A perfect storm

Of course, it is one thing to recognize a problem and propose a solution; it is quite another feat to provide the knowledge and impetus necessary for its realization. And, therein lies the most difficult proposal of all: How can we gain access to the archetypal symbols and energies necessary for healing ourselves and the world – especially when it is precisely their nature to remain beyond our conscious control and willfulness?

We can only recognize our needs and remain open to them, just as we only need listen to what the earth is telling us. At this stage of our evolution, with the industrial myth so entrenched in the collective consciousness, can such a task even be understood, let alone embraced? Time will tell.

"A cry in the wilderness"

No one enjoys an apocalyptic scenario more than I do. But Al Gore, former presidential hopefull and representative from a country currently embroiled in a controversial war thinks that the most pressing problem for the American people is the weather.

My father and I sat down and watched the dvd together. He happens to be a geologist and he is definitely not a juried expert. He thinks that people like Mr. Gore need to spend a summer prospecting in Labrador to give them some kind of perspective on how large the planet actually is and what bad weather is truly all about. Politicians have short tem goals massive climatic effects doesn't happen in a decade. I also couldn't help but notice that some of the unjuried experts who disagree with his scenario are geologists and Canadians.

My dad prospecting in Labrador for the Iron Ore Company of Canada circa 1956

"Some like it hot"

But from a dialogical, inter-disciplinary, and dialectical approach, ecological issues will be resolved by moving from the concrete and particular to the more theoretical and universal, and then back again. Thus, the dialogue between science and religion is very critical for thoughtful approaches to our ecological challenges.

Al Gore inventing the internet-The true origins of global warming?

Maybe Mr. Gore is simply claustrophobic with all the doom and gloomers in DC these days and needed a trip to Cannes and the French Riviera. Mr. Gore also thinks we have about ten years until a disaster scenario in which the earth melts down and population decline happens. Honestly Mr. Gore is the sky falling too? Kokylocky? He should change the name of his film to amusing ourselves to death."

"Let the experts decide"-A.Gore

I know these images however satirical they are intended to be, may seem a little mean spirited. But remember the last time we sat around and the so called experts tried to take over? Well the day of the specialist or expert is over.

"Burn Baby Burn"

What I am truly attempting to satirize here is hard science versus soft science. Mr. Gore claims the science debate is over but that may not be altogether true since new science and old science as they are also known are at the heart of the debate.

Environmental Refugees

The political dimensions of an environmental crisis-real or imagined

Even a relatively small rise in sea level would make some densely settled coastal plains uninhabitable and create a significant refugee problem. If the sea level were to rise in excess of 4 meters (13 ft) almost every coastal city in the world would be severely affected, with the potential for major impacts on world-wide trade and economy.

Presently, the IPCC predicts sea level rise of less than 1 meter (3 ft) through 2100, but they also warn that global warming during that time may lead to irreversible changes in the Earth's glacial system and ultimately melt enough ice to raise sea level many meters over the next millennia. It is estimated that around 200 million people could be affected by sea level rise.

The real question and subtext here which Mr. Gore and his followers may be asking us is: Is humankind capable of changing the destiny of both the planet and ourselves? When we cannot even settle disputes among ourselves? These questions should be subjected to much wider debate not limited to obsolete specialists views and speculations. "

"We need not a human answer to an earth problem, but an earth answer to an earth problem. The earth will solve its problems, and possibly our own, if we will let the earth function in its own ways. We need only listen to what the earth is telling us."

For this hearing to occur, humanity needs a better story by which to live: "We need a story that will educate us, a story that will heal, guide, and discipline us." In this story we need to imagine ourselves less as "a being on the earth or in the universe than a dimension of the earth and indeed of the universe itself."