Al Gore

The predictions, that floods, droughts, hurricane damage, fires, and other climate-related disasters will increase even more dramatically the longer we delay action on this, the cost is quite serious.

Are we?

The difference is that on Earth most of the carbon has been sequestered in the soil.

As long as we continue to send hundreds of billions of dollars for foreign oil...

The risk of the collapse of the basis for civilization, as we know it.

If we set our minds to it, we could, in this country, produce 100 percent of our electricity from renewable and carbon-free sources within 10 years.

The solutions to the climate crisis are the very same solutions that will address our economic and national security crises as well.

As we thicken the layer of greenhouse gases, more of the outgoing heat is trapped, and the temperature increases.

We look forward to hearing his insights and ideas about how this Nation can finally lead the world in crafting a solution to this enormous challenge.

This is a moment of enormous opportunity for new technology, new jobs, for the greening and transformation of our economy.

This challenge cannot be solved without the active commitment and leadership of the United States.

We need more than just a policy shift; we need a transformation in public-policy thinking to embrace the reality of what science is telling us.

Climate change will be increasingly central to our foreign policy and our national security.

The droughts in the Southeast and in the West are getting longer and deeper, and are related to global warming.

If they enforce it, I think that they can continue to provide global leadership on ethanol production and avoid deforestation.

I do believe the treaty must be global in nature.

The strength of the scientific consensus worldwide is now far beyond what it was 10 years ago.

If the United States once again takes its customary role as the leader of this new trend, then we will create the most jobs and gain the most economic benefit.

I think that an accurate picture of the science is that leading researchers, like Professor Jim Hansen--like Dr. Jim Hansen, at NASA, have now begun to coalesce around the very strong feeling that 350 is the appropriate goal.

I do believe that a revenue-neutral CO2 tax is the simplest and best way to proceed.

I proposed, as a member of this body many years ago, a full employment alternative for any coal miners and workers in the coal industry that are displaced by the need to protect the environment of this planet.

We're borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet.

As long as we continue to depend on dirty fossil fuels like coal and oil to meet our energy needs... we move closer and closer to several dangerous tipping points.

The road to Copenhagen is not easy, but we have traversed this ground before.

The real question is whether we pay now in a way that also helps to break our addiction to oil.