Obama Meets With Gore to Discuss Climate Change
EmailABC NEWS’ SUNLEN MILLER REPORTS:
In addition to briefly addressing the Gov. Blagojevich news today, President-elect Obama spoke during a quick press availability about his meeting with former Vice President Al Gore. Vice President-elect Biden was also in the meeting at the transition office in downtown Chicago.
"The purpose of this meeting today was to listen and learn from Vice President Al Gore on the extraordinary work that he has done around the issue of climate change," Obama said. "The time for denial is over. We all believe what the scientists have been telling us for years now, that this is a matter of urgency and national security, and it has to be dealt with in a serious way."
Obama said that he intends for his administration to deal with climate change in a serious way. The president-elect mentioned plans for his economic recovery package, which calls for efficient energy use and redesign.
"As I’ve already spoken about, as we’ve started to provide a framework for our economic recovery plan, said Obama. "We have the opportunity now to create jobs all across this country, in all 50 states, to repower America, to redesign how we use energy, to think about how we are increasing efficiency, to make us, to make our economy stronger, make us more safe, to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and make us competitive for decades to come even as we’re saving the planet. And so we are not going to miss this opportunity."
Obama added that his office is going to be working with "a whole host of stakeholders on this issue, including Vice President Gore, businesses, Republicans, Democrats, consumers."
–Sunlen Miller
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Climate ALWAYS changes!!! But feel free to tax us for breathing. Hey! Develop any strategy for those toxic cow farts yet! Hmn, we can’t eat them but the planet may die if they live… Sounds like some kind of dilemma eh? “What are YOU doing to help the enviroment!?! “I’m EATING the cows!!!”
Posted by: please! | December 9, 2008, 6:00 pm 6:00 pm
Stop continental drift!
Posted by: Laughing Cynic | December 9, 2008, 6:02 pm 6:02 pm
Celebrities are drawn to each other, natural occurance.
Posted by: samhiguchi | December 9, 2008, 6:15 pm 6:15 pm
LOL
Have you notice it has gone from Global warming to Climate Change.
New term to rip off the people.
30 years ago they were screaming of the ice age coming, yesterday it was global warming, today it is Climate change.
The biggest culprut would be Sending rockets and shuttles and space craft burning though the ozone layer.
But then that would not be the peoples fault and not a way to make money off the people.
Many of the things polluting our planet were made possible by the Space agenecy and NASA.
Posted by: seah | December 9, 2008, 6:19 pm 6:19 pm
Gore will surely win on the new taxes that are slated in the near future due to our “carbon footprint”.
Give us the names of the companies you invested on ex-VP.
Posted by: Dennis | December 9, 2008, 6:31 pm 6:31 pm
I happen to have a serious “trust problem with Obama,add gore to the mix and you have a double whammy,these idiots have no clue.its a guessing game,man will soon find out,its natures way of payback.
Posted by: SC SUPERMAN | December 9, 2008, 6:34 pm 6:34 pm
Isn’t it grand when the hippies are in charge? Well, let’s just let them keep thinking that anyway!
Posted by: Marcus | December 9, 2008, 6:41 pm 6:41 pm
A good one: The US Forest Service is going to move trees from warm climates to places that are warming up. Get ready for palm trees all over Chicago.
Posted by: johns | December 9, 2008, 7:14 pm 7:14 pm
The real crisis are the dinosaur politicians who are able to pull the wool over the masses of ignorant folks who continue to live in fantasyland. Simple folk actually believe that toxins and synthetic chemicals we produce are all fine and dandy. They truly believe there are no detrimental affects on the enviornment. Everything big money chemical corporations create has a consequence. Wake up, see and smell the smog and taste the pharmecuetical residue in the water.
Posted by: NG | December 9, 2008, 7:38 pm 7:38 pm
Al gore has $30,000.00 monthly utility bills.That is one heck of a “carbon foot print”!
Posted by: liberalsaresocialists | December 9, 2008, 7:48 pm 7:48 pm
Bulled by a Gore…
Posted by: Roxie | December 9, 2008, 8:00 pm 8:00 pm
Good post-
I’m excited these two folks are ready to put the US back in global leadership on important issues like climate change and energy security.
There are pretty intense changes in US energy (especially driving) habits taking place. One exciting development is that we are consuming more than 5% less oil in ‘08 and thus carbon emissions are poised to fall 2.5% this year.
Even China emissions are falling this quarter as electricity consumption falls a record in November.
The real challenge will be how we continue emissions reduction once the economy picks up again.
Onwards to sustainability,
Dennis
Posted by: Dennis M-S | December 9, 2008, 8:25 pm 8:25 pm
al gore does not have a 30k a month utility bill. in 06 and 07 he ave. 30k per year for all of his homes.
he was on oprah last week and he has his homes fitted so he is now selling power back to the utility company.
some people should get their facts in order before they start to report stuff.
Posted by: what? | December 9, 2008, 9:17 pm 9:17 pm
“Have you notice it has gone from Global warming to Climate Change.” – Seah
Yawn.. In the scientific community, it’s always been referred to as “climate change”. It’s a term that has greater precision to reflect the fact that some regions will change differently than others.
Those who whine about a global socialist conspiracy among the worlds scientists becuase of some perceived yet non-existant name change, truly are whack jobs.
Of course, many of them are just potted plants blown here by the former pro-tobacco lobby – now pro-carbon industry lobby.
You can never tell if it’s simply ignorance, or simply treason against Nature and man.
Posted by: Vendicar Decarian | December 9, 2008, 9:36 pm 9:36 pm
“The real challenge will be how we continue emissions reduction once the economy picks up again.” – Dennis
Considerable improvements in consumptive efficiency can easily be had by replacing things like regular light bulbs with CF lighting, replacing old refrigerators, and installing high efficiency heating etc.
However the core of the problem is manufacturing inefficiency.
The current American and now Global economy is designed to keep the consuming public on the rodent treadmill. By continual product redesign, and through malicious product design, manufacturers build scarcity into their products and the marketplace.
Has the motor bearing warn out on your vacuum cleaner? Too bad, it’s probably plastic and can’t be replaced or repaired. That is an manufactured of manufactured scarcity.
Need a new tailpipe for your car? Well you have to go to the dealer to get a replacement because they have designed the tailpipe to be a unique shape that only they – or others with specialty eqipment – can readily reproduce.
Not only does this manufactured scarcity put mom and pop muffler repair shops out of business, but it allows the automotive industry to influence the price of those tailpipes, driving them upward as a scarce supply and demand mesh to maximize corporate profits.
Need a new fan for a blower motor? You won’t find one.
Manufactured scarcity
Need a replacement hose for your hair dryer? Nope, none available for that mode.
Manufactured scarcity
How about getting a new power supply for your printer? Sorry, not available at all.
500 million transistors in the machine and if one goes, you throw the entire mechanism away.
Manufactured scarcity.
Improve product lifetimes by 100% and you reduce manufacturing emissions by half, and you decrease the work week by half as well.
The current U.S. economic system is over 80 to 90 percent inefficient.
80 percent to 90 percent of labour in the U.S. produces .
It exists to keep the consumer mice on the consumptive treadmill.
Posted by: Vendicar Decarian | December 9, 2008, 10:23 pm 10:23 pm
The reporters who have to cover this kind of yawn inducing, insubstantial, meander have my sympathy! Hopefully, you can arrange to rotate the burden.
Posted by: JM Hanes | December 10, 2008, 2:40 am 2:40 am
The climate changes whether we are hear or not. I do belive we need to reduce emissions but not for global warming but to lesson pollution. Our planet is getting dirty and cleaning it up is important. Al Gore and company have duped most of the world with the carbon footprint ruse. I went online and looked up carbon credits and found I could buy guilt relief for most anything. Climate change has developed into a cult and will only get worse.
Posted by: 1post3 | December 10, 2008, 10:25 am 10:25 am
What happened to the phrase “global warming”? Oh, right, Gore and company asked the media to start calling it “climate change” and they obsequiously obliged.
Posted by: Thank God for Karma | December 10, 2008, 12:12 pm 12:12 pm
Don’t you think it’s time to get the government out of your life and your business, climate change is a fraud, this is the real plan to create one world government.
Posted by: Afi K. James | December 10, 2008, 1:32 pm 1:32 pm
First off – I believe Global Warming is a very serious “Very Real- Man Induced” problem.
However, I do not believe the US is to blame. All we did was develop technologies that the rest of the world would have, if they could have. We were, and are, simply more technologically advanced[ [and the world is very jealous of this, and therefore all the criticism, not to mention that we are the worlds only Superpower, and the world is also jealous of that. Kyoto is as much an attempt to undermine our economy as an attempt to solve Global Warming. Much of the world is just using it as an Economic Tool against us – and many people in the US see this for exactly what it is, Hypocrisy,….. and much of the world knows we know. Probably the main reason even Clinton and Gore would not truly support Kyoto]].
Having a degree in Natural Resources I think the evidence (about global warming) is very Clear and Convincing ‘today’. However, I was not really sure until about 1995, even though I started seeing strong evidence around about 1985. At that point a noticeable warm up started (at least where I was living, & others said they noticed it also, in my area & elsewhere). In my opinion the evidence gradually got stronger till 95, when I thought the evidence was strong enough (and has only gotten stronger, today it is downright scary – the Arctic Ice Cap Meltdown – not funny). So, I really don’t think you can blame us till then (95), and many still don’t (or don’t want to) see it, & not just in the US. However, since 95 the US has made many moves (on many fronts) to combat the problem, and many other countries are dragging their feet, or have been given a free pass (the main Kyoto problem). One of the biggest examples here is China…..but there are others.
The world says it is our Industry that caused the problem (they don’t talk about Britain, and other Industrialized nations as much), but it is also probably mostly ‘Our Technology’ that is going to solve it……………….[I could also throw in many examples of other countries stealing our technology on the international market (weak international patent protections, and many anti-US countries want it that way), the vast majority of SE Asian Industries are built on Appropriated US Technology……. Etc., Etc…………………….…
Our Technology and Industry also saved the world in WWI, WWII, and the Cold War (not to mention other situations). If we had not spent all those years developing various Industries, and Aircraft, & Jeeps, & Tanks, & Ships the afore-mentioned wars would have been lost [[prior to Pearl Harbor the only modern Fighter Plane in SE Asia, other than a Japanese model, was the P-40 Curtis Hawk (Flying Tigers), not a great plane but it kept China from falling]]. We had to use Trains & Trucks to move parts from factory to factory. It took factories to build trains & trucks also, and they had to burn fuel (all this putting carbon in the atmosphere, etc). All those planes, & jeeps, & tanks, & ships etc also burned fuel etc., etc., etc. Not to mention when ours, or the other side’s material got destroyed & released carbon.
Our Industry saved the world on several occasions (also, we have established MANY Democracies around the world,….. how many has Russia or China established !!!). So when people talk about this situation as if we are the only beneficiaries, of such Industrialization, they should look at history again, more objectively. If not for us, much of the world could today be under Japanese Imperialism, or Nazism, or USSR domination………’Comprende’.
The rest of the world has ‘As Much a Responsibility’ to solve this problem as we do,
So, THEY SHOULD STOP BALKING, and cut the EXCUSES.
Posted by: Anon | December 10, 2008, 4:55 pm 4:55 pm
It’s snowing in Houston. I’m going with global cooling.
Posted by: Houstonian | December 10, 2008, 10:29 pm 10:29 pm