Gore Looks to New Tools to Solve Climate Crisis

By now, Al Gore's work on Climate Change is well known. He has won an Oscar and the Nobel Peace Prize. But Gore isn't satisfied. He has launched a $300 million campaign with the aim of influencing both policy makers and ordinary Americans to solve this problem.

From today's Washington Post:

The Alliance for Climate Protection's "we" campaign will employ online organizing and television advertisements on shows ranging from "American Idol" to "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart." It highlights the extent to which Americans' growing awareness of global warming has yet to translate into national policy changes, Gore said in an hour-long phone interview last week. He said the campaign, which Gore is helping to fund, was undertaken in large part because of his fear that U.S. lawmakers are unwilling to curb the human-generated emissions linked to climate change.

"This climate crisis is so interwoven with habits and patterns that are so entrenched, the elected officials in both parties are going to be timid about enacting the bold changes that are needed until there is a change in the public's sense of urgency in addressing this crisis," Gore said. "I've tried everything else I know to try. The way to solve this crisis is to change the way the public thinks about it."
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While "An Inconvenient Truth" urged viewers to fully inflate their car tires and to install compact fluorescent light bulbs to combat global warming, Gore said he is now focused on ensuring that the United States enacts a national carbon emission cap and ratifies a new global pact on climate change in the next three years.

"The simple algorithm is this: It's important to change the light bulbs, but it's much more important to change the laws," he said. "The options available to civilization worldwide to avert this terribly destructive pattern are beginning to slip away from us. The path for recovery runs right through Washington, D.C."

Gore also appeared on 60 Minutes last night to discuss his campaign.

NDN’s Green Project is working on this very issue, and we are excited about the ongoing work by Al Gore and the Alliance for Climate Protection. NDN's Green Project will serve as a bridge between key stakeholders such as the new clean technology community and public leaders as we build a post-carbon economy.

Gore’s campaign, which aims to enlist 10 million Americans to solve this problem, will be using a set of New Tools that NDN has been advocating.

In an effort to penetrate Americans' consciousness and change lawmakers' political calculus, the group aims to enlist 10 million volunteers through a combination of network and cable commercials, display ads in magazines ranging from People to Real Simple, and online social networks. By contrast, the civil rights and antiwar movements in the 1960s each boasted about 5 million activists.

Cathy Zoi, the Alliance for Climate Protection's chief executive, said the group will focus on individuals known in the advertising world as "influencers" who talk to a disproportionate number of people in their communities. While some ads will target inside-the-Beltway policymakers, the bulk of their efforts will focus on the general public.

"This is modern organizing," Zoi said, adding that the campaign aims to convince voters that "this is a solvable problem."

Check out the first ad from Gore’s We Campaign.