I watched “an inconvenient truth” tonight

I watched an inconvenient truth tonight. I know, not exactly current events. Yet Al Gore’s message is not exactly current events. He’s been peddling his message for years now. So I watched the DVD and I learned a couple of things. I learned how voraciously past administrations have fought to down play global warming. I learned even more about how closely the oil companies are tied to the Bush dynasty. More so than I had even previously been aware of. I think that if Al Gore could have been presented himself in 2000 as he did in this movie, I might have considered him for president. I visited climatecrisis.net and saw a painful truth; people who are 100% on board with global warming don’t really have answers to the tough questions. I can change every light bulb in my house. I can set my thermostat +2 -2 and even buy an electronic thermostat. But each time I hit the highway for whatever reason I see the real problem. I make more greenhouse gases by driving than I do living in my house. Sure I can cut back on some trips, but I have to work to pay bills. The reality is that if I don’t make the greenhouse gases my family will be living in the street. Albeit making much less of a carbon footprint. I wish I knew the answers. I wish the rhetoric was easier to sift through. Gore thinks we are killing our planet. I wish I knew.

AJC Co-opts Virginia Tech Professor’s Heroism

I was listening to the radio today, something I do less and less of, when I heard the sobering voice of the announcer speak about the heroic actions of Liviu Librescu. The announcer pointed out to me what most of the world already knows. Liviu was a Jewish holocaust survivor who gave his life for his students on Holocaust Memorial Day. Then came the tag line. This was a commercial for the American Jewish Committee. Why co-opt his heroism as your own AJC. Liviu didn’t save those kids because he was Jewish. He didn’t save those kids because he was a Holocaust survivor. He didn’t save those kids because he was a professor or because he was 75 years old. He saved those kids, and gave his life in doing so, because he was human. While Cho Seung-Hui showed us the darkest side of being human, Liviu showed us the brightest side. For me, Liviu is none of the things in his bio. For me, Liviu is the hope that we all should share for bright and peaceful future.