Former Vice President Al Gore has broken his silence about a prediction he made more than a decade ago.
In 2006 he said that the world would reach the “point of no return” if greenhouse gases weren’t eliminated by 2016. Now, he says he’s right.
Gore told ABC News that some of the damage done now is far too late to reverse, and warned things would be bad for America in the near future.
He sat down with Jonathan Karl for “This Week with George Stephanopolous,” in which he talked about his grim outlook.
“…some changes, unfortunately, have already been locked in place,” Gore said. “Sea level increases are going to continue no matter what we do now.”
“But, we can prevent much larger sea level increases — much more rapid increases in temperatures. The heat wave was in Europe. Now, it’s in the Arctic, and we’re seeing huge melting of the ice there.”
He expressed two sides of the coin on the issue of climate change: good and bad.
“The problem is getting worse faster than we are mobilizing to solve it. However, there’s also good news. We now have an upsurge in climate activism at the grassroots in all 50 states here in this country and every country in the world.”
And while Gore believes the impact of climate change is a global crisis that will take a global effort, he believes it’s up to the U.S., as the sole world power, to lead by example.
“…only the United States of America can provide the necessary leadership to rally nations around the world to do the right thing.”
He sees the global crisis less a burden, he contends that it’d be a wonderful way to create jobs. Gore said, “This is where the economic growth of the future is to be found. So it’s not as if we’re taking on this huge burden. We’re doing things that are benefitting us in other ways anyway.”
What do you think?
Should climate change be America’s responsibility?
Or is Gore just moving the goal posts of his failed predictions?
You can watch a snippet of the interview below:
Al Gore tells @jonkarl that climate change is "getting worse faster than we are mobilizing to solve it," but the "good news" is that "we now have an upsurge in climate activism at the grassroots in all 50 states … and in every country in the world" https://t.co/GU8je00r20 pic.twitter.com/Kz7Swtr1dM
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) August 11, 2019
The Horn editorial team