SAVANNAH — Former Vice President Al Gore spoke to more than 400 people Saturday about the future — in general as well as his new book, “The Future.”
The 2013 Savannah Book Festival, which began Thursday and wraps up today, featured a number of notable speakers, but Gore was the headliner for many attending.
“I think Al Gore has a great passion for my generation today,” said Coran Hendry, a student at Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville and a Savannah resident. “After listening to his speech today, I now feel that there’s hope for my generation.”
Hendry said he had just taken a course in public opinion at Georgia College and had become depressed by all the talk about his generation being left behind in a time of recession.
“Al Gore changed my opinions about the recession today. He truly has a passion for what‘s going on today, and I’m so glad I came,” he said.
Gore spoke at historical Trinity United Methodist Church on Telfair Square, which was packed. He shared the inspiration for his new book.
Many endured the chilly temperature outside for more than three hours to get a spot inside the church for his speech.
Libby Campbell came from Columbia, S.C., just for Gore’s speech.
“I’ve been a big Al Gore fan since my college days and love everything he stands for,” Campbell said. “He has always been an advocate for the earth and uses common sense to share his feelings about the future of the world. I’m very glad I came down for the speech.”
Gore’s new book, now on the New York Times Bestseller’s List, explores the political, economic and environmental changes taking place in the world today.
“Just take a look at the phenomena occurring in our world today; earthquakes in large numbers; Hurricane Katrina and Sandy ravaging the Gulf region and New England; the meltdown of the polar ice cap due to global warming, and a time of serious drought,” Gore said. “We have reached a stage of critical mass where so many things related to our ways of life are now affecting the climate. How can we just ignore these critical issues and do nothing about them?”
Gore’s new book takes a detailed account of six key emerging areas of change. First is what Gore calls “Earth Inc.,” dealing with interconnected global economics such as job outsourcing and supply lines that are taking away jobs from American workers and placing them overseas.
The next change is the emergence of the global mind, the digital world, which connects millions of people to one another instantly through computers, sensors and other devices. Gore said one trip to Dictionary.com will produce more than 200 cookies on your computer. In turn, those cookies can track all of your online activities.
“We have a stalker economy out there on the web today, and it is extremely alarming,” he said., “Whenever hackers can sabotage entire power plants and lock them down, you know we’re in trouble.”
A third change deals with the bulk of wealth in the U.S. economy going to the top 1 percent; dwindling underground freshwater aquifers; losing the battle in soil conservation; dealing with drought, and the population of the world growing by about 1 billion every 13 years. Gore’s major concern is how that number of people can be sustained when the planet is already at a critical breaking point with regard to resources.
The fourth greatest concern, according to Gore, is the reinvention of life and death -- molecular manipulation.
“We are now in charge of evolution,” he said. “We are at the point where we, as parents, can decide what hair color, eye color, and physical makeup our children will possess at birth. China has already expressed their desire to be the world’s greatest genetic manipulators, and that is certainly a scary venture.”
The other two key drivers are a radical shift in the balance of global political, economic and military power, and a faulty economic compass leading to unsustainable growth.
According to Gore, all six of these drivers are at play in the world today.
“If we care about our children and grandchildren, we need to rise up to these monumental challenges today and do something to help change the system,” he said. “We can no longer sit back smugly and believe that all is well. There will come a point in time where elements around us and the damage done will be irreversible. Our outdated ideologies are still holding us back from making any significant differences today.”
Rhonda Jameson, of Atlanta, another attendee, said she was impressed with the substance of Gore’s book and speech.
“Most books today are about ‘kiss and tell,’” she said, “but Gore’s book is about our future and what steps need to be addressed now if we are to survive tomorrow.”