Al Gore on Environment 2000 Democratic Nominee for President; Former Vice President

Sub-sections under Environment:
• Brownfields + Parks
• Mass Transit + Suburban Sprawl
• Other issues under Environment

Over-representation appropriate for global warming dangers

• The film asserted that the rapid melting of ice from either West Antarctica or Greenland would raise sea levels by 20 feet or more. The court found that, according to the scientific consensus, if this happened, it would happen over hundreds--maybe thousands--of years, not any time in the immediate future.
• The film states that low-lying Pacific islands are being flooded because of global warming, with Al Gore narrating. "That's why the citizens of these Pacific nations have all had to evacuate to New Zealand." The court found no evidence of any such evacuation.

"Inconvenient Truth" pushed global warming into pop culture

But if Gore was a prophet, he was certainly a prophet of doom. Even the trailer to the film flashes ominous images of destruction accompanied with phrases such as "Nothing is scarier than the truth;" "By far the most terrifying film you will ever see;" it's a "film that has shocked audiences worldwide." Given the 20 significant scientific errors I found in Gore's film, it was clear that the science was secondary to the primary goal of promoting fear and pushing the message that the debate was over and the science was settled.

The [film's] architect was Laurie David, an environmentalist with close ties to Hollywood. She convinced Gore to turn his PowerPoint presentation into a documentary and became a co-producer of the film.

Against mountaintop mining in WV; for less water flows in MO

OpEd: Hurt in 2000 debates by fibbing & sighing

I was backstage watching the debate directly from a limited camera feed. I had missed the debate's most important message: Gore's sighing, huffing-and-puffing performance, caught on camera for ordinary viewers. He looked as if he were auditioning for the role of the Big Bad Wolf from "The Three Little Pigs." He went from unlikable for some swing voters to intensely unlikable.

Changed EPA rules about bacteria tests in bottled water

2000: Avoided passion by avoiding talking about environment

Gore's campaign consultants had advised him to avoid talking about the environment because it wasn't a first-tier issue. What they missed was that it moved Gore and allowed him to demonstrate his leadership. By depriving him of his most effective passion, they weakened him as a candidate. Gore lost the 2000 election in part because he came across as a robotic candidate. After the election, Gore began speaking out on the environment with a passion that electrified audiences.

Gore's campaign consultants had advised him to avoid talking about the environment because it wasn't a first-tier issue. What they missed was that it moved Gore and allowed him to demonstrate his leadership. By depriving him of his most effective passion, they weakened him as a candidate.

Sense of obligation has been replaced by individual rights

In every instance the danger was apocalyptic, science and technology were major threats, and the free market was hazardous. Big government, big regulation, centralized bureaucratic controls, and higher taxes were the solution.

Former Vice President Al Gore wrote in his 1992 book "Earth in the Balance", "We have tilted so far toward individual rights and so far away from any sense of obligation that it is now difficult to muster an adequate defense of any rights vested in the community at large or the nation--much less rights properly vested in all humankind or in posterity."

The danger here is that private property rights & individual liberty could be taken away in favor of some collectivist & non-democratic elite's interpretation of what is needed. The level of power that this would give to international bureaucrats is almost beyond belief.

"Earth in the Balance" one reason Clinton asked him to be VP

In 1993, we included as part of the Deficit Reduction Act a small carbon tax that would have led to more conservation. We convinced the House to pass it, but it died in the Senate. After that, we pursued a partnership with the US automakers to develop a very high-mileage car, took steps to increase energy efficiency in the federal government, which had the effect of taking several hundred thousand cars off the road, increased research, and negotiated the Kyoto Climate Change Treaty to howls that it would destroy the economy. Virtually the entire Senate voted for a resolution opposing the treaty even before I could submit it for ratification. In my second term, I gave what I thought was a compelling speech about climate change, which elicited a giant yawn.

To let earth continue warming would be deeply immoral

There is not a single part of this 650,000-year record--no fact, date, or number--that is controversial in any way or in dispute by anybody. To the extent that there is a controversy at all, it is that a few people in some of the less responsible coal, oil, and utility companies say, “So what? That’s not going to cause any problem.”

[Does temperature follow CO2 levels?] It’s a complicated relationship, but when there is more CO2 in the atmosphere, the temperature increases because more heat from the Sun is trapped.

But if we allow this to happen, it would be deeply and unforgivably immoral. it would condemn coming generations to a catastrophically diminished future.

Use market capitalism as ally of environmentalism

The environmental impact of our economic choices has often been ignored because traditional business accounting has allowed these factors to be labeled “externalities” and routinely excluded from the balance sheet.

Source: An Inconvenient Truth, by Al Gore, p.270 , May 26, 2006

Humans can impact earth’s ecology; especially the atmosphere

Proposed tsunami warning system prior to 2004 tsunami

It was an unspeakable tragedy for everyone. But for Gore, the horror was compounded by the knowledge that a huge amount of the suffering could have been prevented if, not so many years before, Republicans in Congress had been able to set aside partisanship and let him carry out his plan for a Global Disaster Information Network. Had his system been put into place, ocean-bottom earthquake detectors would have alerted scientists at a monitoring hub that a tsunami was on the way. The scientists in turn would have activated an international alarm system, warning officials in Asian coastal areas to immediately begin evacuation.

Today, the Global Disaster Information Network survives as little more than a professional society for people in the depressing, though crucial, field of disaster management.

Will protect Chicago from being as polluted as Houston

Ban oil and gas drilling off Florida coast

Texas is the smoggiest state with the smoggiest city in US

“It would take years & years of development, which would cause decades of environmental damage, to reap just a few months of increased oil supply,” he said. “I don’t believe we can build and sustain prosperity by despoiling our environment.

Continue & do more cleanup of Great Lakes

A clean environment and a healthy economy do not conflict

GORE: Holding on to the old argument that the environment and the economy are in conflict is really outdated. The governor is for letting the oil companies into the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Houston’s just become the smoggiest city in the country and Texas is No. 1 in industrial pollution. I will fight for a clean environment in ways that strengthen our economy.

Incentives for technology; but no voluntary regulations

BUSH: I don’t believe in command and control out of Washington, D.C. I believe Washington ought to set standards, but we ought to be collaborative at the local levels.

Q: Would the federal government still have some new regulations to pass?

BUSH: Sure, absolutely, so long as they’re based upon science and they’re reasonable, so long as people have input.

GORE: I’m not for command and control techniques either. I’m for working with the groups, not just with industry but also with the citizens groups and local communities to control sprawl in ways that the local communities themselves come up with.

Invest in clean water, air, & land in “Environmental Decade”

Trust Fund for the Environment to foster protection & growth

Gore has called for making the next ten years the Environment Decade, an initiative that includes six broad goals:
1. Dedicating part of the expected budget surplus to create a new National Energy Security and Environment Trust Fund;
2. Protecting forests, rivers and public lands so that families have places where they can hike and climb, and experience nature first hand;
3. Ensuring that the nation’s air and water are cleaned up;
4. Encouraging smarter growth and more livable communities so every community can grow according to its own values, in a way that preserves its own precious character;
5. Investing more in conservation, renewable energy and in fast-growing technologies that combat pollution; and
6. Taking steps - not just in this country, but everywhere in the world - to reverse the rise in global warming.

Ozone protection is working; keep up diligence

Big Lie: good environment is bad economics

We ought to seek, and we can find, sustainable growth that doesn’t undermine human health or the natural ecosystems that support life. The Clinton-Gore administration has been committed to that ideal. We have our environmental critics, but I think it’s fair to say that in these years, we’ve had the strongest economy in the world, while we’ve repeatedly strengthened environmental protections, all across the board.

The bottom line is that there is not only an environment to be saved but money to be made in reducing the buildup of greenhouse gases.

Strengthen CAA; polluters pay for air cleanup

Market-based goals for power plants’ air pollution

Marking the 30th anniversary of Earth Day, Gore outlined an approach for working with the nation’s power-generating plants to cut air pollution. Gore called for:
• Setting clear, enforceable performance goals but, giving industry the flexibility to meet them
• Using market-based approaches, like emissions trading, to help utility companies improve their efficiency
• Encouraging industry to use new, clean technology to help produce cleaner air while saving money and creating new jobs.

Environmental justice and economic revival go hand-in-hand

Work with business to solve environmental problems

If we do nothing else, save the rain forest

The US should lead the global environmental movement

Calculate environmental impact when measuring profit

Civilization and the earth are increasingly in conflict

No logging in roadless forests; protect 40M acres

Pass bipartisan legislation to revitalize contaminated sites

Transform brownfields into parks with federal investment

Gore promotes initiatives to clean up and redevelop brownfields that would cost $4.2 billion over ten years:
• One is bipartisan legislation that increase redevelopment of brownfield sites. The legislation would provide revolving loan accounts, grants and appropriate liability relief to assist communities, developers and businesses in cleaning up brownfields.
• Gore would also permanently extend the 1997 brownfield tax incentive that will leverage an estimated $4 billion in private investment to revitalize brownfield sites.
• Third, state and local governments could issue up to $10.7 billion over five years in bonds to help clean up brownfields, preserve and enhance open space, and create and restore parks.

Livability Agenda proposes $1 billion for parks

Supports “livability” agenda

Control clean air in National Parks

Replace sprawl with “smart growth”; $7.8B on Everglades