Al Gore

Time in Congress

Gore abruptly quit law school and jumped into politics in 1976, running to fill his father's former House seat in the 4th Congressional District. At age 28, he won the House seat, and served in the lower chamber for eight years. During his time there, he served on the Committee on Energy and Commerce, the Committee on Science and Technology and the House Intelligence Committee. He was considered a "moderate,"Stengel, Richard, "Profiles In Caution," Time, March 21, 1988 as he opposed federal funding for abortion, and voted against a ban on interstate sales of guns and for a bill supporting a moment in silence in public schools.Eisendrath, John, "The longest shot; measuring Al Gore Jr. for the White House," Washington Monthly, Nov. 1986

In 1984 he made a successful bid for the Senate, where Gore was known as one of the "Atari Democrats" — a group of technophiles who wanted more government work on biomedical research, genetic engineering, and information technology. These interests also ignited Gore's interest in the environmental impacts of the "greenhouse effect," an issue that was getting increasing attention in the scientific community."Albert A. Gore, Jr., 45th Vice President (1993-2001)," Senate history Web site

Gore made his first presidential run in 1988, and at 39 was considered the youngest viable presidential candidate since John F. Kennedy. Gore won seven states in the Democratic primary, but it was Michael Dukakis that won the Democratic nomination that year. While many assumed Gore would make another bid for the presidency in 1992, a traumatic, near-death accident involving his 6-year-old son Albert III in April 1989 convinced him to stay out of the presidential arena for several years."Albert A. Gore, Jr., 45th Vice President (1993-2001)," Senate history Web site Gore has said that his son's accident had made him "increasingly impatient with the status quo, with conventional wisdom, with the lazy assumptions that we can always muddle through" — on issues like the environment.

Taking Up the Environmental Cause

Back in the Senate, Gore became even more involved in environmental issues, authoring the World Environmental Policy Act of 1989 and joining with a bipartisan group of senators to hold the first Interparliamentary Conference on the Global Environment in 1990, bringing world leaders to Washington, D.C., to discuss environmental concerns. Gore won re-election to the Senate in 1990, and traveled broadly to observe the impacts of climate change in Antarctica, the North Pole, and the Amazon rainforest.

It was shortly thereafter that he wrote Earth in the Balance, in which he stated that "our system is on the verge of losing our essential equilibrium." "The problem is not so much one of policy failures; Much more worrisome are the failures of candor, evasions of responsibility and timidity of vision that characterize too many of us in government," he wrote in the 1992 book.Gore, Al, "Earth in the Balance," Plume, 1993

Gore traveled to the Rio de Janeiro United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development in June 1992 as a Senate delegate. He has said that his opposition to the first Bush administration's positions on global warming, which he saw in Rio to be out of touch with rest of the world, helped convince him to accept an offer to serve as Bill Clinton's vice presidential candidate.

Vice President

While Gore expressed interest in making some major environmental changes from the role as veep, his eight years in the White House focused more on efforts to streamline the federal government, approve the North American Free Trade Agreement and balance the budget. He was also influential in guiding the work of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which was led by his former legislative director, Carol M. Browner (now Obama’s energy and environment czar). During the Clinton years, the EPA was able to make significant regulatory changes on air, water and toxics issues.

Kyoto Accords

The major action on climate change occurred during Gore’s trip to the climate treaty negotiations in Kyoto, Japan, where he participated in breakthrough discussions that committed developed nations to cutting carbon dioxide emissions. "Let us resolve to conduct ourselves in such a way that our children's children will read about the 'Spirit of Kyoto,' and remember well the place and the time where humankind first chose to embark together on a long-term sustainable relationship between our civilization and the Earth's environment," Gore told the gathered delegates in Kyoto.Gore, Al, "Remarks As Prepared for Delivery for Vice President Al Gore," Kyoto Climate Change Conference, December 8, 1997

The Kyoto pact was highly controversial back in the U.S., largely because it committed developed nations to tougher emissions limits than the developing nations. Businesses and industries were largely opposed, and at the time awareness about the subject of climate change was very low in the United States. Though he signed the treaty, Gore said he would wait for "meaningful participation by key developing nations" before sending it to the Senate."Clinton Hails Global Warming Pact," CNN, Dec. 11, 1997 It was never submitted to the Senate for approval.

2000 Presidential Bid and Beyond

In 2000 Gore made another bid for the presidency, winning the Democratic nomination and later the popular vote nationally. He did not, however, prevail in the final electoral count against Republican George W. Bush in a contest that will not soon be forgotten.

But that devastating loss gave rise to a new Gore, one that committed himself  vigorously and effectively to the cause of climate change. Since the presidential race, Gore has authored two more books — An Inconvenient Truth (2006) and The Assault on Reason (2007). He starred in the documentary version of the 2006 book, which focused on global warming. He has made countless speeches and presentations on climate change in the past eight years, traveling the world to raise awareness and encourage governmental action. In July 2007, he also led Live Earth,Live Earth Web site a concert event on seven continents created to encourage action on climate change.

Gore is currently the founder and chair of Alliance for Climate Protection; the co-founder and chairman of Generation Investment Management; and the co-founder and chairman of Current TV. He is also a member of the board of directors of Apple Computer, Inc. and a senior adviser to Google, as well as a visiting professor at Middle Tennessee State University. He is a partner at Kleiner Perkins, a venture capital firm based out of California.

Climate change

Gore has been perhaps the most vocal, visible political figure on the issue of climate change since losing the 2000 presidential election. "This is not a political issue. This is a moral issue, one that affects the survival of human civilization. It is not a question of left versus right; it is a question of right versus wrong," he wrote in the New York Times in July 2007. "Put simply, it is wrong to destroy the habitability of our planet and ruin the prospects of every generation that follows ours."Gore, Al, "Moving Beyond Kyoto," New York Times, July 1, 2007

In March 2008, his Alliance for Climate Protection launched a three-year, $300 million campaign to mobilize Americans to call for aggressive emissions reductions.Eilperin, Juliet, "Gore Launches Ambitious Advocacy Campaign on Climate," The Washington Post, March 31, 2008 Gore has called for a 90 percent cut in emissions by mid-century in order to curb climate change.

In September 2008, in a speech at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York, he equated the climate crisis to the financial crisis. "The world has several trillion dollars in sub-prime carbon assets, based on the assumption that it is perfectly alright to put 70 million tons of global warming pollution into the atmosphere every 24 hours," said Gore.Sheppard, Kate, "That assumption just went splat," Grist, September 24, 2008

Recently, Gore has issued increasingly urgent statements on the need for action. In a speech at the U.N. climate summit in Poland in December 2008, Gore argued that older targets for reducing global-warming pollution are now out of date, and that world leaders should aim to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million.Sheppard, Kate, "Gore to U.N.: 350 or bust," Grist, Dec. 12, 2008

"We, the human species, are confronting a planetary emergency — a threat to the survival of our civilization that is gathering ominous and destructive potential even as we gather here," Gore said at his Nobel lecture on Dec. 10, 2007. "But there is hopeful news as well: we have the ability to solve this crisis and avoid the worst — though not all — of its consequences, if we act boldly, decisively and quickly."Gore, Al, "Nobel Lecture in Oslo, Norway," Dec. 10, 2007

International Climate Treaty

As vice president in 1997, Gore declined to submit the Kyoto Protocol to the Senate, Gore has since argued that the United States should take the lead on an international treaty to limit emissions before leaders meet again in Copenhagen in 2009.

"In order to foster international cooperation, it is also essential that the United States rejoin the global community and lead efforts to secure an international treaty at Copenhagen in December of next year that includes a cap on CO2 emissions and a global partnership that recognizes the necessity of addressing the threats of extreme poverty and disease as part of the world's agenda for solving the climate crisis," said Gore."Al Gore: A Generational Challenge to Repower America" speech, Alliance fof Climate Protection Web site

Shortly before the 2007 U.N. climate meeting in Bali, Indonesia, he called for world leaders to join in a new climate pact by 2010, two years earlier than the Kyoto Protocol is set to expire."Nobel winner Gore calls for early climate treaty," Reuters, Dec. 7, 2007

Renewable Energy

In a speech in Washington, D.C., in July 2008, Gore called for the United States to move to 100 percent carbon-free energy sources within ten years in order to prevent catastrophic climate change."The Gore-y Details," Grist, July 17, 2008 "I ask you to join with me to call on every candidate, at every level, to accept this challenge," he said. "It's time for us to move beyond empty rhetoric. We need to act now."

His Alliance for Climate Protection group has since run a number of television advertisements, under the name "Repower America," urging this goal. His plan calls for maintaining the country's use of nuclear power at current levels, while dramatically increasing the amount of energy derived from geothermal, solar, and wind.

Coal

Gore has called for a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants, unless the technology is designed to capture and store carbon dioxide emissions, which he noted in a Nobel lecture in December 2007.Gore, Al, "Nobel Lecture in Oslo, Norway," Dec. 10, 2007 He's also been highly critical of politicians and groups who have promoted the idea that so-called "clean-coal" technology exists.

"We should stop burning coal without sequestering the CO2. The coal and oil companies have spent in the United States alone half a billion dollars in the first 8 months of this year promoting the lie that there is such a thing as 'clean coal,'" said Gore at the Clinton Global Initiative in September 2008.  "'Clean coal' is like 'healthy cigarettes' — it does not exist. It could theoretically exist. The only demonstration plant was canceled. How many such plants are there? Zero. How many blueprints? Zero."Sheppard, Kate, "That assumption just went splat," Grist, September 24, 2008

Gore has also called on young people to practice civil disobedience against the construction of new coal-fired power plants. "If you're a young person looking at the future of this planet and looking at what's being done now, I believe we've reached the stage where it's time for civil disobedience to prevent the construction of new coal-fired power plants that do not have sequestration," he said.

Oil Shale

Gore has also been critical of Bush administration moves to open up areas of the western United States to oil shale development. "This is utter insanity, and it demonstrates that the wealth and power and influence of the entrenched carbon lobby, that twists policy and puts out illusory impressions, is overwhelming the free debate," he said. "We need to stop this."Sheppard, Kate, "That assumption just went splat," Grist, September 24, 2008

Carbon tax

Gore has advocated for a tax on carbon emission, suggesting that it should replace the payroll tax. "I know this sounds like a bigger idea than the political system can accommodate," he said in a March 2008 webcast. He argues that since there is no price on carbon currently, CO2 is "invisible to the markets."Barron, Rachel, "Al Gore Backs Carbon Tax," GreenTechMedia, March 19, 2008

"We need to put a price on carbon — with a CO2 tax that is then rebated back to the people, progressively, according to the laws of each nation, in ways that shift the burden of taxation from employment to pollution," he said in a Nobel lecture in December 2007. "This is by far the most effective and simplest way to accelerate solutions to this crisis."Gore, Al, "Nobel Lecture in Oslo, Norway," Dec. 10, 2007