Blogentry
Mr. Gore goes to Washington, and other US climate developments
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Climate change
- Climate change
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It was a busy day on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. Al Gore appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to urge senators to take action on climate change. And on the other side of the Hill, the House of Representatives passed an economic recovery package that contained plenty of proposals to fund energy efficiency measures.
Gore’s testimony before the Foreign Relations Committee covered all parts of what he called the “climate crisis.” Click here to read his full testimony.
Sitting literally under the spotlight, Gore described the geopolitical consequences of “climate refugees” - people forced out of their homes by storms, weather changes or rising sea levels. He warned of melting polar ice, forest fires and competition for scarce water. He offered data showing that if emissions continue to increase at their current levels, it would lead to an 11 degree Fahrenheit rise in global average temperatures.
“This would bring a screeching halt to human civilization and threaten the fabric of life everywhere on Earth,” Gore said. “And this is within the century, if we don’t change.” Gore’s statement is timely. With the climate negotiations in Copenhagen facing a December deadline, and President Barack Obama urging Congress to pass climate change legislation, Gore emphasized the need for a new international treaty to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Gore called on the Senate to quickly pass President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus package and then to move faster this year to enact cap-and-trade legislation that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050. Gore said that doing both of these would provide momentum to the international climate talks as the world looks to President Obama for immediate leadership.
Indiana Republican senator Richard Lugar, the Foreign Relations Committee’s ranking member asked Gore an important question: Why should 67 senators support ratification of a new climate treaty when the Senate voted unanimously more than a decade ago against what became the Kyoto Protocol?
Gore explained that developing countries, including Brazil, China and Indonesia have taken considerable steps to reduce their greenhouse emissions in ways that they never considered when Kyoto was being negotiated in 1997. “I think that makes it a very different situation,” Gore said. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman, John Kerry (D-Massachusetts) promised a continued effort in the international climate negotiations in the run up to Copenhagen. He said that the Obama Administration would face a difficult role as it joins the talks.
“As the new Administration sets a new tone with the global community, this issue will be an early test of our capacity to exert thoughtful, forceful diplomatic and moral leadership on any future challenge that the world faces,” Kerry said.
Economic Stimulus Package
As Gore was delivering his remarks in the Senate, the House of Representatives passed legislation to help the flagging US economy. President Obama has said that he wants Congress to complete the economic package by mid February. Part of the House package was a $50 billion energy package – the recovery bill’s largest long-term investment – that would (according to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Office):
* create more than 500,000 jobs;
* provide energy efficiency grants and loans to school districts, colleges, local governments and hospitals;
* accelerate deployment of smart grid technology to make the electric grid more efficient and reliable;
* and fund energy efficiency research and development and deployment.
The initiatives approved by the House include extending and enlarging consumer tax credits to help homeowners buy new efficient furnaces, windows, doors, windows and insulation; giving consumers rebates to purchase energy efficient appliances; putting $7.5 billion towards efficiency upgrades in federal low income and public housing; and modernizing more than 75% of government buildings to cut their energy costs.
All eyes are now on the Senate which will take up the debate in early February with the President’s mid-February deadline looming.
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