What happened in the meeting? Nobody knows for sure – but in the wake of a one hour meeting between Al Gore and Donald Trump, Gore has promised an “unprecedented” surge in climate activism, to protect a renewable energy revolution which he also claims will “happen anyway”.
Al Gore: climate change threat leaves ‘no time to despair’ over Trump victory
Former vice-president expects backlash from environmentalists against Trump and hopes Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will join fight.
The urgent threat of climate change means there is “no time to despair” over the election of Donald Trump, according to former vice-president Al Gore, who hopes that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will join an escalated climate campaign against the president-elect.
Gore told the Guardian he remained hopeful Trump would reverse some of his positions on climate change but predicted an unprecedented backlash from environmentalists over the next four years.
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Trump, who has called climate change a hoax, has pledged to withdraw the US from the Paris climate accord, dismantle the Clean Power Plan, slash renewable energy funding and somehow prop up the ailing US coal industry.
His advisers have also advocated cutting climate research at Nasa and completely exiting the international climate effort.
Gore said such threats mean there will “likely be a huge upsurge in climate activism. I’m encouraged that there are groups that are digging in to work even harder. Those groups working in the courts are even more important now; those organizing on campuses are even more important now.
“My message would be that despair is just another form of denial. There is no time to despair. We don’t have time to lick our wounds, to hope for a different election outcome.
“We have to win this struggle and we will win it; the only question is how fast we win. But more damaged is baked into the climate system every day, so it’s a race against time.”
On Monday, Gore spent around an hour meeting with Trump and his daughter Ivanka, who reportedly plans to speak out on climate change despite her father’s skepticism of the issue.
“I had a lengthy and very productive session with the president-elect,” Gore said, after emerging from the meeting at Trump Tower in New York City.
“It was a sincere search for areas of common ground. I had a meeting beforehand with Ivanka Trump. The bulk of the time was with the president-elect, Donald Trump. I found it an extremely interesting conversation, and to be continued, and I’m just going to leave it at that.”
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“Regardless of what he does, a sustainable energy revolution is under way.”
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My guess is Trump wants to find a way to defuse climate opposition, but I don’t think there is any room to manoeuvre. Any serious concessions to the climate movement would be treated by many of Trump’s supporters as a sell-out. The entrenched positions are simply too polarized.
You don’t “drain the swamp” by hiring swamp critters.
The assertions of the “inevitability” of the renewable energy revolution juxtaposed with promises of “unprecedented” climate action are noteworthy. If the green revolution is so “inevitable”, why the need for a hysterical activist response should the Trump administration cut federal support?
Rush is reporting:
Al Gore’s net worth in the year 2000 was $700,000.00.
Al Gore’s net worth today is $172 million. Al made $171 million in 16 years.
Acquired. Made implies that he actually did something to earn that money.
You mean running a scam doesn’t qualify as “earning”?
It makes one wonder just how Al Gore acquired his multi-millions. A detailed financial report on him would probably be very interesting.
If you can’t win with logic and facts, hold your breath, turn blue, scream. and shout.
I hope and pray Trump doesn’t have any significant investments in green energy companies living on the subsidy gravy train.
“I hope and pray Trump doesn’t have any significant investments in green energy companies living on the subsidy gravy train.”
I heard yesterday that Trump sold all his stock holdings back in June.
Maybe President elect Trump just wanted to reassure Al Gore that the Arctic still has Ice even though it was meant to go in 2013. Smarter to keep him in the tent.
Great, just as long as the taxpayer and consumer don’t have to pay for it. Any free market created renewable energy is welcomed by all.
Could it be Trump is just giving the condemned false hope?
Podesta and Steyer will continue to accelerate their Trump attack now they know the recount gambit is
doomed to fail . These two are like name calling school kids who focus their pathetic effort into negative branding . Deniers , Deplorables and now Dumb Tower . Trump will beat them again and again if he stays true to over 60 million supporters .
Guaranteed Trump didn’t phone up Gore for that come on down chit chat . Watch which government dependant renewable stocks get shorted . Gore looked tired and drained after that meeting.
Tom H writes: “A large number of the state requirements and mandatory purchase agreements are in place to meet federal clean air standards, or really, to suck up to federal regulators. ”
Of course that is not true. One of the first state renewable energy portfolio standards (mandate) was in Texas as part of a compromise during state deregulation. The governor at the time was George Bush.
At the time, the US was importing increasing amounts of natural gas. POTUS Bush supported a national production tax credit. Legislation that regulated old coal power plants and took the sulfur out of diesel were also under Bush.
By the end of Bush’s term, air standard were met. It had nothing to to do with renewable energy.
Knute writes: “Maybe even build new gen nuclear.”
Again, we started that under Bush.
The point is that Bush was open to many possible solutions. Obama on the other hand is fixated on climate and declared war on coal.
Clinton/Gore were the first to make climate change a national issue. They were anti-coal, nuke, and drilling.
Time is the test of a legacy and power plants. Very little remains from Carter’s renewable energy dreams. Clinton/Gore did little but talk. I suspect all the wind/solar projects built since 2000 will have the same legacy as those from the 70s.
Please note I did not write “the Obama administration” , I wrote the federal government. GW Bush was sort of a lukewarmer who did nothing to shut down the greens, and perhaps agreed with them.
“You don’t “drain the swamp” by hiring swamp critters.”
Nor by squatting down on your gilded lily pad to have a croaking contest with the chief bull frog of doom.
Recent work has shown that climate sensitivity is less than 30 percent of the value used by the ICCP modeling. In addition the constant output of the Sun based on ICCP’s use of only the visible-IR spectrum has now been shown that the UV output is highly variable and at times very influential to.the massive incoming Energy Flux .. again not covered by the models. … and then CERN has supported with experimentation that high energy particles ionize air and nucleate cloud formation as scientists at the Danish Solar Research Institute had predicted, where the solar magnetosphere controls the Flux of Cosmic Rays. Period of Low Solar activity, as we are entering now will have an increase formation of lower clouds, and initiate a cooling period. This will end the need for Carbon Tax and unfortunately make Solar Panels less reliable.
Roger:
It won’t end the need for a “Carbon Tax”. Governments around the world are running deficits and need another “Tax” to pay for their programs and gifts to their supporters. The need for “Carbon Taxes” is thus greater than ever.
Wonder when they will tax my wood heat? Oh wait. That’s renewable so the soot and smoke is ok. (I don’t have any neighbours for miles so the ”pollution” is negligible. Plus they use wood too.)
Much less. Seems the air above tropical thunderheads is thoroughly dried after forming them, hence unable to provide the H2O positive feedback the GCMs require. Think 0.05 ECS range — negligible.
“My guess is Trump wants to find a way to defuse climate opposition”
My guess is that Trump will betray you, poor suckers, and prompted by his socialist daughter Ivanka (probably new climate tsar), accept the climate change Gospel, especially if somebody convinces him that he can become very popular and esteemed internationally.
My guess is he won’t pay too much attention to that.
My guess is you haven’t the first clue what you’re wittering about.
Mr Pruitt would be wise to continue checking in on this webpage … it’s a reliable pulse
News flash! Great news indeed!
From Reuters today:
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump plans to appoint Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, a Trump transition team source said on Wednesday.
Pruitt was elected Oklahoma’s attorney general in November 2010 and has focused on restoring more regulatory oversight to states and limiting federal regulations.
As his state’s top legal official, he sued the agency is he poised to lead multiple times, including a pending lawsuit to topple the EPA’s Clean Power Plan, the centerpiece of Democratic President Barack Obama’s climate change strategy.
Pruitt on Wednesday held his second meeting with Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20.
(Reporting by David Shepardson and Valerie Volcovici; Writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Chris Reese and Jonathan Oatis)
I think I just heard Al Gore’s head explode. It was not a large bang, more like a whoopee cushion. The MSM is going to go ballistic. This will make Clarence Thomas’s nomination seem like a pillow fight.
Gore foresees the uprising of an undeclared civil war. Really.
“Gore said such threats mean there will “likely be a huge upsurge in climate activism. I’m encouraged that there are groups that are digging in to work even harder. Those groups working in the courts are even more important now; those organizing on campuses are even more important now.”
One is left with the impression that Trump happily suggested Gore be far more proactive in his activism. Gore, not being that bright, took this encouragement as a tacit sign of acceptance of his ideology.
I can imagine Trump walking Gore to the door. Trump warmly put his arm around Gore’s shoulder. As the pair arrive at the door, Trump shakes Gore’s hand with a reassuring twinkle in his eye. Trump tells Gore how he admires Gore’s contribution to the nation on this matter and how important it will be for Gore to vigorously continue the fight. As Gore leaves, Trump smiles to himself and thinks… “This idiot’s going to make my job so much easier!”
Actually I flashed on Buggs Bunny. “Lets get outa here, McGruda, he is WAAYYY to smart for us!” Gore is such an easy mark it really seems a shame to pick on,,,,,,,naw, lets pick on him!