Time Is Energy

Hats off to Al Gore!

"Carbon Freeze" is a singularly impressive speech by Gore.
I ran into it over at gristmill.
If you haven't seen it/read it, please do so, you won't regret it.

I think it absolutely the right call at this time.

The speech follows up on the discussion he began with An Inconvenient Truth. Gore assembles a number of (existing) proposals and combines them, creating a big picture solution. He asks America to reclaim its position as world leader and take the necessary steps to address the Climate Crisis. Gore calls on all of us to make a Carbon Freeze a reality and he recalls the grassroots Nuclear Freeze movement that provided the political will to address an equally global seemingly insurmountable crisis. Gore's movie showed us that the debate about climate change was over.

Now he offers a laundry list of possible solutions--all existing or at least well understood in principle such as carbon sequestration--in power generation and grid management, in transportation and agriculture, in cogeneration and architecture, in forestry and conservation. He points to business leaders (GE and Walmart) and politicians (CA and the mayor initiative) that are championing existing solutions and investing in developing the technology to address climate change.

Gore suggests replacing the payroll tax (a drag on employment) with a carbon tax (a drag on waste and pollution). Gore points to religious leaders that are pressing for urgent action and says that (addressing climate change) is question of right vs. wrong rather that right vs. left. We all have a common interest in preserving our planet.

posted by Daniel @ 9:30 PM