the Republicans staunch opposition to civil rights (less so affirmative action) has kept them solidly in place.  It is also true that their are a fair number of Democrats (see Heath Shuler) are not in the gun control camp.  But if gun confiscation were to take place through the political process: that is likely where it would come from.

I have generally been suspicious of much of the rhetoric of global warming.  But I have seen enough evidence outside of the political sphere to make it one of my top concerns going forward.  The likely end result is that we will burn up every bit of carbon fuel we can get our hands on, and then see if we run out before we melt ourselves.  So I am skeptical about positive solutions going forward.

I would like to see more prepares take the issue seriously.  I am not sure I would put it at the top of the list, but I would certainly put it in the top five and review its status closely.

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