"Dennie Donates to Al Gore"

Yes, last night I donated money to Al Gore! It's okay, I haven't crossed over. I went and saw "An Inconvenient Truth," the documentary which basically consists of an Al Gore slide show on global warming. That may not sound like the most exciting way to spend your time in a movie theatre, but I have to admit, it was really good.

Does Gore make a case for global warming? Yes, he does. Although, it's not him making the case, but instead a litany of scientific facts that are presenting the case. I will admit to being rather skeptical of the whole global warming thing and have always seen it as something that will affect us in, oh, maybe about a 1000 years, so nothing to get too worked up about. But the facts are there. It's not the earth getting old on us, it's humans sending noxious gasses into the atmosphere. It is really hard to argue with the science presented here. Gore indicates that we can indeed do something about it, and cites the changes in regulations with aerosols that helped alleviate the problems with the depletion of the ozone layer. The problem with global warming is one that can be solved, but we have to want to do it. Yes, that means all those big bad corporations beloved by Republicans have to climb aboard. If you follow politics much, you'll know that global warming, and Al Gore's cause to alert us to it, have been the punchline of many a Republican gathering.

But what can we do about it? There were 6 of us in the theatre that night, and I don't think we all left deciding to make this our cause. The first thing I caught myself doing when I left the theatre was saying, "Hey look, there's a poster for the Pirate's sequel." I drove home in my non-hybrid car, turned up the air conditioning because I wanted it cool, and kept some lights on all night. Woke up the next day and went to work, kind of forgetting all I learned the previous night.

So even though I believe Al Gore and what he's talking about, I'm not sure what will happen. Republicans stay far away from global warming as a campaign issue and you didn't exactly see the Democrats embracing it during the Clinton/Gore years in the White House (the last major piece of environmental legislation was the amendments to the Clean Air Act during Bush I).

But, I see this as a potential issue . . . for the evangelical base of the Republicans! If they could get over the fact they'd be admitting to something that Al Gore has been warning us about, this is an issue they could basically steal from the left and make it their own. Gore says it's a moral issue, not a political one, and he's right. As Christians, are we not stewards of God's creation? What better way to express this than to get on board and make global warming our hot button issue (and for once, not abortion, gay rights, and school prayer).

Not sure if it would happen, but I would embrace such a seismic policy shift in the Republican Party. We'll have to wait and see, but I don't believe any significant change will take place unless it's the evangelicals leading the way, and wow, what a site that would be to have us at the forefront of this issue that truly affects millions, especially those in poor and underdeveloped areas of the world. Plus, this would just absolutely freak out the Greenpeace activists if the Republicans were suddenly at the forefront of the environmental issues.