Saturday, March 03, 2007 Libre: Inconvenient truth By Mel Libre Seriously Now
FORMER US vice president Al Gore kept everyone on their seats when he appeared on the Oscar Awards stage not because of his little spiel on the need to protect the environment but for the possibility that he would announce his intention to join the US presidential derby.
Gore starred in the documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth,” and was not drowned out even with the presence in it of his co-presentor Leonardo de Caprio. The film not only got an award as best documentary feature but also earned for Mellisa Etheridge the best song trophy for “I Need to Wake Up.”
The thought-provoking tune blew away the glitz and glamour of Beyonce and Jennifer Hudson of “Dreamgirls.” With its Go Green theme this year, the Oscars did not allow “An Inconvenient Truth” to go unnoticed.
Even the acceptance speeches were perfect. Etheridge said: “I have to thank Al Gore for inspiring us, inspiring me, showing that caring about the Earth is not Republican or Democrat. It's not red or blue, we are all green. This is our job. Now we can become the greatest generation, the generation that changed, the generation that woke up and did something and changed.”
Gore was eloquent: “My fellow Americans, people all over the world, we need to solve the climate crisis. It's not a political issue, it's a moral issue. We have everything we need to get started, with the possible exception of the will to act, that's a renewable resource. Let's renew it.”
The official web site of the Oscars prominently displays the “Go Green” theme. The introduction reads: “This year, the Academy, the Oscar telecast producer Laura Ziskin and the entire production team endeavoured to select supplies and services with a sensitivity toward reducing the threats we face from global warming, species extinction, deforestation, toxic waste, and hazardous chemicals in our water and food.”
With entertainment’s strong appeal to popular culture, what the Oscars did this year was commendable. It reinforced efforts by governments and institutions to save Mother Earth. One such effort is the law adopted by some Western countries for the phasing out of ordinary bulbs in favor of fluorescent lamps. Another is the move by American automakers to follow the Japanese example of developing earth-friendly hybrid vehicles.
There are even talks that George W. Bush, if only to salvage his tattered image, will belatedly turn green and sign the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The US entry could be helpful in reducing greenhouse gas emissions that have much to do with the changing weather that has caused loss of properties and lives in all continents of the world.
We should listen to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s first address that tackled the topic. He said: "The majority of the United Nations work still focuses on preventing and ending conflict…But the danger posed by war to all of humanity and to our planet is at least matched by the climate crisis and global warming.”
Ban warned: “In coming decades, changes in our environment and the resulting upheavals from droughts to inundated coastal areas to loss of arable land are likely to become a major driver of war and conflict."
The UN Secretary-General just gave away a fantastic story line that can be made out into a major epic film in Hollywood.
Such movie can even be worthy of an Oscar. But let us not be carried away by entertainment because outside our doors the threat of destruction lurks.
