Al Gore In Vancouver
From Raffi's Desk
Al Gore's Vancouver presentation of his "inconvenient truth" on Saturday gave me the chance to greet an old friend whom I last saw in 1993 at the Vice-President's Executive Office in Washington. Singing my 'global cooling song' "Cool It" to close the evening provided the perfect opening.
I had been hoping for a reunion with the man who, with wife Tipper, embraced me in warm friendship the few times we were together in Toronto, Nashville, Rio, and Washington DC starting in 1989 when David Suzuki helped us connect.
At the VIP reception in the Westin, I mingled with those who'd paid $500 to be there and who'd get a chance for a photo with Gore. I wanted a photo too. No sooner had I turned around, here was Al Gore giving me a big bear hug, with a surprised Premier Campbell looking on. ("You know the Premier..." he said to me graciously.) Gore and I talked briefly and reminisced about our time in Rio, and I was sorry that Tipper wasn't with him. Sure was good to again feel the warmth between us, albeit briefly. After a photo or two, I circulated among the gathering of a number of local business, government and sustainability leaders.
Mayor Sam Sullivan gave a brief talk to welcome Al Gore. And I took that opportunity to give Gore a copy of my new DVD "Raffi Renaissance", my Resisto Dancing CD, and a disc of Cool It.
Downstairs in the grand ballroom, the 1400 chairs filled up quickly and it was showtime.
Guest speaker David Suzuki got a big standing ovation from the crowd as he took the stage. (He had joined Gore's presentations 3 other times in recent months, and he had flown from Toronto to be at this one.)
David's 25 minute talk was vintage Suzuki: informative, passionate, berating Bush and Harper for their anti-science positions, and urging serious action on Global Warming. Repeatedly he made the point that economy cannot lead ecology, that it's the other way around—that the economy is a subset of ecology, and dependant on healthy ecosystems. "The atmosphere will not yield to our economic demands," he warned and, at one point said "90% of the world's ocean fish are gone and not coming back" (under present overfishing conditions...60 kilometre fishing nets, etc.) Suzuki closed his remarks with a tribute to Gore's leadership on the global warming issue and left the stage to another resounding ovation.
Then the Premier took the stage to introduce Vice President Gore, sounding unsure as to whether to use the word "former" or not.
Gore's ovation outdid Suzuki's—clearly this audience was appreciative, buzzing. He congratulated the Premier on his just announced plan establishing clear emissions reduction targets for BC. Kudos went to the Mayor as well... "I love this city, been here a number of times."
Gore mentioned knowing David Suzuki for over 20 years, commenting how young he looks for his age, applauding his environmental leadership. Then he said: "You'll hear later this evening from another friend, Raffi, who's been a friend for many years since the Rio Summit; we have worked together, and his music has sure been a friend to my kids."
From there he cracked a few very funny self-effacing jokes, some about life after the White House. "I flew Air Force 2 for eight years; now I have to take my shoes off to board a plane." "These days I'm a recovering politician." The crowd loved it.
Then the V.P. got serious, though always lively and engaging, at times passionate, with his voice breaking up with a bit of growl in his throat.
"The Climate crisis represents an unprecedented global emergency... [paraphrasing here] but the origin of the word crisis pairs danger with opportunity... and in this most dangerous crisis we face the greatest opportunity: for business, for innovation, for a change in how we look at the world."
He used excellent laptop generated visuals throughout, such as the first photo of "Earthrise" taken from a lunar orbiter in the late '60s, and the 1972 full image of Earth with clouds (Africa prominent) that "has been the single most widely transmitted image ever" he said, "it has changed our consciousness".
Then he mentioned being at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, "with folks like David (Suzuki), and Raffi, and others..."
The information shared re global warming is one thing to see on DVD and in print. It's another to hear and see it live with Gore there, it just goes to a deeper part of you. His presence has an impact.
He made extensive use of before and after photos—from around the world, spanning decade—of melting glaciers and the snows of Kilimanjaro (soon to vanish), with clear and strong impact.
His choice of visuals well supported points like the difference between floating sea ice (which doesn't increase water levels when melted) and landmass ice (which when melted does increase water levels). Graphs and graphics also helped to show and tell the climate crisis story.
Melting of the ice mass of either Greenland OR Antarctica would raise worldwide water levels over 6 meters (21 feet), causing up to 450 million refugees seeking higher ground. As Tony Blair's science advisor put it: "The maps of the world will have to be redrawn." In short, a catastrophic possibility looms near—something the heart/mind struggles with, let alone know quite how to respond.
After sharing the calculations that show bad-to-worst case scenarios by year 2000-something, Gore said "But that won't happen, because we won't let it", his voice adamantly rising in a crescendo finish (to a round of applause) "cause we care too much about our kids and about our planet and our future to let it happen!"
In closing he called for "a global Marshall Plan [for the environment]", which he first mentioned in his 1991 book Earth In The Balance". I was waiting for (but didn't hear) his book's theme of "ecology as a central organizing principle for society", something that inspired me to frame my Child Honouring philosophy in those terms. Gore closed not with specifics, but with a general rallying cry for all present to recommit to the effort to reduce greenhouse gasses.
"What will our kids say in thirty or forty years, he asked, "Will it be 'How could you do nothing in the face of such overwhelming science', or will it be 'How did you muster the courage to take action and turn things around?!"
The standing ovation was very long ... and sustained.
Leaving the stage, Gore waited at the side exit of the huge room with the Premier beside him, as I acknowledged the unforgettable evening and introduced my closing song: "Every movement needs a song or two...wouldn't it be great if there was a song about 'global cooling', something to get your toes tapping, to get you going, downloadable for free on my website, with a buzz on YouTube (here I mentioned the Cool It video, with David Suzuki and his foundation people singing with me)—well, I have such a song, one we can sing together, it's called COOL IT."
The music rocked—people sang and clapped along—as I moved across the big stage.