The earth, your car and you: Al Gore inconveniences us with more truths

EDITOR’S NOTE: As official broadsheet partner to the recent visit of former United States Vice President, Nobel laureate and environmentalist extraordinaire Al Gore, The Philippine STAR covered the man’s enlightening lecture intensively – and this is clearly evidenced by the sheer number of articles we’ve printed in our pages thus far. At the Business Motoring section, where we feel a heavy responsibility in environmental awareness falls, we’ve gone so far as to dedicate a series of environmental stories which we’ll spread out through the coming weeks – all in an effort to do our part in saving Mother Earth. We kick all this off with an entire section devoted to the current efforts of a number of stakeholders in the country. This week’s 2nd fold, therefore, will highlight what’s been going on in the Philippines thus far where the green revolution is concerned…

It’s official. Former United States Vice President Al Gore is the scariest person in the world.

Slasher movie stalwarts Freddy Krueger of Nightmare On Elm Street, Jason Voorhees of Friday the 13th and Michael Myers of Halloween – combined – have nothing on Gore. Not that Gore is literally associated with, well... gore. But wherever he goes, as necessary tools for getting his message across, the Nobel laureate brings with him images of the kind of destruction we as a race have perhaps unwittingly done to ourselves – and to the planet we call home. Really. Scary. Stuff.

Actually, we might also consider Mr. Gore as one of the funniest people we’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing and hearing in person. “I am Al Gore. I used to be the next President of the United States,” he nonchalantly said as he introduced himself to the eager crowd that welcomed him to the Philippines during his recently concluded lecture. Very tongue in cheek. Very self-deprecating. Our kind of humor, to be sure. The moment he began to talk about saving the earth, however, the urgency and seriousness of his message drowned out the light-hearted banter.

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock the size of a Cadillac Escalade, you’ve most likely seen Mr. Gore’s award winning documentary entitled The Inconvenient Truth, where he effectively sounds out the call to arms to save the earth. Mr. Gore was in town last week to inconvenience us further with even more truths – with specific focus on Asia. His sense of urgency was both alarming and infectious. “This is a moment in human history unlike any other,” he began as he showed the crowd how the thickening carbon deposits into our atmosphere has caused global warming. “We have become a force of nature. An asteroid didn’t hit the earth. We did.” Ouch.

Truth be told, Mr. Gore simply poured out onto our consciousness the can of worms that we have already opened. He simply put numbers – and yes, some very scary images – into our heads. For example, he revealed that 90 million tons of carbon is released into the environment every day. And like we said, the more carbon is trapped in the atmosphere, the warmer it gets in this little rock we call home. The result? Unpredictable weather that’s either killed or displaced people on a mass scale. We’re fresh from such devastating natural calamities. I’m sure we need not be reminded.

We as individuals, of course, contribute to this environmental poisoning in our own way – especially us motorists. And while Mr. Gore pointed to alternative sources of energy as solutions to our environmental problems, reality dictates that the economics of it all would compromise our mobility if we were to drastically act now. Not everyone can afford solar cars. Hybrids are extremely expensive with the kind of duties our government has imposed on them (Perhaps more earth-friendly legislation for hybrid cars is needed, new Congress?). And world class electric cars from the reputable car manufacturers of the world haven’t even officially debuted in the Philippines yet. In short, motorists here in the Philippines really don’t have too many earth-friendly choices at the moment.

What’s a concerned Filipino motorist to do? Keep his car in tip-top shape, that’s what. When asked about this reality, Mr. Gore was quick to say, “Making an internal combustion engine run efficiently saves both fuel and money. An inefficiently run engine can waste up to 90% of the fuel that it uses to propel itself forward.” He’s right and you know it.

As responsible motorists (responsible not just to those around us but to the earth as well), we really ought to make sure that our cars are always in the best shape they can be in. If we are to embrace Mr. Gore’s sense of urgency, that means no more compromises as early as now. To illustrate further, we just threw in a “how to love your car and the earth” type of story from Kap Aguila along with this story. At least you’ll know how to contribute to saving the earth with specific focus on your car – on a practical and realistic level.

In the meantime, to end this and to give us all something positive to hang on to, allow us to throw another superlative in the direction of Mr. Gore. Given the uphill battle he faces, the man is still perhaps one of the most inspiring people to ever walk this earth. The man ended his lecture with these five simple words... “We can do great things.” Amen to that.