Posted on 02/25/2007 5:45:10 AM PST by NewHampshireDuo
A year and a half ago, Ray Sirois simply did not believe there was any truth to global warming.
Last winter's mild weather and a lot of Internet research started changing his mind. By the time the film "An Inconvenient Truth" came out last summer, he was eager to go. And then there was no going back.
Sirois, a Republican who voted for George Bush in 2000, traveled to Nashville, Tenn., in January at his own expense and became one of 1,000 people trained by former Vice President Al Gore, the Democrat who Bush defeated, to spread the word about climate change. "An Inconvenient Truth," a documentary about global warming and Gore's sometimes lonely mission to sound the alarm, could win an Academy Award tonight. But a better measure of its success may be the impact it has had on ordinary people like Sirois and other Mainers motivated to learn more, adjust their lifestyles or push for change.
For Sirois, a 48-year-old Boy Scout leader from Harrison, it's a matter of raising global-warming awareness, one slide show at a time. "Those of us who are in the know have a big job ahead of us to get everybody else in the know," he said.
The film lays out the science of how carbon dioxide released into the air by power plants, cars and other sources is trapping heat around the Earth, threatening to shift weather patterns, melt vast ice sheets and raise sea levels. A panel of international scientists said earlier this month that global warming is unequivocal and there is at least a 90 percent probability that humans are driving it.
Sirois was among the first wave of Mainers who saw the movie in a limited number of theaters last summer. Another 3,000 to 4,000 Maine people saw the film last fall when 70 churches around the state held special pre-release showings.
The DVD release brought the film not only into living rooms but also into science classrooms and school auditoriums. Teachers around the state ordered complimentary copies of the DVD to show to middle school and high school groups, usually followed by a question-and-answer session with an expert on the science.
It's not known how many Maine teachers have shown the movie, said Tad Johnson, science specialist with the Maine Department of Education. While school showings have created public controversies in some places, such as Seattle, Johnston has not heard of any in Maine. The movie clearly had an impact on some teens. A couple of Yarmouth High School students saw the movie and began a campaign that led to the Yarmouth Town Council taking a formal stand against global warming.
Amrit "Ami" Robbins, an 18-year-old senior in Yarmouth, saw the movie in Portland's Old Port with his parents and then convinced his friend to go.
"He had the same response as I did. He knew that there was a crisis at hand and knew there was something we could do at the local level," Robbins said. "People who are in power now, they don't care necessarily because it's not going to affect them directly. It's definitely going to affect us, in our lifetimes, and our children." Robbins and his friend, Ned Jones, helped generate interest at their school, where students had a recent showing of the film. And they set out to make Yarmouth a leader in a national, town-by-town effort to reduce global warming pollution. They achieved their goal this month when the Town Council voted to sign the U.S. Mayors Agreement on Climate Change, becoming the fifth Maine community to promise to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions through energy conservation.
They're not done yet. This summer, for example, Robbins and Jones hope to give out free energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs at the Yarmouth Clam Festival.
Dick Enright, a 59-year-old retired water district manager who lives in Naples, was moved by the film, too. Enright now reads as much as he can about the science and the solutions. He turned down his hot water heater, switched to fluorescent bulbs. He also turns his lights off more often and drives his car less. He also talks about global warming to anyone he can. "I've e-mailed all of those people or businesses or organizations in my orbit. I've established relationships with different politicians, whatever vehicle I can think of," he said.
Enright is convinced the movie emerged at the right time. "It's awakened the consciousness. People sensed that something was going wrong," he said.
And, he said, Gore was "exactly the right person" to present the message. "The irony of this entire thing to me is he lost the election but he picked himself up and became an advocate for a cause that has global consequences."
Not everyone sees it that way, of course. Whether because of the film's message or because of the messenger, its audience has its limits.
"Frankly, I have no desire to go see the movie," said Joseph Bruno, a former state lawmaker and chairman of the Maine Republican Party.
Bruno said he recognizes that global warming is happening and that humans are "more than likely" causing it. But, he said, Gore is politically motivated to blame Republicans for the problem.
"Al Gore politicized the issue. He lost credibility," Bruno said. "I think the movie is a political Michael Moore-type of movie that gives a certain viewpoint." The fact that some won't see the movie is partly what continues to motivate Ray Sirois.
Sirois, who respected Gore despite voting for Bush in 2000, applied to become part of The Climate Project, an organization Gore set up to build on the momentum created by the film.
An information technology manager at Wright-Pierce engineering company in Topsham, he was selected to spend 2‡ days last month with Gore and about 300 other Americans, including actress Cameron Diaz and Theodore Roosevelt IV, a Wall Street investment banker and great-grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt.
Sirois is now one of a handful of Mainers trained to present their own versions of Gore's now-famous slide show, always at no cost. He is quick to point out that his presentation, like the issue of global warming, is nonpartisan. "This is a look at the science of climate change and the solutions to climate change," he said. Maine's two senators, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, are both examples of Republicans focusing on the issue, he points out. And, he said, some of those who have seen his presentation are conservative Republicans. Sirois and others are examples of how the movie is having impacts that transcend politics, according to Anne "Andy" Burt, environmental justice coordinator for the Maine Council of Churches.
"You've got so many people that have been motivated by this movie. I feel like there's no stopping them," Burt said.
I never cease to marvel at some people's stupidity.
I sure wouldn't want these guys in charge in the event of a real emergency. Giving out free light bulbs at the county fair, etc. Who is going to look into the economics of those light bulbs to find algore and James Carville on the boards of directors?
Gosh, I thought I put the Barf Alert in. I looked at the header and somehow it ended up in the source line. I guess I was too busy barfing.
The man may be stupid, but there's nothing wrong with energy conservation. The steps he's taken are good, common-sense ones---steps we've taken in our own home.
He's just saving the world, one light bulb at a time.
He's obviously a hero. < sniffle>
It's there, in the link.
I had a tagline similar to this sometime ago:
A lie repeated often enough, is eventually believed as being the truth.
This is taking on the aspects of a cult more and more every day.
Yes, energy conservation is just common sense, and will save you money too.
I've been looking at Google Earth recently. We're a pretty damn small speck on this planet- too small to cause drastic climate change all by ourselves.
I voluntarily reduce my energy consumption and the free market rewards me.
Enlightened self-interest can save the world.
Sorry. Got to go. I need to go out and shovel some "global warming" off of my driveway.
People who really believe this stuff are morally obligated to live like dirt people - no cars, no lights, no heat, no AC. To do anything less is utterly immoral and they should be called on it every time.
"The steps he's taken are good, common-sense ones---steps we've taken in our own home."
They are good, common sense ideas for saving a few pennies a month and making the guy feel good about himself (which is the whole point), not for "saving the world".
"Those of us who are in the know have a big job ahead of us to get everybody else in the know," he said.
______________________
Not really. I read this and now I know you're a moron. Not that big a job.
Doesn't he know that fluorescent bulbs contain the dreaded MERCURY? Seriously, I get the feeling that this whole GW thing is going to jump the shark sometime in the near future. It's just getting too hysterical.
Regards, Ivan
Watch Al Gore carefully next time he's on tv ranting about something, or when he's with his degenerate showbiz buddies on the oscar broadcast, and tell me he's not insane. I've always suspected that he wasn't wrapped too tight, but since the 2000 election, and with the advent of this global warming crap, he really appears to be unstable. You dont have to be a psychiatrist or trained in psycho-babble to know and recognize a nutcase when you see one. Polititians of the opposing party to the one in office used to act with a certain amount of decorum and discretion, but today, anything goes, with wild, unrestrained criticism of the President with no regard for the possible harmful consequences that could result and the encouragement to the enemy in this time of war. No one stands out as being more guilty of this than that maniac Al Gore. His screaming rant of "he betrayed us...he betrayed us" , and his unrestrained disrespect for the office of the President is disgraceful. That, and other charactaistics of Mr. Gore remind me of a very, very unstable person. His taking credit for the inspiration of the movie "Love Story", his taking credit for the creation of the internet, his criticism of Bush's Viet Nam srevice, while failing to mention his own prividged service role, no doubt because of the influence of his father, and most of all, his unhinged, crazed ranting and posturing while on camera or before a microphone, convinces me that he's a nutcase, even nuttier than his buddy Howard "Howlin' Mad" Dean. We can all rejoice and thank God that we dodged THAT bullet in 2000. Regardless of how much Bush disappoints, angers and frustrates me, it was a blessing that it was him elected in 2000 rather than an insane man, who incidently, had an advisor telling him how to dress, so as to appear to be an "alpha male". My guess of how he would have reacted to 9/11 and terrorism in general if he was elected President would be to have appeared at a press conference in only his underwear with his veins popping out of his forehead or something equally loony. Al Gore is INSANE!
Information page.
Maybe they can raise money to buy life jackets for the drowning cartoon polar bears shown in Al Gore's opus.
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