Support AlterNet
Do you value the information you're getting from AlterNet? Please show your support with a tax-deductible donation.
Feedback
Tell us how we're doing.
Al Gore's Moral Leadership Lesson
Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace:
Hedge Fund Would Rather Shut Down a Plant Than Pay Its Workers a Fair Wage
Art Levine
DrugReporter:
The Supreme Court Resists Drug War Hysteria
Krystal Quinlan
Environment:
Summer Downsizing: 31 Ways to Jumpstart Your Local Economy
Sarah van Gelder
Health and Wellness:
10 Dangerous Household Products You Should Never Use Again
Immigration:
Huron, California May not Exist in a Year
Viji Sundaram
Media and Technology:
Michael Jackson's Death Was Tragic, But He Was Little More Than an Icon of Mediocrity
Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez
Movie Mix:
Up: This Time, Pixar Has Gone Too Far
Eileen Jones
Politics:
Hunter Thompson Knew It Well: Robert McNamara's Vision for America Was Imperial and Elitist
Joe Costello
Reproductive Justice and Gender:
My First Abortion Party
Byard Duncan
Rights and Liberties:
Does a Senior Obama Official Have Unseemly Ties to Notorious Human Rights Abuser Chevron?
Jeremy Scahill
Sex and Relationships:
How to Make Marriage More Than an Arrangement of Love-less, Sexless, Domestic Drudgery
Vanessa Richmond
Take Action:
Ending Indefinite Detention is AlterNet's Top Take Action Campaign of the Week
Byard Duncan
Water:
Energy Industry Threatens Water Quality, Sways Congress With Misleading Data
Abrahm Lustgarten
World:
What Kind of "Hope" Is Obama Offering to Latin American Countries Still Traumatized by U.S. Empre?
Roberto Lovato
On Wednesday the Kyoto Treaty on global warming went into effect and for the first time the world united (with the exception of the U.S. and Australia) to begin to address the greatest threat humankind has ever faced.
On that same day, in Los Angeles, former Vice President Al Gore outlined a plan for moral leadership to take on the climate change crisis and to re-engage the world's biggest polluter – the United States of America. He called on George W. Bush to join "the coalition of the willing" and make a commitment to face the problem and take action.
In a preview of his remarks for the press, Gore called the Kyoto agreement "historic." While agreeing with the criticism that Kyoto itself falls far short of the measures that will ultimately be needed, Gore said that the value of Kyoto is that it sends a clear market signal. The cap and trade system for CO2 emissions is already in place in Europe and the response has been robust. He called the formal beginning of Kyoto "a great cause for hope," and said that it was just the beginning of a cascade of actions and policies that will quickly accelerate.
Gore believes that the market will respond because "Business has learned to watch out for bubbles that lead to warped decisions." Bubbles are inflated expectations based on wishful thinking – like the hope that oil will never run out or that pollution won't affect business. Gore said that President Bush inhabits an "un-reality bubble," created by his advisers in the oil and coal industries, that will soon burst.
In business, Gore said, those who are lulled into a false sense of security will lose out to competitors who see clearly and can adapt to new realities. Any firm that wishes to do business internationally will have to comply with Kyoto. Already, he said, companies doing business in China face more environmental restrictions than they do in the U.S.
Gore called Bush's climate change denial a "stunning display of moral cowardice," and said that Bush "has his head in the sand." Weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and Social Security are two false crises that Bush has promoted while he abdicates any leadership on the real crisis of global warming. When asked if he would be getting back into politics to provide the leadership he is calling for, Gore said he would not be a candidate but that he would be very active in other ways. He said he would announce a campaign to get U.S. automakers to drop their lawsuit against California and a number of Northeastern states that are regulating automobile CO2 emissions.
"We are going to call on U.S. automakers to innovate, not litigate, to stop suing the future and start building the future," Gore said. The McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship Act came in for praise, as did Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel, a former Kyoto detractor (he called Kyoto a "kooky idea" back in 1999) who now wants to introduce his own legislation to address the problem. Hagel is an example of how minds that were formerly closed could be opened to admit the problem and deal with it.
Kelpie Wilson is the environment editor of TruthOut.org.
Liked this story? Get top stories in your inbox each week from AlterNet! Sign up now »
| More News and Analysis: | ||
|
How to Make Marriage More Than an Arrangement of Love-less, Sexless, Domestic Drudgery Sex and Relationships: Marriage was designed way back when life expectancy was a couple of decades. Now we're living four times that long. By Vanessa Richmond, The Tyee. July 10, 2009. |
Does a Senior Obama Official Have Unseemly Ties to Notorious Human Rights Abuser Chevron? World: The story of this slick oil company's romance with the government has recently taken a crude twist. By Jeremy Scahill, AlterNet. July 10, 2009. |
What Kind of "Hope" Is Obama Offering to Latin American Countries Still Traumatized by U.S. Empre? World: Throughout the Americas, there exists a powerful political tradition in which esperanza (hope) is defined by the fight against U.S. domination. By Roberto Lovato, AlterNet. July 10, 2009. |