Al Gore, speaking in Aspen, warned that humans are facing a planetary emergency:
“There’s an African proverb that says, ‘If you want to go quick, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.’ We have to go far quickly,” former Vice President Al Gore told a packed, rapt house at the Benedict Music Tent Wednesday. With many scientists pointing to a window of less than 10 years to moderate the effects of global warming, he said, meaningful change is still possible, but “It is a race.”
The size of the climate problem? Worldwide atmospheric carbon has jumped from 280 to 383 parts per million in the last century; the polar icecaps are melting three times faster than anyone’s direst prediction; China is on the verge of surpassing the United States for greenhouse gas emissions; bark beetles and wildfires are sweeping across Western forests; temperatures are climbing, sea levels rising, glaciers vanishing. By some estimates, humans must pull 30 gigatons of carbon from the atmosphere to have a shot at reversing such effects.
“What we’re facing worldwide really is a planetary emergency,” Gore said. “I’m optimistic, but we’re losing this battle badly.” Gore, interviewed by business luminary John Doerr, spoke at the Aspen Institute’s Greentech Innovation Network summit — a gathering of world innovators hoping to boost the development of green technologies.
Gore warned that, “The habitability of this planet for human beings really is at risk.” The habitability of the planet for Chilean sea bass, or Patagonian toothfish, is also at risk. Reports yesterday in The Daily Telegraph suggested that Gore further endangered the species by serving it a rehearsal dinner prior to his daughter’s wedding. The Telegraph corrected their report today, showing that the meal was green after all:
But the fish enjoyed by the Gores were not endangered or illegally caught.
Rather, the restaurant later confirmed, they had come from one of the world’s few well-managed, sustainable populations of toothfish, and caught and documented in compliance with Marine Stewardship Council regulations. The Gores’ spokesman, Kalee Kreider, admitted that the fish has been on the menu, but said: “The Gores absolutely agree with this humane society and the rest of the environmental community about illegally caught Chilean sea bass.
“The problem is huge. This is unfortunate, we have been in touch with the society today. The really important thing is that people become more aware of this issue.”
