Al Gore at the TED 2006 conference | Ethan Zuckerman
Events - Conferences, Festivals and Meetings see all posts in this category
TED organizer Chris Anderson introduces Al Gore as the president of the US in an "alternative universe so very close to our own." Vice President Gore takes the stage, unfortunately not naked to the waist, beating drums. But he does open with a good joke:
I am Al Gore. I used to be the next President of the United States of America.
laughter, applauseI don't think that's funny.
Gore's talk is a slideshow of images, designed to help us think about "a planetary emergency, a climate crisis". He quotes the old saw that the Chinese character for crisis includes signs for "danger" and "opportunity" and suggests that we have the possibility of making the 21st century the "Century of Renewal"
The slideshow begins with the first image of earth from space, taken on the Apollo 8 mission. This image, Gore tells us, inspired countless environmentalists, sparked Earth Day, the EPA and the modern environmental movement. He shows the iconic full-disc image of the earth taken from Apollo 17 - the last picture of earth taken from space, since it's the last time humans have been beyond near earth orbit. He tells us this image is so well known - possibly the most reproduced image in the world - because it's the only one where the sun is entirely behind the camera. He then shows some contemporary images, made from stitching together cloud-free satellite photos and building maps and animations.
Gore tells us that maps help us challenge embedded asumptions. We believe that continents are too big to move... but maps help show that Africa and South America fit together neatly. Quoting Mark Twain, "What gets us into trouble is what we know, but just ain't so."
A similar embedded assumption is that the earth is so big, we can't have any impact on it. This isn't true any more. Showing us first a Matt Groening cartoon, then data about CO2 levels, he tells us that the level of atmospheric CO2 is rising very quickly. This line, Gore tells us, is what motivated him to move into politics, attempting to pass legislation including a carbon tax.
He shows us images of melting glaciers in Kilimanjaro and "the park formerly known as Glacier". We look at the Himalayan Glaciers, which are the headwaters of seven rivers which provide the drinking and farming water for 40% if the world.