Al Gore Optimistic About Future: “Civilization Could End in Next 100 Years”

by Rabbit / Earth First! Newswire

“Big money has perverted our democracy—hacked it, taken it over, and twisted it to serve the purposes of special interests.”

Al Gore is famous for being behind the curve, but is he finally waking up? Maybe, but he’s still a bit groggy. In a recent interview with Motherboard, the former Vice President stated explicitly that saving civilization from climate change will take a lot of work.

His first proposed tactic for solving the current environmental catastrophe is igniting an internet revolution. Gore believes that internet activism has the potential to overthrow the grip of special interests. “I think we need an Occupy democracy movement, if you will.”

Gore compares the internet to the printing press, in that it allows individuals to spread their political message without going through the corporate gatekeepers of, say, television. And since the printing press was successful in stopping the industrial revolution in its tracks—a revolution which many at the time predicted would lead us to the shadowy land of corporate rule and dying ecosystems we live in today—he might be on to something.

But Al’s most optimistic message came when he was asked how bad it could get if we fail to fix the democratic system, to lower carbon emissions, to protect topsoil, etc.

Gore replied, “What’s at risk if we did not take action truly is the survival of civilization as we know it.”

You heard it here folks—Al Gore says do nothing, and civilization will crumble on its own. Yes, that’s right, the very civilization that’s poisoning the water, blowing up the mountains, clearcutting the forests, damming the rivers, sending hundreds of species to extinction a day and threatening the very existence of the human species. If we leave it alone, Gore says, it will die, freeing the prisoners, the land, the old-growths, the animals in labs and factory farms, the families trapped behind artificial borders, and even the media from its corporate stranglehold. The former Vice President seems to be espousing a sort of post-punk, nihilistic brand of green anarchism.

We at the EF! Journal Collective think it may also take a lot of help from caring individuals to bring down the Leviathan. And the sooner it falls, the more mountains, lakes, rivers, cultures, languages and species will still be around to watch the crash. So I say, despite the pot of gold Al Gore sees at the end of the rainbow, we should still do everything we can to give it that last little push over the edge.

After all, if a civilization falls in the middle of the desert, and there’s no one around to hear it, does it even make a sound?