Hill Heat

24 Hours of Reality will be broadcast live online from September 14 to 15, over 24 hours, representing 24 time zones and 13 languages.

The event begins in Mexico City at 7 pm local (8 pm EDT).

7 PM local, Saturday

• Mexico City, Mexico
• Boulder, CO, USA
• Victoria, BC, Canada
• French Polynesia
• Kotzebue, AK, USA
• Hawaii, USA

INTERNATIONAL DATE LINE

7 PM local, Sunday

• Tonga
• Auckland, New Zealand
• Solomon Islands
• Canberra, Australia
• Seoul, South Korea
• Beijing, China
• Jakarta, Indonesia
• New Delhi, India
• Islamabad, Pakistan
• Dubai, United Arab Emirates
• Istanbul, Turkey
• Durban, South Africa
• London, United Kingdom
• Husavik, Iceland
• Cape Verde
• Ilulissat, Greenland
• Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• New York City, NY, USA

14/09/2011 at 08:00PM

Today Vice President Al Gore formally accepted the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway.

We, the human species, are confronting a planetary emergency – a threat to the survival of our civilization that is gathering ominous and destructive potential even as we gather here. But there is hopeful news as well: we have the ability to solve this crisis and avoid the worst – though not all – of its consequences, if we act boldly, decisively and quickly.

However, despite a growing number of honorable exceptions, too many of the world’s leaders are still best described in the words Winston Churchill applied to those who ignored Adolf Hitler’s threat: “They go on in strange paradox, decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all powerful to be impotent.”

Gore went on to warn that arctic sea ice is melting faster than previously expected, and that U.S. navy researchers estimate we may have ice-free Arctic Ocean as early as the summer of 2014.

Al Gore’s response:

I am deeply honored to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. This award is even more meaningful because I have the honor of sharing it with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – the world’s pre-eminent scientific body devoted to improving our understanding of the climate crisis – a group whose members have worked tirelessly and selflessly for many years. We face a true planetary emergency. The climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity. It is also our greatest opportunity to lift global consciousness to a higher level.

My wife, Tipper, and I will donate 100 percent of the proceeds of the award to the Alliance for Climate Protection, a bipartisan non-profit organization that is devoted to changing public opinion in the U.S. and around the world about the urgency of solving the climate crisis.

Through The Climate Project, Gore has trained over 1000 people to give his “Inconvenient Truth” presentation; the website allows people to request a presentation.

Gore is the chairman of ACE. The board consists of:

• Theodore Roosevelt IV, Managing Director, Lehman Brothers, Chair of the Pew Center for Global Climate Change
• Larry J. Schweiger, President & CEO, National Wildlife Federation
• Carol M. Browner, Principal, The Albright Group, LLC, Clinton EPA Administrator
• Brent Scowcroft
• Lee Thomas, Reagan EPA Administrator
• Orin S. Kramer, General Partner, Boston Provident, L.P., Chairman, New Jersey State Investment Council, Carter White House
• Congressman Sherwood L. Boehlert
• Kevin Wall, CEO, Control Room, Producer, Live Earth/SOS

• Daily Kos thread

Witnesses

• Former Vice President Al Gore
• Global warming skeptic Bjorn Lomborg

• Grist precis of legislative recommendations:

1. An immediate “carbon freeze” that would cap U.S. CO2 emissions at current levels, followed by a program to generate 90% reductions by 2050.
2. Start a long-term tax shift to reduce payroll taxes and increase taxes on CO2 emissions.
3. Put aside a portion of carbon tax revenues to help low-income people make the transition.
4. Create a strong international treaty by working toward “de facto compliance with Kyoto” and moving up the start date for Kyoto’s successor from 2012 to 2010.
5. Implement a moratorium on construction of new coal-fired power plants that are not compatible with carbon capture and sequestration.
6. Create an “ELECTRANET”—a smart electricity grid that allows individuals and businesses to feed power back in at prevailing market rates.
7. Raise CAFE standards.
8. Set a date for a ban on incandescent light bulbs.
9. Create “Connie Mae,” a carbon-neutral mortgage association, to help defray the upfront costs of energy-efficient building.
10. Have the SEC require disclosure of carbon emissions in corporate reporting, as a relevant “material risk.”

21/03/2007 at 09:30AM