Originally published on the CGS blog on May 14, 2007.
My former friend and colleague, Howard “Old School” Salter, has taken me out to the proverbial woodshed for what he believed was my out of hand dismissal of the importance of simply raising public awareness about the environment and global warming. In point of fact, I strongly believe in raising awareness on many, many lesser-known, under-reported global issues. However, when it comes to a star-studded, multi-million dollar global concert series that’s headed by Mr. Inconvenient Truth himself and aimed at addressing an issue as well-known and understood?as global warming, I expect just a little bit more. I’d prefer clear benchmarks for success, but I might have to “settle” for a global community that’s more aware of the pressing challenges created by global warming.
As for the “awareness” issue, rather than point to an endless array of international polling and survey data that illustrates the fact that the world is already “aware” of the environment and the threats posed by global warming but is far less clear about how to effectively solve the growing problem, I will simply point to the trio of Nigel Tufnel, David St. Hubbins, and Derek Smalls. Yes, that’s right, Spinal Tap — the greatest mock heavy metal group in the history of mock n’ roll. Here’s the money quote from famed mockumentarian, Marty DeBergi (Rob Reiner): “They’re not that environmentally conscious, but they’ve heard of global warming.” HOWARD, EVEN SPINAL TAP IS AWARE OF GLOBAL WARMING! They couldn’t even find the stage in Cleveland…
…but they are aware of global warming. And for those of you who haven’t heard, Spinal Tap has recently reunited and will perform at the Live Earth event at Wembley Stadium on July 7. Check out this mini-mockumentary on the greatest reunification since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
More later.
