UPDATE: I missed this in the interview, since it wasn’t in the publicist release, it would be a shame not to highlight it.
Would there be hurricanes and floods and droughts without man-made global warming? Of course. But they’re stronger now. The extreme events are more extreme. The hurricane scale used to be 1-5 and now they’re adding a 6.
People send me stuff. Apparently, WaPo is so proud of this interview, they had their publicist send it out. I don’t think Al realizes that the “raging” he perceives is actually raucous laughter. – Anthony
From The Washington Post publicist:
Washington Post’s Ezra Klein spoke with Al Gore about why he’s so optimistic about stopping global warming. Excerpts are pasted below and the full transcript can be found at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/08/21/al-gore-explains-why-hes-optimistic-about-stopping-global-warming/
EK: Do the policy failures of the last decade put more pressure on technological advances to be the source of the solution?
AG: No, I seem them as intertwined. To some extent, the failure of policy at Copenhagen and before that in Washington has put more emphasis on the hopeful developments in technology, but as the conversation is won on global warming — and it’s not won yet but it’s very nearly won — the possibilities for policy changes once again open up.
EK: What do you think of the Obama administration’s intentions to push regulatory approaches to limiting carbon emissions?
AG: I’m very encouraged. I thought the president’s speech on climate was terrific and it followed the inspiring comments in his inaugural address and his post-election State of the Union. And remember the impact of policy direction on business calculations is forward-looking. When business begins to understand the direction of policy, they have to start adjusting to where the policy is going. When you look at the EPA process, it’s undeniably clear that there will be a price on carbon one way or the other. Then when you look at the movement in other countries and the states and local measures being enacted, the direction is now quite clear and businesses are making plans to adjust to it.
EK: Give me the optimistic scenario on what happens next. If all goes well, what do the next few years look like on this issue?
AG: Well, I think the most important part of it is winning the conversation. I remember as a boy when the conversation on civil rights was won in the South. I remember a time when one of my friends made a racist joke and another said, hey man, we don’t go for that anymore. The same thing happened on apartheid. The same thing happened on the nuclear arms race with the freeze movement. The same thing happened in an earlier era with abolition. A few months ago, I saw an article about two gay men standing in line for pizza and some homophobe made an ugly comment about them holding hands and everyone else in line told them to shut up. We’re winning that conversation.
The conversation on global warming has been stalled because a shrinking group of denialists fly into a rage when it’s mentioned. It’s like a family with an alcoholic father who flies into a rage every time a subject is mentioned and so everybody avoids the elephant in the room to keep the peace. But the political climate is changing. Something like Chris Hayes’s excellent documentary on climate change wouldn’t have made it on TV a few years ago. And as I said, many Republicans who’re still timid on the issue are now openly embarrassed about the extreme deniers. The deniers are being hit politically. They’re being subjected to ridicule, which stings. The polling is going back up in favor of doing something on this issue. The ability of the raging deniers to stop progress is waning every single day.
When that conversation is won, you’ll see more measures at the local and state level and less resistance to what the EPA is doing. And slowly it will become popular to propose steps that go further and politicians that take the bit in their teeth get rewarded. I remember when the tide turned on smoking in public places. People thought the late Frank Lautenburg was crazy for proposing a ban on smoking in airplanes, but he was rewarded politically and then politicians began falling all over themselves to do the same. That’s the optimistic scenario. And it’s not just a scenario! It’s happening now!
Don’t get me wrong. We’ve got a long way to go. We’re still increasing emissions. But we’re approaching this tipping point. Businesses are driving it. Grass roots are driving it. Policies and changes in law in places like india and China and Mexico and California and Ireland will proliferate and increase, and soon we’ll get to the point where national laws will evolve into global cooperation.
—
Molly Gannon
Senior Publicist
The Washington Post
hmmmm. The combined sounds of laughter coming from this blog over hotspots and wetspots does give a new definition to “rage”.
“Al Gore compares climate skeptics to anti abolitionists, racists, homophobes, and alcoholic families”
And he should know….
…let’s see what he says after AR5 (The Fifth Assessment Report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC) is released.
He’s right to a certain extent except all the examples he gives pertain to social changes and/or habits that affect an individual. With anthropogenic global warming we are supposedly arguing science that may affect every person on the planet and has not yet been proven despite the moralizing.
Joe says:
August 21, 2013 at 2:35 pm
“Welcome, stranger :)”
I think “Fellow Traveler” is the more appropriate greeting, not as it may or may not apply to thee – but to she.
I wish someone would research whether these vocal alarmists stand to gain financially from a carbon tax. I would guess it is a motivating factor.
@Hardy Cross –
Since carbon taxes make fossil fuels more costly, and provide subsidy for renewables, alarmist investors in renewables can make money on otherwise uneconomic uinvestments. There is definitely a motivator here. Also, cap-and-trade, which is a form of carbon tax, creates an increment to fuel costs which becomes a tradeable instrument, also a vehicle for making money. Both of these result in an effective redistribution of wealth from lower to higher income people.
Poor man, he’s really losing it. He should get together with Prajna, it’d be a great double act.
AG:
“And remember the impact of policy direction on business calculations is forward-looking. When business begins to understand the direction of policy, they have to start adjusting to where the policy is going.”
====================
Does this apply to the entire economy, or even the world economy, or is he talking only about massage therapist’s.
Poddles want to know how to adjust to any new policies, that might be enacted after being drawn into the miasma of Al Gore’s worldview.
ShrNfr says:
August 21, 2013 at 3:31 pm
So by posting the whole article you put WUWT at risk of copyright violation.
Excerpts are okay, whole articles are not.
I told Google to search on the title, it came up with
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-21/california-freebies-drive-carbon-to-2013-low-energy-markets.html
If world temperatures cool significantly over the next decade, it should reveal Al Gore for the idiot he is. But due to his ego he will try to take credit for single-handedly stopping the warming. The left will likely be quick to believe him and will probably give him another Nobel Prize for winning the fight against global warming. Controlling the narrative is more important than the truth to these people. Am I becoming too cynical?
Yeah, you said it, Baghdad Al, we’re losing. LOL.
GAME OVER.
You lose.
I remember as a boy when the conversation on civil rights was won in the South.”
So do I.
And I remember which side the Democrats were on too.
All right here I go. There is nothing more insulting than this huge a*$hole flying around in chartered jets, keeping multiple homes air conditioned, heated and the landscape watered when the vast majority of Americans are struggling just to put gas in their cars to get to work every day. He would think nothing of doubling fuel, heating and cooling prices to stop something that has no evidence of happening. He is a hypocrite among hypocrites.
DickF says: @ur momisugly August 21, 2013 at 2:39 pm
……If there’s anyone with a background in psychiatry reading this, I’d really like to know: Is there medication available these days to help people who have completely lost contact with reality?….
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I hate to tell you Dick, but this is the type of thinking they are teaching in schools these days.
I was in a week long training session in the early 80’s for foreman/first level managers at Louisiana state univ. We had a half day lecture forcing this philosophy down our throats. Why they bothered I have never understood.
Can you imagine trying to get redneck foremen types (we even had a Hell’s Angel in class) to swallow the idea that there is no objective reality?
Unfortunately today about 80% of Americans are city/suburbia types and have never had reality bite them in their nether-region unless they made the mistake of venturing into the wrong part of town.
On the other hand recent Rassmussen polls show:
1. Voters Like Coal Industry More Than the EPA
2. 57% Favor Use of ‘Fracking’ To Find More U.S. Oil and Gas
3. 56% Favor Building Keystone Pipeline, Think It’s Good for Economy
4. August 09, 2013 35% Think Global Warming Is A Very Serious Problem
The change in belief listed is rather interesting from 47% in Apr 2008 believing in AGW (Human activity as cause) to a low of 34% in Dec 2009 and back up to 46% in Jun 2013. That has decreased to 43% in Aug 2013. The change maybe just the error or it could be the result of the cool summer in many parts of the USA.
6. 60% Think Most Members of Congress Are Willing to Sell Their Vote
7. 68% Believe Government and Big Business Work Together Against the Rest of Us
8. 71% Say Government Helps Politically Connected Businesses, Hurts Those That Are Not
At least the last three show voters are not totally niave. (I like Rasmussen because the questions asked are readily available.)
Deconstructing this abstract political mess called Climate Change is near impossible because it is the Joe Plumber, one size fits all solution to bringing their political brand forward..
The lib-lefts liferaft from the gung ho pro military America they hate so much..
The science is fake but the power it brings is very real..
This is why they would rather eat dung than admit global warming due to CO2 is a fraud..
This is why its taboo for the liberal media to give time to the skeptics..
This is why 50% of America has a soft spot for their pet cause..
Politics is a personal game and if there is no reason or consequences to come clean, why would you? Who wants to admit [you’re] wrong when you can attend a rally.. Not me..
Ezra Klein is a financial lightweight who nabbed a Washington Post job through tribal connections and thinks he knows what he’s talking about because he works for WaPo. He doesn’t have the heft, economic and legal knowledge, or experience of someone like Dr. Bill Black, the Reagan/Bush Sr regulator who got 1,000 banker convictions for the S&L crisis. Black put Jim Wright, the Democrat Speaker of the House behind bars, and Black is a Democrat himself.
Here is Black describing Gore as only Black, a white collar criminologist, can do it.
If you don’t have the time to read this long article, then you should throw this interview on the barbie while you’re having your evening cocktails, and let Black (who is blunt, informative, even entertaining) describe how the recent crisis happened. It will raise your hair and awareness. But it’s not about Gore. It’s just something you should know.
http://harryshearer.com/le-shows/may-1/?tag=bill%20black
taxed says: @ur momisugly August 21, 2013 at 3:07 pm
The AGW camp should give this guy a one way ticket to the Arctic….
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Like this?
I suppose he bought a bike and sold his plane – and he is using candles instead of electricity in his ranch
All I have to say is “Wow, what world do you live in Al ?” You think you are winning the battle ? Have you seen any polls on CAGW ? Ranks dead last in citizens concerns. And you think the citizenry will put up with draconian policies for a non-issue ? I don’t think so. And have you seen any of the recent publications on climate sensitivity CO2 ? I am guessing not because it supports what us skeptics have said all along – that any effect is mild & not catastrophic. Time to get a grip on reality Al.
C.M. Carmichael says: @ur momisugly August 21, 2013 at 3:20 pm
The problems with Gore go much deeper… Food wars start real wars, and the “Arab Spring” began with protests over escalating food prices. All the mega environmental groups advocate population control and management. With a cooling world and rising food and energy costs, a lot of people may be managed and controlled right out the picture….
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
That is what I have been trying to get across for years. The USA is now in the position to legislate family farms out of existence. And the latest skuttlebutt (I hope it is not true.)
A similar agreement was reached with the Canadian military on Febuary 14, 2008.
I just took the direct quotes without the hype from this link
“Al Gore compares climate skeptics to anti abolitionists, racists, homophobes, and alcoholic families”
Joe Ryan says: And he should know….
Yep. Can you say ‘projection?’ I knew you could!
I compare Al Gore to wife beaters, child abusers and rapists…those vile individuals who tend to blame the victims for their abusive behavior patterns.
Obama is still in office and with respect to AGW he is an Al Gore Acolyte. He will create the next big crisis that will have to be managed by himself, energy poverty. The EPA does Obama’s bidding. Agency after agency under his control are bringing the U.S. (and other countries as well) to its knees. Al Gore is making huge sums of money from the scam.
Does the unrepentent Goracle actually believe, as he claims, that electricity from wind and solar is actually competitive with coal and natural gas? Or does he just expect his slavish interviewer and adoring worshippers to accept his pronouncements uncritically, as dogma?
/Mr Lynn