The fundamental lie that Al Gore is telling comes from defining
our problem as environmental -- in this case global warming,
whereas our environmental problems -- as real and important as
they are -- are but a symptom of the problem, not the problem.
Gore defines our problem as "what." He is silent on "who.".
For example, Gore does not ask or answer:
Who is doing this?
Who has been governing our planet this way and why?
Cui bono? Who benefits?
Who has suppressed alternative technologies resulting in our
dependency on fossil fuels? Why?
Who has generated how much financial capital generated from
this damage?
How did things get this bad without our changing? How much was
related to fear of and dirty tricks of those in charge?
How do we recapture resources that have been criminally drained
and use them to invest in restoring environmental balance?
Utah Phillips once said, "The earth is not dying. It is being
killed, and the people killing it have names and addresses."
In one sentence, Utah Phillips told us more about global warming
than Al Gore has told us in a lifetime of writing and speaking,
let alone in An Inconvenient Truth.
Needless to say, Gore offers no names and addresses. Gore's "who"
discussion is limited to population. He seems to imply that the
issue is the growth in population combined with busy people being
shortsighted, leading to some giant incompetency "accident."
That makes it easy to avoid digging into the areas that would
naturally follow from starting with "who" ï' which should lead
to dissecting the relationship between environmental deterioration
and the prevailing global investment model that is such a critical
part of the governance infrastructure and incentive systems.