His Emminence, the Goracle

Michael Crichton very astutely observed several years ago that the green movement had become a new religion for the left with a belief system based on faith, a paradise, a fall from grace, a defined heresey, and a doomsday scenario. And if one questions the accuracy of that assessment, perhaps reading this Time magazine article on the Global Warming movement's High Priest, the Goracle, will be enlightening. It is authored by Bono.

As 2007 closes and 2008 begins, . . . Americans are looking for leadership that can turn spiritual yearnings into practical realities.

Al Gore is the kind of leader these times require. Not as President — God and the Electoral College have given him a different job. As it happens, Al is at work repositioning his country from the inside out as a leader in clean energy; and along the way restoring faith in the U.S. as a moral powerhouse that can lead a great, global spiritual revival as the temperature rises.

That's right, a spiritual revival. Because this apostle of all things digital is the first to admit that technology alone will not reverse the damage done. . . .

For Al, 2008 is a rendezvous with destiny and an appointment with the enemy. The foe he sees is our own indifference to the future and a lack of faith in our ability to do anything about it. He stresses that through crisis we can find opportunity. His language is pretty Biblical, but, then, doesn't the Bible say something about floods? He is like an Old Testament prophet amped up with PowerPoint and an army of the world's scientists at his disposal. The right response to the global-warming crisis, he explains, will be a mosaic of solutions that will kick off a whole new economic boom, one that is low-carbon and high-productivity, with truly sustainable development, and an atlas for planet management — using not New Age technology but old age wisdom generating sustainable solutions.

Is he Noah or are we King Canute? Are we prepared to make difficult choices on behalf of children not yet born? . . .

. . . [Bishop] Desmond Tutu often uses the word ubuntu, meaning "I am because we are." It's my favorite epithet, an ode to interdependence. When I told Al that, he responded with Gandhi: Satyagraha, meaning "hold tight to the truth."

Personally, I'm trying to live up to both words, but it's hard. Like a lot of folks, I've got a lot on my plate without trying to make sure the dishwasher liquid is in a biodegradable container. (It is, but were it not for the eco-warrior with whom I share a bed, I would have fallen behind.) As Al leaves our house, I fall over myself to explain that my fancy car runs on ethanol, then laugh nervously, like when you meet a parish priest in the supermarket and it turns into confession. . .

Read the article here. A big part of the global warming movement are secularists for whom belief in the environment and global warming has filled the spiritual void left in the absence of a true religion. And further, I think there are more than a few who may or may not be true believers in global warming, but who do adhere to socialism and see global warming as a vehicle to justify centralizing power and redistributing wealth. It is a potent marriage with the potential to do great harm - as at least one truly spiritual man has recognized.