No time to waste on climate, Gore says

Former Vice President Al Gore spoke about the need for a rapid and unified method for dealing with global climate change Wednesday afternoon at Harvard University.
Harvard President Drew Faust introduced Gore to an audience of several thousand at Tercentenary Theatre in Harvard Yard.
‘Al Gore is perhaps the most effective living steward of environment,’ she said. ‘Al Gore reminds us of how much one man can do.’
Gore said there are three distinct human factors that explain the impending rise in levels of carbon dioxide: population expansion, human pollution and a ‘willful refusal to take into account the long term consequences of short term decisions.’
‘Our challenge is to find the truth of the climate crisis,’ he said.
Facts about global warming and climate change should not be diluted by industry interests, which he said encourage skepticism about humankind’s impact on climate, he said.
‘Too many decisions are now made on the basis of information provided not by universities, but instead by self-interested institutions,’ he said.
Gore stressed the need for unity and speed in fixing climate change
‘[We are at a] unique moment in which we have to do something unprecedented – make a decision for the survival of the species,’ he said.
Nick Martin, a Northeastern University sophomore who works for PowerVote.org, a voter registration drive that focuses on environmental issues, said he was encouraged by the large turnout.
‘We want to ensure the next president realizes that clean energy should be an issue,’ he said.
Gore said the United States needs to make a commitment to get 100 percent of its energy from renewable resources within the next 10 years.
‘We need to substitute renewable energy for carbon energy,’ he said. ‘We have everything we need but political will, but that is a renewable resource.’