Al Gore in Athens

While George Bush was getting his watch stolen in Albania, former Vice President Al Gore was touring giving a personal presentation of his award winning documentary of an Inconvenient Truth.

Now is it just me or am i always the last person to find out things that are happening in Athens. I moved to Athens because there are always a lot of things going on. Unfortunately, they happen so fast that they are usually over if you don't pay special attention. This is true for independent movies to lectures and presentations.

I had heard about the Al Gore lecture a week ago but could not find details on the where and the when, it was only when i picked up a free daily newspaper that i saw 'Tonights Happenings'. When i arrived at the Megaro Mousikis it was clear that many had heard. Admission was free and the hall he was presenting in was full within minutes (Granted many of these seats were reserved for dignitaries and journalists). A second hall was quickly filled to near capacity were we could see the presentation on the big screen via a live feed. A simultaneous interpretation into Greek made it easy for the Greek speakers to follow. Unfortunately when it became apparent that we would not be able to hear him in English, many left, i assume they were English speakers, American who wanted to hear him.

My impression on the night was varies, a lot of what he 'revealed' I was taught in High School back in Australia, and i went to a normal government school. So half of what he said was not new. The other half i suppose was just continuing on from where i had graduated school. In other words, Few shock revelations.
What was revealing was the power of Photographs, images were presented of what is happening to our earth and in this digital Youtube age it is easy to forget the power that a single frame image can have.

What was revealing was the statistics which a University study came up with.
Roughly - From over 900 academically refereed articles on Climate Change/Global Warming, none - 0- nada zilch presented it as though it was open for debate, in other words - it is happening and we are witnessing the early stages. In contrast
From over 600 news articles - 53% reported it as if it was still debatable. If that is the case - who are the Academics backing up these news articles - who do these journalists quote if it is debatable?

Why is it so I wonder?

On the whole however not being in the same room as Al Gore meant that i missed some of the enthusiasm and vigour he puts into his presentation and we only heard bits and pieces of it, from the vigorous applause he was receiving I assume he went down well.

Another thing I noticed is that cargo pants and satchel bags were the dress code of the day.

But too many questions for one day...