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HOT AIR

Al Gore: Obama Must Rise to the Challenge of Rising Sea Levels

The climate change warrior thinks the President is ducking the fight

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by Dain Fitzgerald

Staff Writer t

Image: International Business Times

Al Gore has some biting words for President Obama, or at least fairly harsh ones for a statesman and Democratic fellow-traveler.

Jeff Poor at The Daily Caller reports that the man who's dedicated his post-vice presidency to talking up climate change thinks Obama should stop idling on the issue. In a speech in New York City yesterday, Gore said that despite his respect for the POTUS, "we cannot have four more years of mentioning this occasionally."

"He's done more in his first four years than any other administration has ever done, and I respect that and acknowledge that," assured Gore. "But the time has long since passed for us to get moving."

Gore went on to say that the US is well-positioned to take on global warming: "This country is the only nation that can provide global leadership, and ultimately it all comes back to us."

Via Daily Caller.
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Comments (view in Forum)

  • Zazziness
    !
    Single-celled organisms are "insignificant" but early in Earth's history they released so much oxygen as waste it changed an oxygen-free atmosphere to the mix of gases we know today. True, most of the organisms alive at the time found oxygen to be poisonous and died off...
  • methinks
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    @Zazziness ...along with 99% of every species that ever lived on this planet. When these plants were giving off O2, there wasn't any other life consuming it.
  • Zazziness
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    @Ashstop God gave us forebrains with the intention that we use them. Don't blame Him if we act like bacteria, instead.
  • Zazziness
    !
    @methinks That's the point. There were no other creatures consuming oxygen because it had never been present in large quantities in the oceans or the atmosphere. It was life in the form of the single-celled creatures which added so much oxygen to the environment, the whole biosphere changed because the old environment just plain didn't exist any more.

    This is why when someone claims man's activities are "insignificant" and that we cannot possibly affect the environment with our wastes, I say "Malarky. We can and do affect our environment in a big time kind of way. Why would anyone think differenly for even a moment?"
  • View all 12 replies >
  • PNWest
    !
    Climate change is happening and we do need to address it. But... Right now the economy should be the President's number one priority. We need to fully dig out of the mess that GW Bush left and get more Americans back to work.
  • PoliticalSpice
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    There are many ways to address this. Planting trees, reforestation, solar panels, insulation as conservation, are four steps that can be taken without a negative financial impact on industry.
  • PNWest
    !
    @PoliticalSpice These are all great ideas and I think we as a country should pursue them. But I think that the President should make it clear that jobs and the economy are the number one priority. When unemployment stands at 7.7% you can work on improving the environment but you can't take your eye off of the economy.
  • methinks
    !
    Here we go with the Bush blaming argument again. Are you going to blame Bush for $6 trillion of Obama's debt over the last 4 years too?
  • PNWest
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    @methinks I'm going to blame Bush for the majority of it. Bush was responsible for starting 2 unfunded wars, tax cuts for the rich and economic policies that crashed the economy. Here is a nice video that explains where the debt comes from. Enjoy.
    http://youtu.be/LcvLHHMC4iI
  • View all 18 replies >
  • DerivePI
    !
    We have a budget deficit of $1 Trillion every year, over 9 million people who have lost their jobs since 2008, a continuing dysfunctional government and all Al Gore can think of is lining his pockets with "green."
  • DerivePI
    !
    @Cheenoguy - true, but I think the urgency is with the economy. Even if we were looking at a catastrophic global warming scenario, a weak economy will continue to limit our ability to respond. I, and I think most, will continue to seek human prosperity first and foremost.
  • methinks
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    @Cheenoguy This planet has taken care of itself for FOUR BILLION YEARS. I don't think you have anything to worry avout.
  • CharlieRosencr
    !
    @methinks. Earth will be fine... human life is another story. The earth has already seen about five mass extinctions where an estimate of 50% of life has been extinguished. The last mass extinction was 65.5 million years ago. We might be looking toward another... I don't know.
  • dances-weebles
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    right... al gore donates more time and money to the cause that you have ever, or will ever see in this lifetime.

    the budget will work itself out one way or another. unless we change the way we work and live the planet will be out of potable water within 50 years.

    without water your money is useless.
  • View all 14 replies >
  • u
    PhreedomPhan
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    @DerivePI Interesting info at your link, but I would suggest that the systematic and deliberate de-industrialization of the U.S. has done more than all the State and federal regulations combined.
  • DerivePI
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    @PhreedomPhan - I don't know how I'd decouple the two, nor have a reason too. I do know that the gas being exhausted from industrial furnaces are neutralized with a lime slurry, filtered through bags and cooled on the way up the stack. The gas at the stack is monitored and is required to meet EPA's ever increasing standards or fines ensue. I also know that the air and water quality in this country continues to improve.
  • HPthinker
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    @DerivePI your point is granted, remember this, the US has tough env law. China doesn't the heavy polution is really off our shores... Mexico City for instance.
  • Denizen_Kate
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    I grew up in Los Angeles, where the air was usually brown and we thought that was normal. Under certain atmospheric conditions (such as the Santa Ana winds) the pollution was so bad that at the end of a day of playing outside, I can remember it being painful to take a deep breath. By the 70s, it was beginning to clear dramatically due to catalitic converters and lower lead levels in gasoline, along with new prohibitions against burning your trash and some regulations for factories and their smokestacks. Now when you fly into LAX, the air still looks brown but nothing like it used to. The problem isn't so bad here in the U.S as it is in places like China and India where there are no anti-pollution laws whatsoever. Perhaps Mr. Gore would serve us all better if he went to Asia to preach his green gospel.
  • View all 12 replies >
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  • u
    PhreedomPhan
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    Sorry about the duplicate posting. I'm new here and couldn't figure out whether or not the post was taking. I still don't know what happens after I click "post."
  • u
    PhreedomPhan
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    @Zazziness I beg to differ. Without Gore's hot air we'd be deep in an ice age now. But thanks for following the link. At least you give a damn.
  • u
    Nemesis3X
    !
    "He's done more in his first four years than any other administration has ever done, and I respect that and acknowledge that," assured Gore. "But the time has long since passed for us to get moving."
    Yes, he certainly wasted more taxpayer money on failed "green" investments than any administration. What? Is Gore running out of money? He needs the administration to fork over more green for his green scams?
  • greatsphinx
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    I remember a short period in recent years a small group of people were saying climate change was a fraud, now with the unusual winter super mild and nearly snow less winter of 2011-2012 and the great drought during the spring and summer that nearly destroyed American crops during 2012 growing season and with the surprise arrival of super storm Sandy on the east coast two days short of November, there are a lot of stunned people who are now changing their minds about climate change I read a few articles online about one year ago saying Al Gore was wrong about this planet's changing climate. Maybe it's not Barack Obama fault maybe it's not anyone's fault except the skeptical scientists and others who started booing Al Gore and others like him and their jeering had a strong affect on a lot of people to the point that anyone that said there is something wrong with the earth's drastic patterns was pushed to the side. Yes the weather is changing I live in section of America where we have seen strange extremes in our seasons. I never stopped believing there was something terribly wrong with our climate. So really it's time for the blame game to end and action be taken for the future years.Not only by Obama but all the world leaders.
  • u
    PhreedomPhan
    !
    I remember a very large group of people saying "man made" climate change was a fraud. Sandy is a good case in argument against that belief. With HAARP and experiments in weather change, present trends may well be man made, but not with CO2.
  • Zazziness
    !
    Al Gore needs to stay out of it. There is a whole class of partisan fanatics who believe Al Gore invented global warming and it is therefore liberal and therefore The Enemy. Doesn't matter that such folks as Bill O'Reilly and GW Bush's entire administration acknowledged both global warming and mankind's contributions to it. This is ridiculous, of course, but it is reality. So Mr. Gore, stay home. Sadly, you cannot help reach the resistant and those who accept the science already know we need to address change.
  • harold
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    There are two problems I see with the Pres and the environment.
    He's distracted, and he's not 'connected' with the environment.
    And while climate change is a problem, it may not be the most urgent one.
    A more insidious problem is the soup of chemicals, hormones, and antibiotics that we're all drinking.
    There have been several alarming studies of individual substances affecting reproduction and health, but none yet have looked at the effect of all of them together. And nobody of influence seems to want to do the looking.
  • John_Matrix
    !
    Hasn't this idiot made enough money off of his fear mongering? This is the same asshole that preaches conservation and green energy then makes a huge amount of cash off of bullshit like carbon offsets, which do nothing, and to top it off lives extravagantly with no attempt to follow his own bullshit preaching.
  • u
    Nemesis3X
    !
    "Hasn't this idiot made enough money off of his fear mongering?" Evidently not. That fleet of limos doesn't run on water and private jets are expensive to fuel!
  • WMCOL
    !
    You take care of it Al, the President has much more important stuff to do than be concerned about the Oceans and their resources being returned to the people.

    "To everything - turn, turn, turn
    There is a season - turn, turn, turn
    And a time for every purpose under heaven"

    You're out of touch and step Al.
  •
    cat2009
    !
    Al your such an alarmist. Winter in cold climate areas will continue to get snow and Phoenix will continue to reach 100 plus degrees in the summer and sometimes if they have been good they get an occasional snow flake that doesn't mean the world is coming to an end. Chicken Little.
  • u
    Cheenoguy
    !
    I am losing hope in Republicans ever putting politics, money, and religion aside to worry about slowing the destruction of our planet. I am depressed about what kind of world we will leave our children and grandchildren. All because of the selfishness and ignorance of some of the people on this planet. I can't imagine these people who claim to be Christians honestly plan on going to heaven and being rewarded after destroying what they believe is his creation.
  • DerivePI
    !
    I am a an engineer and a Christian. As an engineer I get to solve all sorts of problems. If you told me to design a system to reduce the CO2 levels in the atmosphere, my solution would not include wind mills, solar panels and asking people to drive less. In addition, all of my designs consider cost. As a Christian, I am happy knowing that I will not get what I deserve.
  • u
    Cheenoguy
    !
    @DerivePI
    Okay then let me ask you what should we do? Obviously not expecting technical details, but just rough ideas. What should we as a nation do? What should we as individuals do?
    I'm not frustrated with people disagreeing with the solutions but rather with people who just don't care and refuse to acknowledge it.
    I'm not neccesarily referring to you here. Christians claim they live god and that he created the earth and people. How real is that love for the ones that are okay with trashing the planet and all the other harms done to people? If that love is real wouldnt you do all that is within your power to decrease damage to the planet and hurt to people?
  • DerivePI
    !
    @Cheenoguy - Ok, I'll start with your easy question about saving the Earth. First, asking people to beggar themselves and change their ways is not a feasible solution (takes wind mills, ethanol and solar panels off the list for now pending great technology leaps). Solutions that I would brainstorm and test (smallscale initially) include fertilizing the ocean to increase plant growth (CO2 consumers), inserting upper atmosphere sulfer dioxide (volcano effect), and solar reflectors in space (still cheaper than beggaring). These radical ideas must be reversible, scalable and agreed upon. Also, we better be really sure that we want to cool our planet.

    Now for the difficult questions. God has instructed us to reproduce; to subdue and have dominion over the Earth; and to work and take care of the land. From my perspective, God has shown us His love through this gift. If you cherish a relationship, you don't trash their gift. However, I'd argue that clearing a field for a farm comes under the subduing part and not the trashing. We have trashed our environment (1800s) and it has gotten much better since. In fact, our ability to "subdue" the Earth, has in some cases improved it. I think it is all too often that when an extreme environmentalist argues the cause, he is asking us to stop reproducing, and to become subservient to God's gift to us. As for doing all we can to show love, consider us "in training."
  • u
    Cheenoguy
    !
    @DerivePI
    Interesting ideas. I'd support that (depending on what kind of fertilizer). I wish more people on your side would present alternatives instead of just criticizing the ideas if the left.
    I really don't understand, however, how you can think that things have gotten much better since the 1800s. I think industry has problem gotten better, but I don't know if its better or just relocated to "out of sight out of mind" also known as China. The sheer number of cars on the roads can't be good. How do we fix that without screwing up people's lives? I don't know. The chemicals in farming (and thus in our water) concern me the most, but I don't know how much that contributes to global warming.

    I don't think we can expect to completely reverse the damage. I think we can only slow it down and then find ways to adapt to the changing environment without damaging people. I don't think it will happen, however. We are going to end up in a very miserable world that our kids and grand kids will have to build a new world in. We will never accept new standards for wealth and material things.
  • DerivePI
    !
    @Cheenoguy - so far, the fertilizer has been iron. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_fertilizati...

    My initial goto book for environmental issues is "The Skeptical Environmentalist" by Bjorn Lomborg
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeptical_enviro...

    The chemicals in farming (potash fertilizers) that get into waterways do cause changes to the local ecosystem (as does manure from the Amish farms), but these chemicals are needed to produce food in sufficient quantities for today's populations. Proper use and care in farming practices continue to improve previous damages.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesapeake_Bay_P...

    It is important, when looking at large issues, to gauge both positives and negatives. If you want to be a sourpuss, there are lots of things to be upset about. If you want to be a joyful person, there are lots of things to be happy about. Striking the balance, keeps you honest and informed.
  • o
    Sharpshooter
    !
    Perhaps we could store some of the excess water in Al Gore's head, there appears to be plenty of unused space there.

    OR we could take Biden's advice and stop importing water from China.

    Democrat Vice Presidents.... providing entertainment since 1993.
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