Gore brings environmental solutions tour to Atlanta

By Christopher Quinn

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Atlantans warmly welcomed former Vice President Al Gore and his environmental campaign to Atlanta on Monday.

The crowd meeting at Ahavath Achim Synagogue for the annual Eizenstat Family Lecture series broke out into frequent applause as Gore pushed his new agenda. He has gone from warning about the impending disaster with his 2006 documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth," to pushing solutions to the problem and making the United States energy-independent.

"This roller coaster of oil is headed for a crash, and we are in the front car," he told the crowd.

Gore, in his new book "Our Choice, A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis" (Rodale, $26.99), says the necessary technologies for new, clean sources of energy are already available. They range from building a new, more efficient-energy grid to solar power, from advanced geothermal to wind power. The consequences of ignoring the problem will be dire, he predicted.

"What do we tell our kids if we take no steps to stop this?" he said. "The day will come when they will ask us two questions.

"They will ask us, ‘What were you thinking? Did you not care?' "

The alternative is that future generations will ask about how the dangers were avoided, he said.

"I want them to ask, ‘How did you find the moral courage to rise up and solve a crisis that so many said was impossible to solve?' "

Gore, in an interview earlier Monday with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, said that he is hopeful, despite the dire situation. Forty percent of the northern polar ice cap has melted in the past four decades, he pointed out.

"When we know the truth and have the evidence before us and think about it and really make deep decisions about what is right on this, I think we are going to do it. But it is a race."

He believes that it is the pre-eminent moral question for this generation.

"If we were just to take advantage of all the hard work and sacrifice of previous generations and then give the back of our hand to all future generations, that would be the most immoral act of any generation that has ever lived,"  he said.

Gore is making the media rounds with his new book, including an appearance last week on "Saturday Night Live." He deadpanned his way through two skits, a fake newscast and a fake talk show, reaching out to the younger crowd that he places much hope in.

"The younger generation is very enthusiastic about solving this. And just as they provided the energy of the civil rights movements many decades ago ... in the same way, I think the younger generation is pushing for effective change to save the environment," Gore said in the interview.

A growing sense among some business leaders that the U.S. needs to change also gives him hope, Gore said. He features in his book Ray Anderson, a Georgia Tech grad and carpet industry executive in Dalton who has committed to zero waste and environmental impact by 2020.

The book is lavishly illustrated with charts, photos, graphs and drawn illustrations that would make any publisher of science books or National Geographic green with envy. It also delves into the political sphere, engaging readers to take action personally and politically.

"I hope that people will decide to become involved in this as citizens in our democratic government, to urge our lawmakers at every level of government to solve this crisis," he said.

His closing statements to the audience encouraged them to do something.

"We have everything with the possible exception of the political will. But here in the U.S., political will is a renewable resource," he said.