e went to see "An Inconvenient Truth." In case it doesn't sound familiar, it is a documentary film about Al Gore and his slide presentation on Global Warming. (Yes, the caps are intentional.)Although I have been aware of global warming for years, it was still devastating to see the reality of what our modern society is doing to the world around us. To see the dramatically rapid decline of the polar ice caps and glaciers is sobering and moving.
Gore maintains that this is not a political issue, but a moral one. And I agree with him. Raised in a Christian household, attending a church where we sang, among other hymns, "This Is My Father's World," I was raised with a strong sense of responsibility toward the land. I was taught that the world, since Adam and Eve, has been man's to care for and keep safe.
Of course it probably helped that my parents came from families filled with farmers, and a respect for the land was necessary for survival, but I learned the lesson well without living on a farm myself.
We must take action NOW to reverse the effects of global warming. Unfortunately, we have a government to mired in special interest influence that they will never, or, at least, not soon enough, require responsiblity for this crisis. After all, the industries who would be most affected financially by the requirement to change are a big part of those special interests.
Stephen Colbert likes to say, "I don't let the facts get in the way of the truth." And, right now, that seems to be the attitude our government has taken. Unfortunately, reality isn't a comedy show.
What disappoints, and sometimes, angers me, is that this same administration so firmly in the pocket of the industries who oppose changing their ways, ride under the mantle of "Christianity." However, their brand of Christianity is not mine. President Bush, who so vigorously champions any form of human life, refused for a long time to believe global warming existed. He refuses to sign the Kyoto Treaty. He allows rape and pillage of our natural resources and decimation of our land and ecosystem. Obviously he does not see himself as a steward of the earth, but of the material wealth of the wealthy.
As Al Gore points out in his slide show presentation: What good is the wealth if there is no planet?
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