Al Gore has famously said of global warming:

“This is not a political issue. This is a moral issue — it affects the survival of human civilization. Put simply, it is wrong to destroy the habitability of our planet and ruin the prospects of every generation that follows ours.”

I strongly agreement with that sentiment — and view our climate policy, China’s, and even Canada’s as immoral. But is Gore’s approach a winning strategy in an immoral world?

You can take your pick of where you think the most immoral things are happening — with the world either standing by and doing nothing, or actively contributing to the problem: Burma, China, Darfur, Iraq, Russia….

For me, this line of thought was triggered by two recent events. First, our Attorney General nominee, Michael Mukasey, is unwilling to call waterboarding torture — yet is defended by President Bush and the conservatives, and he still might be confirmed! As the New York Times explained:

Waterboarding is torture and was prosecuted as such as far back as 1902 by the United States military when used in a slightly different form on insurgents in the Philippines. It meets the definition of torture that existed in American law and international treaties until Mr. Bush changed those rules.

If you still have doubts, listen to this NPR story on “drowning torture” or watch this demonstration.

What message does this send to the world, on top of all the renditions, Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib — the latter resulting in no senior Pentagon officials (i.e. Rumsfeld) being punished?

The message sent is that, at least during this administration, the United States has lost any claim to moral superiority.

Second, the weekend box office report revealed that the most popular movie in the land is, by far, Saw IV – the fourth in a series of torture-fests, which have broken all records for Halloween movies:

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All Things Considered interviewed me about GM’s fourth generation hydrogen car.

They have just e-mailed me that they hope the 8 1/2 minute (!) segment will air at 5:35 EST on WAMU (88.5) in Washington, DC and no doubt similar times around the country. I will post a link when it is available.

After the Introduction, the next part of “MidEast Oil Forever?” (subs. req’d), predicted in 1996 that we would have an oil crisis in ten years, and that we would be in a weak position to respond if Congress succeeded in gutting our clean energy programs.

That may seem obvious now, but oil prices were low in the mid-1990s — the previous three years, oil prices had averaged about $16 a barrel (!) — and only a few oil/security analysts (whom we cite) were raising alarms.

This prediction proved to be right in the main, and I am especially proud of the final paragraph in this section, where we made what was, at the time, a fairly original geo-strategic argument that has been proven all too true. Here is what we wrote:

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Warning: The link in this post is not suitable for small children or people who lack a sense of humor.

This hilariously odd web posting was sent to me by a friend.

Warming Revives Flora and Fauna in Greenland — NY Times. “But now that the climate is warming, it is not just old trees that are growing. A Greenlandic supermarket is stocking locally grown cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage this year for the first time. Eight sheep farmers are growing potatoes commercially. Five more are experimenting with vegetables. And Kenneth Hoeg, the region’s chief agriculture adviser, says he does not see why southern Greenland cannot eventually be full of vegetable farms and viable forests.”

• Would have been useful to note that vegetation/trees absorb much more of the sun’s heat than either ice or ground covered in snow.

Indonesia Seeks Allies for Pay-for-Forests Plan

The environment minister of Indonesia, Rachmat Witoelar, said earlier this month that he wanted rich countries to pay up to $20 a hectare, or 2.47 acres, to preserve its dwindling forests.

At the meeting this week, Indonesia began mobilizing countries like Brazil, Mexico, Congo, Cameroon, Costa Rica, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea, which with Indonesia contain most of the world’s rain forests.

Indonesia has been spearheading the discussion on climate change among developing nations since it offered the venue for the December conference, which aims to solidify a new global climate deal before the 1997 Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012. Many world leaders are expected to join the tens of thousands attending the conference in Bali.

But in its efforts to lead the debate, Indonesia has also opened up its own environmental record to scrutiny. A World Bank report released this year cited Indonesia as one of the top three emitters of greenhouse gases, mostly because of rampant cutting of its forests, persistent wildfires and cultivation of its carbon-rich peat bogs.

Also, the Wall Street Journal has published a series on global warming, energy, and the emerging solutions (green building, alternative fuels, venture capitalists). Not bad stuff — for the WSJ.