I know that Al Gore is in the press frequently, but I can’t resist writing a blog post about him because he is the spokesperson for the current mainstream environmental movement to fight climate change. We all know that he starred in the movie “An Inconvenient Truth”, but did you also know that he wrote a book under the same name upon which the movie is based?

In addition to writing and starring in “An Inconvenient Truth”, Al Gore was a former congressman who served in the House of Representatives and the Senate, and served as the Vice President of the United States for the Clinton Administration. But that is not all! Mr. Gore is also co-founder and chairman of Generation Investment Management and Current.tv, is a member of the Board of Directors of Apple, Incorporated, is a senior advisor to Google, is a partner in Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (a highly respected Venture Capital firm in Silicon Valley), and is a visiting professor at Middle Tennessee State University. Let’s not forget that he also was a co-winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for “efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change.”

Whew, talk about a looonnnnggggg list of accomplishments. If only he would have ran in the current United States Presidential election, then he could add President of the United States to his list of accomplishments.

But, why write all of this?

I write this because Al Gore is the spokesperson of the current mainstream environmental movement to fight climate change and I long for society to awaken and recognize a someone as the spokesperson for humanitarian issues (such as ending poverty).

I suppose you could say that Bill Gates, Bono, or Muhammad Yunnus could be nominated for this role, but society has not given humanitarian issues the level of attention that environmental issues receive. Who would you nominate for the spokesperson of humanitarian issues and what needs to happen for society to give humanitarian issues the attention it deserves?

This quote is brought to you at the good folks at the Foundation for a Better Life. This quote is about gratitude. Enjoy!

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity…It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.”

- Melodie Beattie; motivational author

This is a couple of days behind, but the beloved and renowned comedian George Carlin died at age 71 of heart failure at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, California at 5:55pm PDT on June 22, 2008. Carlin was best known for the radical topics he used for his stand-up routines. His style often involved outrageous satire of the human species, as well as focus on American and Western Culture, such as obsession with fame and celebrity, consumerism, Christianity, political alienation, corporate control, hypocrisy, child raising, fast food diet, news stations, patriotism, and sexual taboos, among many others. Perhaps most famous for his “Seven Dirty Words” monologue, Carlin shocked America by using seven highly inappropriate and unsuitable words that were and are still censored on public airwaves.

Despite Carlin’s choice of negative topics, his satirical style was used to enlighten his audience and the general population to realize what kind of world we are living in. Many networks are holding tributes to George Carlin this week, including Apple iTune’s page of George Carlin standup. Saturday Night Live is paying tribute by re-airing the episode Carlin hosted in 1975 this Saturday, June 28 11:30pm EST. HBO is also running a special Wednesday through Saturday (June 25-28), featuring more than 11 of his standup routines. I suggest tuning in to some of these specials if you’ve never seen George Carlin perform before. His routines can make you both laugh until you cry and turn on a light bulb upstairs.

I’m going to leave with one of my favorite George Carlin quotes for some inspiration because it makes the most sense: “Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity.”

A company in Japan, called Genepax, has just created a prototype for a water-powered car. Watch the video to check it out. Undoubtedly, this is a PR stunt and there are no details on how this car manages to run on a glass of water, but this brings a lot of promise to everyone who dreams of an alternative to filling up your tank with gasoline.

However, consumers and investors need to be wary of companies that sell snake oil to cure your every ailment. It is no coincidence that these types of stories surface when the price of gas tops $4 a gallon in the United States. Rather than pin our hopes on a technology that does not yet exist, people may take some more practical steps to reduce their reliance on petroleum-based products. A few steps are listed after the jump.

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Eating seasonal produce is one of those no-brainer ways to improve both the quality of your meals and the quality of your environment. Fruits and vegetables that are in season are often cheaper when purchased directly from local farmers- and they’re definitely fresher.

As an unabashed foodie, I care a lot about the quality of my produce and where it comes from. And if you’re like me, and want the only the finest figs or sweetest strawberries for your kitchen concoctions, then you’ll probably want to check out the Eat Well Guide. This website offers seasonal food guides for the entire United States, letting you know which veggies are coming fresh from the fields (as opposed to off-season hothouses.) Definitely also take a look at their other offerings, including some pretty cool widgets for your homepage/iGoogle/blog, a hormone-free dairy map, and water-conscious ratings that can help you determine whether the restaurants you frequent are doing their part to cut down on excessive water consumption.

And while you’re at it, here is a recipe selected by CUESA (the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture) specifically for its usage of produce that’s seasonal RIGHT NOW:

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“The highest degree of charity—above which there is no higher—is he who strengthens the hand of his poor fellow Jew and gives him a gift or [an interest-free] loan or enters into a business partnership with the poor person.” - Maimonides, Ladder of Tzedakah

Maimonedes, who lived from 1135AD to 1204AD, is well known as the first person to write a systematic code of all Jewish law, the Mishneh Torah. One of his small contributions, cited among donors who have researched how they might best give their money away, is his hierarchy of giving known as the Ladder of Tzedakah. “Doing business with the poor” is just one of the many ways that the highest level of charity is translated and written. The common thread in all translations is to help the poor become self-sufficient.

There are 110,000 people in Zimbabwe who are dependent on the nonprofit CARE who are not getting the food they need each month since the crackdown of Mugabe on international aid flowing into to Zimbabwe. Although it is probably no longer fair to pick on CARE for irresponsible giving it demonstrates what food aid programs have done for many years: created dependency. If CARE had rejected federal aid a long time ago, as they are now, Zimbabwe may have 110,000 self-sufficient people who are better able to weather the current political storm.

I have made the point in past posts and will continue to make the point many more times - the single most charitable thing anybody can do is to start a ridiculously profitable, innovative and responsible company. The other point I will never grow tired of reiterating is individuals are corrupt not corporate structures.

So what is the positive news in this post? Where are the positive people?

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