Posted on 01/29/2009 8:13:00 AM PST by Turret Gunner A20
Former Vice President Al Gore brought a stark message to the Senate on Wednesday: A new climate change treaty is critical to continuing human life on Earth.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner urged the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to push for a U.S.-brokered treaty in December in Copenhagen, Denmark, where the United Nations will host a climate change conference. Only the United States can lead such an effort, he said.
This is the one challenge that could completely end human civilization, and it is rushing at us with such speed and force, said Gore, who won an Oscar for the global warming documentary An Inconvenient Truth.
Gore, who offered a polite no comment to reporters who asked about his political future, urged U.S. policymakers to reduce the countrys reliance on carbon-based fuels and require lower carbon-dioxide emissions. He also called on Congress to pass the Democratic economic stimulus bill, which includes alternative energy incentives.
If something has never happened before, we tend to think, Well, thats not going to happen, Gore said. The problem is, the exceptions can kill you, and this is one of them. And if the worlds going to respond, the United States is going to have to lead the world.
The former Tennessee senator softened the harshness of his warning with occasional humor, once telling senators he was a recovering politician on Step 9. When current Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker (R) complimented him on his sense of humor, Gore deadpanned, I benefit from low expectations.
Yet there were plenty of signs of the political divisiveness of global warming. Even as Gore spoke, Republican staffers were at work in the audience behind him, passing out press releases that cast doubt on Gores conclusions.
The releases, from the GOP minority on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, cite a Republican report that claimed more than 650 international scientists have disputed the basic claims of man-made global warming.
Following the meeting, GOP committee members said they agreed with many of Gores points, such as the need to develop alternative energy sources and reduce the countrys dependence on foreign oil. But on other points, such as the safety and necessity of nuclear power, Republicans said Gore is pushing a mistaken political agenda.
My argument is not that reducing carbon is not a good idea. It is a good idea, said Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.). But to reduce it through taxes and levies and penalties and then disallow the most known and reliable source of energy thats crazy.
Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) brushed aside GOP skepticism, saying it is ebbing in the face of strong public opinion. He also pledged to work with Gore and the Obama administration to develop U.S. strategy ahead of the Copenhagen talks.
This is going to be a tough slog, but were going to try to do it and were going to do everything in our power to keep the pressure on and keep the focus on, Kerry said.
LOCKBOX
Just wait until this spring when it starts to get warmer!!
Hey Gore. Whydoncha go reinvent your wardrobe or something.
Click on POGW graphic for full GW rundown
Ping me if you find one I've missed.
Even if GW was happening, imagine the lack of intelligence and logic that Gore demonstrates in believing a “treaty” would turn it around???
This is a car salesman strategy. You must buy today!
Yes the planet is in grave danger. We are at a time in history during which the most powerful beacon of freedom on the planet, the US, is self-destructing.
Fixed it fer ya, Al-baby!
Gore needs to be in padded cell, with no belts, no sharp objects of any kind, and away from the rest of the people who are trying to do productive work.
GOD, not Gore, is in control.
“Gore: Planet is in grave danger”
Even if GW were true, the planet itself is in no danger. People or animals might be in danger, but the planet would be fine even if the surface temp increased 100 degrees. Venus is a good example.
Good observation.
When 0bamessiah cranked the Whitehouse thermostat, he killed Mommy Earth.
and the Republicans on the Foreign Relations Committee lobbed some pitiful softball questions at him.
He just wants a few billion shot in his direction from the “stimulus” bill.
Indeed. Somebody give him another sweat-sock to stuff in his trousers.
And remind him to put it in the front this time.
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