Belated Congrats, Mr Gore

Congrats to Mr Gore on winning the Nobel. It sends an important message. Even if I don't necessarily agree with everything the major environmental movements preach right now...

I don't buy the electric car thing yet...no one has seemed to prove that the reduction in emissions offsets the caustic production, and disposal of, the batteries, along with the environmental damage caused by the power plants that instead have to produce the power that is needed to fuel the battery...I do appreciate the theories, and the research, and the committment to trying to break our dependence on dirty fossil fuels though.

I don't believe in the black and white view on things like pesticides etc...I think there's a very important difference between use and responsible use. As with many things, there are many shades of gray.

I don't believe in absolute saving of every species in the world. I think at some point, if you believe in evolution (which I do), sometimes a species' time has come and gone. Before you all climb on me, I'm not saying all, ok? Of course, man has perpetuated many crimes against nature, but sometimes it just is time for it to happen. Dinosaurs would really f*** up traffic on the expressway during rush hour.

The reason I congratulate Mr Gore, and am glad that an environmentalist won is because it has brought the environmental cause back to the forefront, and back to the masses (a bit). It has made something that was dismissed by the current administration a voice again. More than anything, it has opened discussion. If there is no discussion, there are no answers. We need to innovate. We need to make more fuel efficient cars. We need to see ourselves as part of the world population - we need to agree with other countries to make this planet better. Kyoto? We have to revisit it. We have to stop spraying pesticides on everything because every grape has to look perfect. We don't need super-cows that produce double milk at the expense of chemicals polluting our milk supply. But we also need healthy cows, and grapes that are not tainted by e. coli. And we need industry and technological progress. I don't think we know most of the answers, and we won't ever know all of them probably. But with the cold shoulder of many government officials, and the gutting of monies for non-corporate research thru government agencies, Mr Gore has mobilized some of the masses...started the discussion...even if people don't agree with what he says, at least we're talking...

And that's where change starts...