Dire stats on climate don't quell Gore's hope

By Anne Paine, The Tennessean

Emissions from fossil fuels are rising faster than projected, former Vice President Al Gore told hundreds gathered Thursday night for The Climate Project's North American Summit in Nashville.

"Temperatures are rising more rapidly," he said. "The ice is melting more rapidly."

Still, he said at the kickoff event of the three-day gathering, hope looms large.

A bill in Congress, expected to come out of committee soon, would be effective in reducing emissions in this country, he said. "Exciting" new developments are taking place with solar cells, wind and wave power and electric cars. New commitments are being made to mass transit.

"This is our time," Gore said. "This is our opportunity."

Joining Gore was Rajendra K. Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The panel and Gore shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for building knowledge about climate change and bringing it to the attention of the world.

The event was at the Hutton Hotel on West End Avenue, where water packaged in biodegradable containers was offered free to anyone passing by in the lobby, and hybrid vehicles were plentiful in the garage outside.

It kicked off the second phase of The Climate Project, based in Nashville. Gore rallied the volunteers who have already given thousands of climate-change presentations based on the Academy Award-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth, using slide shows of melting glaciers and charts of temperature changes and rising emissions.

Now that 2,600 trained presenters have taken information to an estimated 5 million people, the group said, activism to get climate legislation passed is the next step.

"The outcome is not certain by any means," Gore said, noting that aside from the committee the bill had to get through both houses of Congress.

"I think it is possible. I think we can help make it possible with our commitment."

Lifestyle changes urged

Gore, who looked relaxed and at ease, received standing ovations, as did Pachauri.

"The poorest, the weakest communities in the world are going to be affected the worst," Pachauri said.

The Arctic is warming at twice the rate of the rest of the globe, he said, and small islands and low-lying parts of Asia and Africa are vulnerable to sea rise.

Inland, droughts are expected in some areas. More frequent, stronger cyclones reminiscent of Hurricane Katrina are another potential problem, he said.

By 2020, 75 million to 250 million people in Africa will face water shortages, and a 50 percent reduction in agricultural yields is possible, he said.

"We need to move to a new model of development," Pachauri said.

Alternative energy sources and cutbacks of energy use are needed among countries that are using large amounts of fossil fuels today, according to The Climate Project.

Lifestyle changes aren't too much to ask, Pachauri said.

"Why not, if this way of life is imposing a huge burden on the rest of the world?" he said to applause.

Getting the U.S. to commit to legislation before negotiations begin this December on a Copenhagen Treaty to slow climate change was considered key at the summit. It would take the place of the Kyoto Protocol, which both the U.S. and Australia refused to sign in years past.

Volunteers do their part

The work of volunteers has been one of the keys in building a momentum that is making a difference, Gore said.

One of them, recent Vanderbilt University graduate Tori Patterson, said she was there to learn more.

"It's probably one of the biggest problems that's going to face our generation," she said.

Colette Divine, an actor from Los Angeles, had come to be one of a small group of about 50 who would be newly trained to give presentations.

"I'm doing it because I care about the environment," she said, admitting a bit later with a laugh that she had originally thought she was signing up for a paying job.

But, it turns out, she's even more excited as a volunteer.

"There's such a purity about doing something you just love to do," she said.

Elsewhere, two old hands - Laura Waters, an environmental consultant from Atlanta, and Sandy Hoyte, a physician from Raleigh, N.C. - chatted, saying children are the most receptive audiences for their talks.

"They've got a lot of curiosity," Hoyte said, adding that they also have enough science knowledge to understand.

Every group of adults invariably includes one skeptic who seems to be there just to try to "rile people up," Waters said.

The way to deal with such skepticism is just to present the science, she said, which includes graphics and studies from NASA and other legitimate scientific operations.

Forces are also rallying against legislation that would consider "fixing a problem that may not exist," according to the Heartland Institute, a nonprofit, free market advocacy research group.

The group challenges the idea of a pending crisis - saying, for example, that polar bears are thriving.

Heartland is holding its own conference June 2 in Washington, D.C.

Help for the economy

Earlier, talking to the news media, Gore said that the economy, as well as the environment, benefits as climate change is challenged.

Older industries are "hemorrhaging jobs," he said.

But in Tennessee, for instance, plants are moving in that make solar panels, solar cells, glass plates for panels and other products. They're found in towns including Clarksville, Memphis and Kingsport.

Energy-efficiency items for homes also bring work.

"The new jobs of the future are coming from this green revolution," Gore said.