Speech of the Week - Gore's Energy Challenge: 'The Future of Human Civilization Is at Stake'

By Al Gore, AlterNet. Posted July 22, 2008.

Editor's note: MoveOn sent this appeal to its members after Al Gore's recent energy speech calling for a massive program to switch America to clean energy (below this is the text of Gore's speech): "Al Gore took a big risk when he called on us to get 100% of our electricity from cheap, clean sources within 10 years.

It's an achievable goal, but it's already under attack from the oil and coal companies. They're calling his plan unrealistic, impossible, and crazy. We're in a crisis. If this is the fate of any new idea to get us out of this crisis alive, we're toast. Gore's challenge will live or die on the reaction of people like us.

We can turn back Big Oil's attack if hundreds of thousands of us personally endorse Gore's challenge to power our country with 100% cheap, clean energy within 10 years -- and then we urge Obama, McCain, and Congress to get on board.

Clicking here will add your support to Gore's challenge:

The petition says: "America must commit to producing 100% of our electricity from cheap, clean renewable energy sources, like solar and wind, within 10 years."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says "it is absolutely possible" that Congress will accept Gore's challenge. But to make it happen, we'll need to show Congress just how many people want bold action.

Al Gore laid out a far-reaching yet simple plan to deal with the most pressing issues of the day. Switching to clean energy will help us survive the climate crisis. And save our souring economy. And help end the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and possibly Iran. And offer relief from high gas prices.

In Gore's words: "We're borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet. Every bit of that's got to change.

"But if we grab hold of that common thread and pull it hard, all of these complex problems begin to unravel and we will find that we're holding the answer to all of them right in our hand."

That answer is a massive program to switch America to clean energy.

Crisis brings opportunity.

Solar, wind, and other clean energy sources are ready to replace oil and coal. And these abundant energy sources promise lower costs at a time when getting to work is getting too expensive for too many. Such a simple, elegant solution. Can you make sure our country embraces change -- 100% renewable power in 10 years? Sign the petition to Obama, McCain, and Congress by clicking here.

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This speech by Al Gore was delivered on July 17 at the D.A.R. Constitutional Hall.

Ladies and gentlemen:

There are times in the history of our nation when our very way of life depends upon dispelling illusions and awakening to the challenge of a present danger. In such moments, we are called upon to move quickly and boldly to shake off complacency, throw aside old habits and rise, clear-eyed and alert, to the necessity of big changes. Those who, for whatever reason, refuse to do their part must either be persuaded to join the effort or asked to step aside. This is such a moment. The survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk. And even more -- if more should be required -- the future of human civilization is at stake.

I don't remember a time in our country when so many things seemed to be going so wrong simultaneously. Our economy is in terrible shape and getting worse, gasoline prices are increasing dramatically, and so are electricity rates. Jobs are being outsourced. Home mortgages are in trouble. Banks, automobile companies and other institutions we depend upon are under growing pressure. Distinguished senior business leaders are telling us that this is just the beginning unless we find the courage to make some major changes quickly.

The climate crisis, in particular, is getting a lot worse -- much more quickly than predicted. Scientists with access to data from Navy submarines traversing underneath the North polar ice cap have warned that there is now a 75 percent chance that within five years the entire ice cap will completely disappear during the summer months. This will further increase the melting pressure on Greenland. According to experts, the Jakobshavn glacier, one of Greenland's largest, is moving at a faster rate than ever before, losing 20 million tons of ice every day, equivalent to the amount of water used every year by the residents of New York City.

Two major studies from military intelligence experts have warned our leaders about the dangerous national security implications of the climate crisis, including the possibility of hundreds of millions of climate refugees destabilizing nations around the world.

Just two days ago, 27 senior statesmen and retired military leaders warned of the national security threat from an "energy tsunami" that would be triggered by a loss of our access to foreign oil. Meanwhile, the war in Iraq continues, and now the war in Afghanistan appears to be getting worse.

And by the way, our weather sure is getting strange, isn't it? There seem to be more tornadoes than in living memory, longer droughts, bigger downpours and record floods. Unprecedented fires are burning in California and elsewhere in the American West. Higher temperatures lead to drier vegetation that makes kindling for mega-fires of the kind that have been raging in Canada, Greece, Russia, China, South America, Australia and Africa. Scientists in the Department of Geophysics and Planetary Science at Tel Aviv University tell us that for every one degree increase in temperature, lightning strikes will go up another 10 percent. And it is lightning, after all, that is principally responsible for igniting the conflagration in California today.

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