Al Gore's Plan for the "Climate Crisis"

Gleanings from Gore's testimony before Congress.

Gore: "We face a planetary emergency. I know it sounds shrill."

He proposed a Marshall Plan to address climate change. "We do not have time to play around with this," Gore declared.

Specific suggestions.

(1) We should immediately freeze CO2 emission in US. Begin sharp reductions to by 90% by 2050. [In other words, emit only 10% of CO2 that we emit today--sorry for any confusion.]  Freeze it right now.

(2) I believe we should start using the tax code to reduce taxes on production and employment and substitute pollution taxes. We're discouraging work and encouraging the destruction of the planet's habitability. We should discourage pollution while encouraging work. Carbon pollution is not currently priced into the marketplace. I internalize air and water and I think that the economic system should too.

(3) A portion of those revenues must be earmarked for lower income groups to make this transition

(4) I'm in favor of a strong global treaty to limit greenhouse gas emissions—I'm in favor of Kyoto—I fully understand as a brand it's been demonized. I think we should work toward de facto compliance with Kyoto. My formal proposal is to move forward the adoption of the next treaty to 2010, not when Kyoto expires in 2012. We have to work to get China and India in participate in some way, to make them part of this effort.

(5) This Congress should enact a moratorium on all new coal fired power plants not compatible with carbon capture and sequestration.

(6) This congress should develop a Electronet—a smart grid. We ought to have a law, allow people to put up photovoltaic and wind generation and sell electricity into grid without any artificial caps.

(7) Must raise CAFÉ standards for automobile and trucks. CAFÉ must be part of a comprehensive package. Don't single out cars and trucks. The problem is cars, coal and buildings, so must address all three

(8) Set a date for banning incandescent light bulbs.

(9) Carbon neutral mortgage association (Connie Mae) The idea is that the market doesn't properly price energy saving technologies, e.g., insulation, double paned windows, and so forth, so government should create some kind of financial instrument to pay for these energy saving techs. He claims that they will pay for themselves.

(10) The Securities and Exchange Commission ought to require disclosure of carbon emissions in corporate reports. Because it's a material risk that companies face.

Just letting you know.