by jurvetson
Gore: A Call to Action on Climate:
[Via AAAS News - RSS Feed]
At AAAS Annual Meeting, Gore Urges Scientists to Join Political Effort on Climate Change
CHICAGO—Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore last night called on scientists to communicate the urgency of climate change to political leaders and the public, saying that humanity has little time to change course before risking disastrous global consequences.
Speaking to an overflow audience at the AAAS Annual Meeting, the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize winner welcomed the signs that long years of political and policy gridlock in the United States are ending. But, he said, scientists must use their knowledge and their respected status in the community to press for broad, swift changes in energy and environmental policies.
[More]
I’ve heard Gore speak several times but never to a scientific audience. And, for once, it was not the scientific content that really got everyone’s attention (although there was some fascinating data shown).
It was this, which the AAAS was kind enough to quote:
“We have a full-blown political struggle to communicate the truth,” he said. “…This is a task for all of us. And those of you who have not been engaged in trying to communicate effectively in your communities—to those who respect you and who understand that you have worked hard to obtain the knowledge and wisdom that you have—this is no time to sit back. This is an historic struggle.
“We as a species must make a decision. How absurd that sounds—it sounds absurd because we’ve never made a decision as a species and it seems implausible to think that we could. But we’ve now reached a stage where continuing on our present course would threaten the entirety of human civilization.
“Many of the most distinguished members of your professions, in scientific fields, have been saying now, for a few years, that in their estimation, we could have around a decade within which to make major changes in our direction lest we lose the opportunity to retrieve a climate balance that is favorable for human life and human civilization…
“And the only way that’s going to happen is if those of you who are in a position to exercise influence and communicate your understanding of what this is all about make a decision to get involved….
“I’m asking you for help. I believe in my heart that we do have the capacity to make this generation one of those generations that changes the course of humankind. The stakes have never been higher. We have the knowledge, we have the emerging technology, we have new leadership, we have cabinet members and science advisers and NOAA heads and policymakers in all of the important positions who are of you, who are your colleagues…
“If I could,” Gore concluded, “I would motivate you to leave this city after this meeting and start getting involved in politics. Keep your day job, but start getting involved in this historic debate. We need you.”
What hit me immediately is that not only scientists, but all humans, may have to do something that no other species in the history of the planet has had to do – make a decision for the species, not the individual.
For evolution does not act at the species level, it acts at the individual. Each animal does what it can to replicate, to pass its genes on to progeny. It is the individual needs of each animal that drives Natural Selection, not the needs of the species.
Yet we are now in the place of having to accomplish just that. The long term needs of our species must take precedence over our individual needs if we are to survive to have progeny to pass genes down to. It does not matter if we are talking 100 years or 50.
The reason this is happening is that for the first time a species actually has the power to determine its own destiny, to control the environment enough to ensure either survival or extinction.
This is a time for those who have the knowledge to use that power to effect the changes needed.
Technorati Tags: Environment, Science
