Last Sane Man Standing - Blog of Corey Deitz

"Lapel Pins"

July 8, 2007

The Live Earth concert was this weekend and I tuned in a few times to see what was going on. During one segment, Al Gore was being interviewed about the historic audience tuned in.

Gore wanted viewers to know that Live Earth was the beginning of a campaign which will take several years. He said we had a small window - maybe 10 years - to begin to resolve the problems contributing to Global Warming.

The National Resources Defense Council says "The biggest cause of global warming is the carbon dioxide released when fossil fuels like oil and coal are burned for energy." If that's the case, the immediate problem is gas engines - not a lack of mp3 files from the Live Earth concert to download.

So, why is Gore promoting a concert for awareness when he has the political capital to pressure politicians into forcing auto makers to come up with a viable engine that is not gasoline-based and is road-worthy?

Hey, guess what: everyone has heard of Global Warming. Awareness? We don't need anymore. Less dependence on oil? Yeah: we need that.

Why isn't Gore in Washington, using his resources to make our politicians insist that Detroit get it done and on a timetable. When the U.S. needed an atomic bomb during World War II, the government brought together the best physicists available, locked them away, gave them anything they needed, plus a deadline for a bomb. They made it happen.

So, why can't we do that for a gasless engine? Why doesn't Gore use his clout to actually get a real solution in the works. You can parade all the pop and rock singers in the world across a stage but it's not going to change HOW I drive and its effects until you change WHAT I drive. I don't make the cars - I just buy what they make available.

It helps nobody to wear a pin that says you're against AIDS or POVERTY or GLOBAL WARMING. Hey, we all are.

And any concert - no matter how large - is still as ineffective as wearing a pin on your lapel. Concerts don't change the world - real action does.