Gore Urges USA Freeze on Warming Emissions

Gore Urges USA Freeze on Warming Emissions



March 2007 – U.S. lawmakers should 
stop bickering about the science of global warming and take 
aggressive action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, former 
Vice President Al Gore told members of Senate and House 
committees today. 
There is a clear scientific consensus that human activities 
are changing the climate, said Gore, who characterized global 
warming as a "planetary emergency." 
Speaking Wednesday afternoon before the Senate Environment and 
Public Works Committee, Gore said global warming presents a 
"challenge to our moral imagination." 
Former Vice President Al Gore testified in both the House and 
the Senate today. 
"The natural tendency, for me, for all of us, is to think 
something this big and challenging is not real," Gore said. 
"We don't want it to be real. It is hard to think about and 
contemplating the changes to deal with it automatically 
creates a feeling of discomfort. We just wish it would go 
away. It is not going away and we've got to deal with it." 
Among a slew of recommendations, Gore called on the United 
States to immediately freeze its greenhouse gas emissions and 
aim to cut them 90 percent by 2050. 
"The planet has a fever," Gore said. "If your baby has a 
fever, you go to the doctor. If the doctor says you need to 
intervene here, you don't say, 'Well, I read a science fiction 
novel that told me it's not a problem.' If the crib's on fire, 
you don't speculate that the baby is flame retardant. You take 
action." 
Gore expressed support for a cap and trade plan to cut 
emissions as well as for a tax on carbon. 
Speaking of the carbon tax, Gore said, "I fully understand 
that this is considered politically impossible, but part of 
our challenge is to expand the limits of what is possible." 
He suggested a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants built 
without carbon capture technology, as well increased fuel 
economy standards and a ban on incandescent light bulbs. 
Homeowners should be given greater flexibility to produce 
their own clean energy and sell it into the electricity grid, 
Gore said, and the government should enact a new "carbon 
neutral" federal mortgage company to support green homes. 
Leadership by the United States is vital to getting others to 
tackle the issue, said Gore, who called for the nation's 
leaders to "start a sprint to negotiate and ratify" a 
post-Kyoto treaty that starts in 2010. 
The former vice president, whose documentary on global 
warming, "An Inconvenient Truth" recently won an Academy 
Award, said U.S. lawmakers should follow the lead of 
politicians in the United Kingdom. 
Former Vice President Al Gore discusses shrinkage of Arctic 
ice extent in his documentary "An Inconvenient Truth." 
"Both of their major parties are unified in their 
determination to solve this climate crisis," Gore said. "They 
are not arguing about the science. They are arguing about how 
to design solutions that will go farther, faster." 
"We've got too much partisanship," Gore told the Senate panel. 
"Everyone of us, myself at the front of the line, has 
contributed too much to it." 
Lawmakers have to "find a way to reach across the aisle on 
this and recreate what used to be a bipartisan consensus on 
protection of the environment," Gore said. 
There is "big change in public opinion" on the issue, Gore 
added, with more and more Americans keen for action. 
"This shouldn't be seen as a partisan issue or even a 
political issue," Gore said. "It is a moral issue … the people 
out there in our country are so hopeful that this Senate will 
act and that this Congress will act." 
Gore's message was received favorably by Democrats and some 
Republicans at both hearings, but whether there is political 
will for the solutions he recommended is far from clear. 
Senator John Warner, a Virginia Republican, considered a key 
potential swing vote on the Senate panel, expressed skepticism 
that the technology exists to make the emission cuts Gore 
advocates. 
"You have thrown down a very tough challenge today to the 
Congress," said Warner. 
Senator John Warner of Virginia 
Warner voiced concern about the economic impacts of forging 
ahead without an equal commitment from China, which will soon 
overtake the United States as the world's leading emitter of 
greenhouse gases. 
"How do we persuade them [to act]?" Warner asked. 
When the United States leads, Gore replied, "we greatly 
improve the odds that they will be a part of it." 
Lawmakers need to recognize that international treaties have 
long put different conditions on developed and developing 
countries, Gore added, and that is unlikely to change. 
"Every treaty has recognized that distinction," Gore said. "We 
may not want that, but as a practical matter that is the world 
we have to deal with." 
Several Republican senators queried Gore on the role of 
nuclear power, noting that it is an energy source that does 
not produce greenhouse gas emissions, as well as on the future 
of coal. 
Gore did not reject nuclear outright, but said he does not see 
it as a big part of the solution. 
Problems of waste storage, safety and proliferation can 
probably be addressed, Gore said, but cost is a higher hurdle. 

"The main problem is economics," Gore said. "The problem is 
these things are expensive, they take a long time to build and 
at the moment they come in only one size – extra large." 
With regards to coal, Gore echoed his earlier call for a 
moratorium on coal-fired power plants without advanced carbon 
capture technology, adding that the future of coal "depends on 
quickly determining a price in the marketplace for carbon." 
Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma is the Ranking Minority 
Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. 

A handful of Republicans continued to press Gore on the 
science of global warming, none more than renowned climate 
skeptic Republican Senator James Inhofe from the oil producing 
state of Oklahoma. 
"A lot of the statements you have made contain inaccuracies 
and are misleading," said Inhofe. 
Many scientists do not believe that manmade emissions are 
responsible for warming, Inhofe said, adding "the science 
isn't there." 
Gore pointed to agreement on the science by the National 
Academies of 16 nations, as well as the four reports by the 
United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 
IPCC. 
The most recent IPCC report, issued February 2, "The Physical 
Science Basis: a Summary for Policymakers," was adopted in a 
line-by line review by the governments of 113 countries, 
including the United States. 
The report by hundreds of scientists from around the world 
demonstrates that global warming is accelerating, that human 
activity is "very likely" responsible for this warming, and 
that it is likely irreversible for centuries, even if 
greenhouse gas emissions are stabilized. 
"There is a very strong scientific consensus," Gore said. 





 

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