Al Gore's 'An Inconvenient Truth' has certainly elevated the debate on climate change -- and as someone who gets bored always singing to the choir, I've been encouraged by the sheer volume of new perspectives and projects that have sprung up in the documentary's aftermath. So here's another one to add to the fray: a project called Cool the World.

This is an effort by Bay Area artists to keep the dialogue moving forward by creating an online collaborative space for creating and sharing climate-related art and music. The Cool the World launch party last night was, conveniently enough, on the same day that 'An Inconvenient Truth' was released on DVD. On hand to kick it off right was The Long Now Foundation (other posts here) director, Alexander Rose, and Sierra Club director, Carl Pope, with a discussion on the use of art and iconogrpahy to change the way we think about time, and how it might help move us beyond apathy and fear so we can finally get serious about saving the world.

While there are plenty of new environmentally focused media and perhaps more direct suggestions for how to cool the planet, this new project has potential -- a pretty website, a spiffy logo, and even a theme song (!), and as far as I can tell, they are part of a small but growing niche trying to culturally engage on the issue. But the forum is brand new and waiting for participation...