< Leadership looks like this / >

Al Gore's 'Ten Year Challenge' Speech, July 17, 2008

I've never been a fan of the "If we can put a man on the moon" fallacy, given its typical usage in comparing apples with elephants. You know: "If we can put a man on the moon, we can find a way to provide housing for all of the world's homeless." Technology compared with an enormously complex problem made of social, political, economic, and psychological factors. A does not compare with B or C or D or E. So, the phrase has rung hollow whenever I've heard it, and I've always avoided it in my own writing and speaking.

But now comes exactly the opportunity for it to make sense. When the late John F. Kennedy called on scientists to create a space program and transport human beings to the moon, he had little to go on but faith in the science community to make it happen. They rose to the challenge. A great deal of the needed technology hadn't been discovered yet, but a "yes, we can" attitude and a charismatic leader provided the incentive.

The United States wasn't nearly as polarized politically, and there hadn't been eight years of punk "bring it on" sneering from the Oval Office to foster a culture of animosity between admirers of Rachel Carson and those of Curtis LeMay. Nor had the U.S. become a "sole superpower" and happy to let the world know it. Forty-plus years later, not only is there a lot of fence-mending needed between Washington and... everywhere else, but also between red states and blue, neocons and libs, treehuggers and scorched-earth adherents to wealth by any means necessary.

Al Gore surely isn't free of political enemies — a quick scan of the comments following these videos for WE, the WeCanSolveIt project of the Alliance for Climate Protection, shows plenty of outright hatred for the man. And of course, in an age where the ad hominem attack replaces the carefully considered argument, not a lot of thought goes into hating by those who despise him personally. But their arguments are empty, repetitious, and unsupported by moral grounding. "Ignore him," they say, but they don't explain the benefits of that (in)action. They only explain why he, the man, should be ignored.

Perhaps they are waiting for a different messiah. It would be interesting to see what kind of response the haters might have if Dick Cheney — or, better yet, Rush Limbaugh — suddenly had a "prepare to meet my maker" conversion and began preaching the gospel of conservation, not conservatism. Even more interesting would be their chorus if they one day realized that they have absolutely no stake in the oil, coal, and other Big Denier industries, all of which would gladly terminate their jobs, foreclose their homes, and destroy their families at the first sign of a two-cent dividend increase.

While the haters and deniers wait, Al Gore has issued a call for the science community to make something happen on a scale even greater than the moon landing. To complicate it, the government holding the purse strings needed to fund such a huge research and development project is a government completely uninterested in, and actively hostile to, that project.

But only for five more months. And in only three, we'll know who will be taking over when the cowboy gets kicked back to Texas. It's pretty clear that we'll see a radical change of direction even if the new leader is John McCain, who says of Gore's challenge: "If the vice president says it's doable, I believe it's doable.... I emphasize my respect for the former vice president's leadership on this issue and his continuous leadership." 

When Apollo 13 blew out an oxygen tank and the astronauts had to survive in the moon lander attached to the capsule, NASA engineers had roughly 24 hours to solve the classic dilemma: how to fit a square peg into a round hole. Carbon dioxide levels were increasing dangerously, and the square air filters from the command module were needed in the lunar lander — which had round holes. Plastic bags, cardboard, tape, and the collective determination to keep the astronauts alive were all the ingredients necessary to solve an age-old puzzle. CO2 levels decreased, breathing became easier, and lives were saved.

Apollo 13 is a perfect analogy to what Gore and the WE project are hoping to accomplish now. It's going to take a lot more than plastic bags and cardboard this time, since the former requires diminishing petroleum reserves and the latter destroys carbon sinks, but if WE can create a collective determination — not just in the U.S., but worldwide — then the year 2018 could have the world glued to its TV sets again to watch another switch being thrown: the last coal-powered plant switching off and a new, clean energy era switching on.

If we can put a man on the moon, we can make this happen, too.

....................The New WE Television Ad