Like last year, my husband and I attended the Tech Awards Gala at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center last night. For the last nine years, fifteen Tech Awards Laureates were recognized for “profoundly improving the human condition through the use of technology”.
Each year I am amazed and inspired by the passion, creativity, and spirit of innovation each winner possesses. I am particularly impressed that the award criteria is based on the impact the technology has in improving the human condition rather than the technology itself. The technology does not need to be leading edge technology to have measurable benefit. Sometimes it is very simple or even ancient. I recall a retired couple from Menlo Park, CA who won The Tech Award years ago for building pulley-based bridges across rivers or ravines to give access to schools or medical facilities in rural areas of the world.
Photo: Globalgiving.com
Mike Splinter, Chairman and CEO of Applied Materials, presented Former Vice President Al Gore with the James C. Morgan Global Humanitarian Award for his contribution in raising global awareness of climate change.
In his acceptance speech, Gore spoke of his college professor who over forty years ago foretold the imminent sequence of events that would result in the Earth’s climate change. Over the years, as he saw the professor’s predictions unfold, he was inspired him to take action from the first time he was elected to public office.
Gore told the 1,500 attendees of the plight of the people in Bangladesh who are direct victims of the rising sea level. The Bangladeshis used to have to rebuild their lives because of flooding every twenty years. Now, they have to rebuild every 3-9 years.
He acknowledged that it is difficult to relate how the rapidly melting ice and snow in the Himalayas might affect us. But when he said that the seven great rivers of Asia, like the Yangtze and the Yellow Rivers, all originate from the ice and snow of the Himalayas, it became very clear.
Australian firefighters are fighting fires that are hotter than they’ve ever experienced before. In a moment of epiphany, they realized that the best way to fight fires is to be on the forefront of affecting public policy to stop global warming.
Gore closed by saying that “we have everything we need to solve the problem with the possible exception of political will. Fortunately political will is a renewable resource.”
Next post, I will tell you about the Award Laureates.
7 comments:
I LOVE Al Gore! Think what a different world we would have today if he had been able to take his rightful place in the oval office! And he is looking wonderful these days...so healthy! Wouldn't Tipper have made a great First Lady?
I'm going to make a donation to your featured cause. It's a great one.
A well deserved award for Al Gore!
Dear Susan,
I was struck at how dynamic and passionate he was in person. For some reason, his personality reads flat on television. I think it might be the cadence of his voice that doesn't translate well. It is clear he found his life work.
It sure would have been nice if for eight years I didn't have to explain to so many people around the world that I didn't vote for Bush. It infuriates me that people are expecting Obama to fix last year's freefall economy overnight.
Dear Marilyn Miller,
His ability to shine a light on this grave problem is most commendable.
I remember you telling me about your friend who designed the bridge and now travels all over designing bridges in places that need them. Is this the same guy?
Excellent post, you really did the event justice! Al Gore was good and passionate, but why he felt he had to appologize for his passion, I don't know!
I just added some video and audio from the event at Fresh Dialogues. Enjoy! http://www.freshdialogues.com/2009/11/25/al-gore-what-were-you-thinking/
Dear Relyn,
I'm fairly certain that this photo is from the same project I told you about. I don't know this couple personally; I saw them receive the Tech Award back around 2003.
Dear Alison van D,
Thank you for recording the speech and providing the link. I forgot about his reference to the "Dancing with the Stars". Did he know that Steve Wozniak was in the audience?
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