Tuesday, March 2, 2010

A Planetary Emergency

Al Gore's speech titled, "A Planetary Emergency" was very thought provoking. He started out the speech by explaining was a planetary emergency was, and it was very helpful for me as a reader: "confronting a planetary emergency- a threat to the survival of our civilization that is gathering ominous and destructive potential even as we gather here." I thought this was very important because it made me feel like we have to take immediate action on this issue because it is happening right in front of us today. Also, Al Gore gives the earth human characteristics by saying that, "The earth has a fever and the fever is rising." It is scary to think that bad things are happening to our planet that will effect not only our lives, but all of the generations to come if nothing is done to prevent it. 
I believe that a key idea in this speech is that global warming, due to pollution, will destruct our planet. Al Gore uses very important facts stating that major cities in our country and several other countries are nearly out of water due to massive droughts and melting glaciers. Also, people living on low-lying Pacific Islands have to evacuate from their homes. Al Gore used a very powerful quote at the end of his speech saying, "In the words of the Spanish poet, Antonio Machado, "Pathwalker, there is no path. You must make the path as you walk." This was very significant because I think he is saying that nobody is going to do the job for you, you have to pave the way for yourself. I believe that this speech created awareness for thousands of people around the world and will encourage countries to work together. The world needs to step up and make the world a cleaner place if we do not want to create a "permanent carbon summer."

1 comment:

  1. I thought this was definitely something we could relate to today. We still have issues now with pollution and making our environment a better place to live. It's also true that we have to work together and each do our own part, no one is going to do it for us.

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