A message from Al Gore, Founder of The Climate Protection Action Fund
I’ve been working on solutions to the climate crisis for a long time — and right now, we’re on the cusp of what could be the biggest breakthrough in decades, with a bipartisan Senate clean energy and climate bill under negotiation right now.
That’s why this week, supporters like you have already made over 42,000 calls to your Senators to demand the strongest legislation possible.
It’s been one of the largest call-in campaigns in the history of our movement, and we’ve definitely got people’s attention. But we have only one day left until our deadline tonight, and we need to demonstrate exactly how broad and deep this movement is.
Can you make your voice heard by calling your Senator now?
Just call our easy-to-use, toll-free Repower America hotline at 1-877-9-REPOWER (1-877-9-737-6937) and enter your zip code. You’ll be connected directly to one of your Senators.
Call Now: 1-877-9-737-6937
Then, report your call by clicking here.
When you’re connected, remember to tell the staff member you’re speaking to that:
- You’re a constituent
- You want your Senators to pass comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation this year
- You want a strong bill that invests in clean energy, creates millions of jobs and sets a limit on harmful carbon pollution from all sectors of our economy
Every voice matters in this fight to solve the climate crisis and jumpstart a clean energy economy. So I’m counting on you — please make a call before the end of the day. There is still a narrow pathway to stopping catastrophic climate change — and it begins with a choice by the United States to pass a law establishing a clear cost for global warming pollution.
The House of Representatives has already passed comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation with bipartisan support. Now the Senate must follow suit, and the current effort may bring us closer than we’ve ever been.
I just got a call from someone who identified herself as a member of “Powering for America” asking me to support efforts to prevent the EPA from making efforts to regulate climate change. She said a “bi-partisan bill” sponsored by Senator Murkowski was needed so that Congress would have more time to pass better legislation. She offered to connect me directly with my senator’s office, in my case this would be Debbie Stabinow, to tell her not to let the EPA pass any regulations. This was a very disingenuous call, and when asked her who she represented, she hung up. Just wanted to let you know that the opposition is using it’s usual lies to mislead people.
What are the specifics of RA? Wind Solar? Nuclear? How am I suspose to support when I dont know the specifics?
Gordon, check out
http://repoweramerica.org/solutions/policies/federal-action/
Dear Al,
You can clean up the earth by riding your bicycle, getting out of your private jet, and traveling like the little people.
Make your multi- million dollar mansion more energy efficient.
If you can’t ride a bicycle, get one of Obama’s two seated Smart cars.
Thank you for doing this!
The number you provided was extremely helpful to me and others.
You made calling convenient, reducing all barriers to taking action.
You also made it easy for me to help you.
I’ve told many people about what you’re doing – my 17,000 enews subscribers, 4,000 daily blog visitors, and 3,000 Facebook/Twitter followers.
I’m truly respect what you are trying to do and deeply appreciate the contributions you have and are making to all of our futures.
From wikipedia.com under methane
Methane is a relatively potent greenhouse gas with a high global warming potential of 72 (averaged over 20 years) or 25 (averaged over 100 years).[2] Methane in the atmosphere is eventually oxidized, producing carbon dioxide and water. As a result, methane in the atmosphere has a half life of seven years.
Methane can trap about 20 times the heat of CO2
addition, there is a large, but unknown, amount of methane in methane clathrates in the ocean floors. The Earth’s crust contains huge amounts of methane. Large amounts of methane are produced anaerobically by methanogenesis. Other sources include
mud volcanoes, which are connected with deep geological faults,
landfill and livestock (primarily ruminants) from enteric
fermentation.
From wikipedia.com under methane clathrate
Recent estimates constrained by direct sampling suggest the global inventory occupies between one and five million cubic kilometres (0.24 to 1.2 million cubic miles).[16] This estimate, corresponding to 500-2500 gigatonnes carbon (Gt C), is smaller. than the 5000 Gt C estimated for all other fossil
fuel reserves but substantially larger than the ~230 Gt C estimated for other natural gas sources.[16][18] The permafrost reservoir has been estimated at about 400 Gt C in the Arctic,[19] but no estimates have been made of possible Antarctic reservoirs. These are large amounts. For comparison the total carbon in the atmosphere is around 700 gigatons[20].
The reason I’m posting this information is because of the need for all to be aware of the possible dangers of global warming. The above information states amount of methane that frozen in our oceans alone. Now with the global warming continuing and the poles melting, the release of fresh water from the poles changes the sea levels and the salinity levels (sea salt levels) changes. Which means the ph levels and the temperature changes as the affects of salinity changes and convention changes. These changes will ultimately cause a chain reaction leading to the melting of the frozen methane clathrates in the oceans. This on top of the heatIng of the mantle ( Earth’s crust ), due to the expanion and contraction of the mantle at the equator ( “La Nina” not “el niño” ).
The only fix is conservation, reduction in fossal fuel use, and some type of caps and trade laws globally, and the conversion to clean energy. So please let’s get this done. It’s about a good future for our kids.
Thanks
Young Ro
Here is the site for “La Nina” / “El niño”
http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov/elnino/
New studies are emerging that take into account factors not included in the IPCC models, such as increased glacial flow. According to a study based on semi-empirical relationships between changes in sea level and global temperatures, we should experience on the order of 10 to 30 cm of sea level rise per °C increase in temperature (Rahmstorf, 2007). When this relationship is applied to the IPCC’s 2007 scenarios for warming during the 21st century which range from 1.4° to 5.8°C, sea level projections are higher than the IPCC’s published estimates. The model-based estimates for the IPCC range from .18 to .59 m (0.6 – 1.9 feet), whereas Rahmstorf (2007) projects 0.5 – 1.4 m (1.6 – 4.6 feet) of sea level rise. The most recent major paper on sea level rise, published by Pfeffer et al. (2008) in the journal Science, conclude that a “most likely” range of sea level rise by 2100 is 2.6 – 6.6 feet (0.8 – 2.0 meters). Their estimates came from a detailed analysis of the processes the IPCC said were understood too poorly to model-the ice flow dynamics of glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica. The authors caution that “substantial uncertainties” exist in their estimates, and that the cost of building higher levees to protect against sea level rise is not trivial.
From website http://www.wunderground.com/climate/SeaLevelRise.asp
Now remember that the frozen methane is in water not frozen water. The circulation of the convection currents keeps the ocean currents from freezing in the deep oceans.
[...] to do something to push for clean energy. Read this and make a call to your [...]
Instead of all the blather about clean energy and bitching about fossil fuels, why don’t you come up with some specific provision for legislation. And please, not 2000 pages of stuff nobody reads.
David M. Curry
I own title to 574,000 tons of coal (seam six). You, sir, can go jump in the lake. Thad
The best clean power we can push is nuclear power. Nuclear fission is the cleanest, safest, most reliable and the most environmentally friendly source of energy. We should be building more thermal reactors and we should get a program going to reprocess the used nuclear fuel. We should aso be pushing a program to develop small fast breeder reactor power plants to recycle the used fuel and to integrate the renmewables with the grid. Renewables, wind and solar have an average capacity factor of 25% so other sources that can be started up in a hurry and turned off in a hurry like gas turbines must be used to integrate them with the grid. That is why the fossil fuel industry is pushing renewables. Right now for every 1 megawatt hour of wind or solar energy produced they must produce 4 megawatt hours of gas turbine energy.
Because of the 25% capacity factor for wind and solar energy if we are to get the 20 percent of our energy by them we must put in 5 times the amount when they operate. That means when the sun is shining and the wind is blowing every thing else must be turned off unless 80% of the wind and solar power us stored to be used when they stop operating. The best storage system is pumped storage which is difficult or impossible to locate in many areas of the US. Pressurization of air, rotating machinery and batteries are other storage devices. They however are very inefficient and can double or tripple the cost of renewable energy versus nuclear energy cost.
Edwin is right on. Repower America is 99.99% on target (in fact, is not off-target anywhere) with the exception of not explicitly supporting modern nuclear. Generation IV nuclear technology, which is safe, efficient and capable of using prior nuclear waste as fuel needs to factor into our energy future if we are realistic.
In addition, electric plug-in cars is not enough, we need to invest in rail for transportation – both inter-city and regional. Moving away from fossil fuels and foreign oil reliance will put additional burden on our electric infrastructure, but we have the means to meet that demand if we just get in gear.
How can I ask a question during the Vice President’s call?
While I wholeheartedly support clean energy not only because of jobs but to maintain the climate balance of this planet and the health of our citizens and the biodiversity of other species, I have a hard time believing the very people in Congress who have held up progress on climate change for so many years are going to pass any sort of comprehensive legislation that meets this crsis adequately and in time to avoid a tipping point. A scientific report out of Kuwait recently stated that Peak Oil will come about 2014. The timelapse between peak oil and the transition we then need to see to clean energy is going to leave us stuck as we are not moving fast enough to complete it. It is exactly political partisanship and impasses that have brought us to this point. And now with the USSC ruling allowing greater access of corporate dollars into the very halls of Congress you are counting on to do “the right thing” just how compromised and washed down will this bill be before it even gets enough votes to pass? How many concessions to nuclear, and the non existant “clean coal” will there be? How low will the emissions targets go? Believe me, I want to support a bill on climate change and do understand the historical significance of this. I just don’t trust people in Congress to do this based on science rather than political expediency. Can you give me a reason to think this will actually do what we must see to avoid a climate tipping point?
One more comment. As a staunch supporter of Sustainable Agriculture, if this bill does not address the effectd of industrial agrculture on our environment in regards to Co2 emissions, loss of carbon and nutrients from soil due to our addiction to nitrogen fertilizers, deforestation, etc., how can we possibly do this adequately? Agriculture holds the key to solving cliamte change.
http://current.com/groups/sustainable-agriculture/
Thanks for this forum, Mr. Gore.
We must seriously sequester carbon in our soil naturally (and reward farmers who do that) in concert with organic agriculture (biodynamics) and reforestation ( NO GM trees) to have any hope of balancing our climate and preserving biodiversity.