Climate crisis will be solved, Gore says
Next generation demands a better world, former vice-president tells festival
The Trump administration may be pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord, tearing up environmental regulation and doing everything possible to make coal great again. But none of these actions are going to stop the world from succeeding in solving its climate crisis, a defiant Al Gore said Wednesday.
In a keynote speech in Toronto, Gore told a standing-roomonly audience of Canadian technology innovators at the Sony Centre that while the absence of U.S. leadership does harm, “the big harm can still be avoided.”
Citing the spate of extreme weather events including ongoing flooding in the Carolinas, the former vice-president told the Elevate festival that watching the nightly news now “is like a hike through the Book of Revelations.”
But just as Americans prevailed against setbacks in the campaign to abolish slavery, so too will the global cause for sustainability ultimately prevail, with U.S. technological innovation leading the way.
“Have faith,” Gore said, noting that a new president, in as little as 30 days from taking office, could restore U.S. engagement with the Paris Accord. “For anyone who thinks we lack the political will to do this, I’ll just remind you that political will is a renewable resource.”
In informal remarks following his speech, Gore, a board member of Apple, was interviewed by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Both singled out the Toronto-to-Waterloo corridor for its dynamic, diverse and fast-growing technology sector.
Gore dryly observed that Ontario advocates for climate action were facing their own political headwinds, given recent events. But he acknowledged that the U.S., uniquely, is “the only country with a persistent climate-denial movement.” Asked why that was so by Schmidt, Gore noted how large carbon polluters inject billions into tilting American opinion away from climate action.
“U.S. democracy was hacked long before the Russians hacked it,” said Gore, referencing the Kremlin’s efforts to bolster Trump’s presidential campaign. “The average U.S. congressman now spends five hours a day begging lobbyists for money. I know that sounds radical, but it’s a fact.”
Yet none of that is stopping other levels of innovation and change, said Gore. He pointed to how California this month fast-tracked a bill that will make the state 100 per cent carbon free by 2045.
“We cannot go on using the sky as an open sewer,” he said. “The next generation is demanding a better world. We’re going to win this thing.”