Washington Post
SAN FRANCISCO — Former Vice President Al Gore urged an assembly of international mayors to fight global warming Saturday, warning of catastrophic consequences for the planet if governments fail to act. Gore, who helped draft the landmark Kyoto treaty on global warming that the United States never ratified, said that climate change was already melting glaciers, raising temperatures and altering weather patterns worldwide.
Without significant action, he said, the planet would see a dramatic increase in violent storms, infectious disease, deadly heat waves and rising sea levels that will force the evacuation of low-lying cities such as Calcutta, Shanghai and New York City within decades.
“We are witnessing a collision between our civilization and the earth, a transformation of the relationship between our species and the planet,” Gore warned. “Is it only terrorists that we’re worried about? Is that the only threat to the future that is worth organizing to respond to?”
Gore made an hourlong presentation as part of the United Nations World Environment Day Conference in San Francisco, the first U.S. city to host the annual event.
At this year’s conference, themed “Green Cities,” dozens of mayors from around the world have been sharing ideas and strategies to address urban environmental issues, including emissions of “greenhouse gases” that trap heat in the earth’s atmosphere.
This was my favorite part of the artice! I did giggle:smile:-”Gore said nearly all scientists agree that climate change is happening and argued that tackling the problem would not hurt the economy,”
Hmmm…
Another ravenous spittle filled diatribe by Algore?
Ted
I think Algore should get back to work and give humanity another wonderous gift like his invention of the internet….
3-But nothing he touchs turnes to gold. What is it that he can do? He was supposed to go mend fences in TN, but I don’t think he did that.
4,
He can give podium pounding speeches ala Adolph Hitler!
Ted
Didn’t he LOSE TN in 2000???
hahahaha
Is Albore a charter member of the Flat Earth Society?
6- He did and he said he needed to go back to mend fences:smile: He got sidetracked with a stint at Columbia, where rumor has it he bored the students to sleep. He then went on a speaking tour, but was pulled for poor ratings. He then had the idea to start a liberal TV station, but nothing has come to fruition.
Albore, the only person in the world that make Pat Paulsen (I know he’s dead.), Walter Mondale (Someone check his pulse, please), and Denny Hastert look like Charisma men. Albore makes Putin look like Fred Astaire.
9-doesn’t he though!
The best thing al gore can to about global warming is by keeping his mouth shut and stopping all that HOT AIR:razz:
There are those of you that don’t believe in global warming saying it’s a myth and then there are those that say it is happening, but say it is part of Earth’s natural climate changes that have occurred many times since earth’s beginning. But there are other factors that are increasing the amount of certain solar radiation blockers that help increase the Earth’s temperature such as CO2.
The fact is that there is incoming solar radiation and outgoing earth radiation in a balance, but the Earth and Sun have different temperatures and wave lengths of emitted radiation vary the sun has short wavelengths and the earth has long wavelengths. The Sun’s radiation easily passes through the atmosphere and is either absorbed by the land and the oceans or is reflected back toward space. Energy absorbed at the Earth’s surface is then re-radiated into the atmosphere as infrared radiation. Some of this infrared radiation is in turn absorbed and re-emitted by greenhouse gases (gases that absorb infrared radiation), resulting in a warming of the earth’s surface.
Green house gases are invisible to incoming solar radiation, but strongly absorb outgoing earth radiation. There are two main components of greenhouse gases CO2 and water vapor.
water vapor is in constant motion, not really changing because of a positive feedback loop. CO2 is the major greenhouse gas in current flux. CO2 is part of natural cycle with natural variations as result of volcanic activity, but human activity is currently altering this cycle with fossil fuels creating more greenhouse gases blocks more earth radiation from escaping, increasing the temperature.
Since 1958 concentration of CO2 has risen from 315 ppm to 355 ppm and global temperature has increased 0.5 degree (C)
Consensus has been reached that human-driven green house effect is real. What this means for the future is in doubt and if it will effect us as much as we think. But ignorance is not bliss.
13-I believe there is a lot of truth to what you say Sabor. I think more people pay attention to the subject than you are aware of. What many of us have a hard time with is a John Kerry trying to tell us about it as he flies in a private jet, cruises the ocean in a yacht, and somebody within his family, we aren’t sure who, has 4 suvs. Or a Bobby Kennedy that also flies privately, has an entourage of suvs following him, and claims to be for the wind energy, just not on his beach.
I could carelss what they own/drive, but don’t preach to me unless you practice what it is you are asking for.
I remember Gore (leadfoot) giving a global warming speech on one of the coldest nights NCY had (IIRC it had to do with that movie The Day After Tomorrow).
I don’t have a problem with good stewardship and management of resources. Having said that, cows burp and fart methane (a greenhouse gas) in vast quantities, yet no one is calling for the extinction of cows. Vegeterians are more gassy than the rest of us generalists…
What I also realize is the fact that this planet is the only one we know of capable of supporting life as we know it, and we didn’t cause it happen, so I’d be careful about thinking the ecosystem is fragile that we could take it out on a whim.
One would’ve thought, given last year’s tsunami, hurricanes, earthquakes, eruptions, tornadoes, floods, fires, drought and other natural phenomena, we’d have realized the opposite is true.
I hope I never get beaned in the head by grapefruit-sized hail.
4- he couldn’t go back to TN to mend fences. H*** he sued his own family with all of the Tobacco lawsuits. They probably barred him from going on the property since he used his tobacco trust fund and then attacked his family and their business.
13, 15- global warming? hmmmm- you research it through real scientists and see that warming is a natural occurance, the hole in the ozone- normal; Sabor & Sasha are both right. I don’t believe the US should be the only ones watching their emissions though & think Kyoto is nothing but a farce! Look at the effect that global warming has done to AlGore’s head, alot of damage (delusional, angry, and really bent out of shape):eek: