VIRGINIA BEACH
The Rev. Al Sharpton and Pat Robertson are sitting on a couch and in walks Al Gore.
This isn't a joke.
It's the plot of a new commercial in the former vice president's fight against global warming.
And it was filmed at the 57th Street beach Wednesday.
Gore and his nonprofit agency, the Alliance for Climate Protection, are pitting odd couplings - think Sharpton and Robertson - in a series of public-service announcements to draw attention to the environment. The $300 million campaign is expected to launch next week, CBS News reported. Gore talks up his views in a "60 Minutes" interview set to air Sunday.
The global issue got local Wednesday as a film crew set up scaffolding, lighting equipment and a tan leather couch on the strand, not far from the waves.
A witness said Sharpton, the grandiose civil rights voice in New York, sat on the left.
Robertson, the conservative preacher and Regent University founder, was on the right.
"It was like 'The Twilight Zone' seeing them sitting on the couch," said Bill Kelly, a special events coordinator in the city's resort office. "And then around the corner comes Al Gore."
The public-service announcement - apparently Gore was directing - is meant to show that people who don't agree on much can still agree that the environment is important.
CBS reported other pairings will include Toby Keith and the Dixie Chicks and Nancy Pelosi and Newt Gingrich.
"A little tongue-in-cheek," observed Master Police Officer Dave Kent, who was at the Beach set before filming began.
Chris Roslan, a spokesman for the Christian Broadcasting Network, said Thursday that Robertson's participation doesn't mean he has taken a "firm position" on global warming.
"The video he did with Al Sharpton, it literally doesn't mention global warming," Roslan said. "The commercial is about saving the planet, it's not a specific thing about global warming."
Sharpton's office referred questions about the shoot to the Alliance, which wouldn't comment. But a peek at their permit to film on the Oceanfront shows the part that went to Sharpton was originally listed for outspoken filmmaker Michael Moore.
Kelly said he heard a conflict prompted a last-minute switch and Sharpton flew down.
The commercial was kept so quiet, crewmen wouldn't talk about it Thursday.
Debbie Coleman, a waitress in the Surf Club Ocean Grille at 57th Street, was all too happy to say how cool she thought it was to see the goings-on.
"It was a big thing," Coleman said. "It was awesome."
Staff writers Aaron Applegate and Steven G. Vegh contributed to this report.
Richard Quinn, (757) 222-5119, richard.quinn@pilotonline.com
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Doing nothing!!!!!
was never a solution to anything!
Re: Guess we should do nothing...
Guess you could carry your butt to India and China and beg them to stop. Let me know how that works out for you.
"Guess we should all do nothing eh?"
Exactly.
If we destroy our economy in a hopeless attempt to control the climate through unilateral action, we will not have wealth necessary to cope with whatever does occur or to do the things we can to improve our environment in other ways.
Clean environments are expensive luxuries for any densely populated country. Poor countries with our population density are universally hellholes of pollution and filth. By making ourselves poorer pursuing carbon reduction, when every pound of coal or gallon of gas we don't burn here only gets burned in China or India instead, all we accomplish is to worsen our own environment locally while changing nothing globally.
And when it turns out that CO2 isn't the problem anyway (CO2 is plant food) we will have ruined our environment for nothing.
RE: Will it matter
"The average American produces about 20 tons of the major greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) every year. That might sound like a lot — and Americans do have among the biggest carbon footprints in the world — but the entire world emits around 27 billion tons of CO2 each year, through transportation, electricity use, deforestation. Look at those numbers for a moment, and you'll realize there's very little that any of us can do on an individual level to stop climate change. Live like a monk, take away your 20 tons — stop breathing if you'd like — and you'll barely scratch the surface."
Guess we should all do nothing eh?
Will It Matter?
The average American produces about 20 tons of the major greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) every year. That might sound like a lot — and Americans do have among the biggest carbon footprints in the world — but the entire world emits around 27 billion tons of CO2 each year, through transportation, electricity use, deforestation. Look at those numbers for a moment, and you'll realize there's very little that any of us can do on an individual level to stop climate change. Live like a monk, take away your 20 tons — stop breathing if you'd like — and you'll barely scratch the surface.
attention seeking megalomaniacs
Attention seeking megalomaniacs
RE: Doesn't matter a bit
I agree and disagree. Yes the countries you mention do heavily polute, but if the U.S can start cutting back then it would be of some help. All the help we can get is better than just ignoring it.
Doesn't matter one bit
Even if the entire United States immediately stopped anything that could even be remotely considered as a contributor to so called global warming (including breathing), the rest of the world could care less. China and India both are expected to only continue polluting in the industrial sectors and will also be a factor in gas and oil prices rising to record highs every month in any forseeable future. South America burns an area the size of Rhode Island every single day to clear land for farming. And to not put too fine a point on it, Africa and the middle east could give a rat's behind about it all anyway.
Opinion of others
Some of my fellow posters disagree with the actuality of Global Warming. The posters that took time to make a reasoned statement as to why they disagree, I commend, even though I disagree with their reasoning. One should always be able to debate an issue with reasoned arguments, & understand that not all people will agree with one's ideas on a given subject. However, some posters immediately resorted to insults. To call persons with differing ideas, idiots & morons, should be beneath a civil individual. Al Sharpton is a successful organizer, author, ordained minister & received his education at Brooklyn College. Pat Robertson is a successful businessman, author, former minister, ex Marine, educated at Washington & Lee, University of London, Yale Law, & the Biblical Seminary. Al Gore is a Nobel Laureate, Academy Award winner, author, journalist, Vietnam Vet, educated at Harvard, Vanderbilt School of Divinity & Vanderbilt Law.
Manbearpig
Manbearpig trumps all. Debate over. Match, set, game. Well played. Kudos.