An incovenient truth

A couple of nights ago, I finally rented An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore's documentary about global warming. Ironically, in the January issue of Texas Monthly we see that there is a huge article about Texas building a slew of new coal-powered power plants. I am sure glad I live inland. My property values are sure to rise when so much of the densely populated coasts go under water. Of course, that depends on whether or not my part of Texas will be breathable for allergy suffers like myself or if brains will be slowly poisoned by the high levels of mercury emissions that will be spewed forth by some of these plants.

Of course, the article was pretty balanced and talked about the new technology that would make these plants cleaner than previous generations, but the fact remains that they won't be clean enough. Just last week an ice shelf the size of Manhattan broke off Greenland and has begun its melt into the oceans of our planet. Yikes.

You don't have to be a fan of Al Gore to follow the science that he presents to us. You can fast-forward through his sad, navel-gazing political defeat sequence. But watch the science and turn off your lights. Use less electricity. Do something.

Even the fossil-fuel loving Bush administration has recently listed the polar bear as the first species endangered by global warming. Some even drown trying to get to ice thick enough to stand on. This was highlighted in Gore's film. Now, it has been acknowledged by a Republican administration. This is not a liberal or a conservative issue. This is a human issue. We all need to be informed and we need to do our part.

Nonetheless, as soon as the prices of gasoline dipped back below $3.00 a gallon, Americans went back to buying their SUVs to tool around suburbia. The average size of new homes continues to increase as family sizes among non-immigrant households, remain small. God save us from ourselves. But remember. God helps them who help themselves.