In 1991, Gore wrote the bestseller, "Earth in the Balance, " a call to arms to protect the air, water and land.

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He also is the author of "Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit, " which proposes an international plan to solve the global environmental crisis.

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Whatever Immelt and his customers think of the thesis that the Earth is in the balance, they know they are going to be living in a world of high energy prices, caps on greenhouse gases and ever tighter environmental regulations.

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Less well-traveled beings, in the form of researchers in Germany, are now doing something similar, only using Google Earth and the Wii Balance Board.

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That is the fundamentalism that cannot continue, because it is not operating in balance and collaboration with the living thing called the Earth.

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