Al Gore got a Nobel Peace Prize and I didn’t, I’m very annoyed about that. Let me tell you why I’m annoyed. The man is not a scientist, yet he has gotten recognition for warning the world about global warming and having a REALLY COOL PowerPoint presentation. I can do really cool things with PowerPoint and the Nobel Prize committee is not knocking on my door offering me tons of free press and a million dollar prize. Look, Al Gore is not a stupid man by any means. He is savy and astute, but he took a bunch of facts strung them together in the worst possible way and went on the lecture circuit where he was paid handsomely to say ‘The Sky Is Falling!’. The science he presented was holey and ill-conceived at best, yet he is being recognized as a Nobel Prize Winner.
I’m bothered most by pop-science taking precedence over hardworking scientists who work their entire careers without ever getting one iota of recognition. The world might be warming up, but humans have been inhabiting the planet a mere 150,000 years compared to its several billion year history. Who are we to determine what is normal?
I believe that we have a duty to protect our planet and serve as stewards to its resources. But we can’t go running after every pseudo scientific theory that turns up. We humans are an imaginative lot. We think a lot and don't always think things through (look at 8-track tapes). But we adapt or die trying. The Sahara was once a vast jungle, were we humans the cause of its desertification? If you go by what Gore has stated in his current pseudo scientific schlock, we are. The planet cycles through its phases and will continue to do so.
We need to stop drawing lines in the sand and stating in ‘hard facts’ how the planet should behave, when the reality is we have absolutely no idea. We are mere tenants, who should use our surroundings a little more gently.
I still feel that I should get a Nobel Peace Prize for REALLY COOL PowerPoint presentations if Al Gore gets one.
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