“Gore Calls for Carbon-Free Electric Power”

“He said the goal of producing all of the nation’s electricity from “renewable energy and truly clean, carbon-free sources” within 10 years is not some farfetched vision, although he said it would require fundamental changes in political thinking and personal expectations.”

When the negative effects of the cap and trade tax become clear the public will no longer respect news stories that start out “Scientists say”. Tax policies can be changed in one election cycle but reputations will take longer to recover.

If we are invoking the authority of science (e.g. think of statements like “the science is settled”) as the driving imperative for major economic reforms to our energy sector, then we are making justification for that action contingent upon the validity and credibility of the science. I think this approach has a number of potential pitfalls, and the climate science community needs to be extremely careful about suggesting that the science dictates any particular action (if any) in response to the risks we identify. Whatever actions global society takes to attempt to reduce these risks will result from decisions made on the basis of economics, politics, psychology, fear, greed, etc. In short all the motivators that drive political decision-making. Science will play a role surely, but it may not be the dominant driver.

Secondly, the comment struck me as odd given my understanding that developing nations are not looking to the developed world for food security but rather are trying to export food and other agricultral products (e.g cotton) to the developed world. As I understand it (economists correct me here), developing nations in Africa, for example, are pushing the US and EU to reduce farm subsidies so that their exports are competitive.

[My paper was on the alteration of ocean chemistry by CO2, and not on the economic issues Prof. Schnellnhuber was emphasising.]

Cheers,
Will Howard

As long as the Guardian’s interview transcript is correct (see: http://www.cejournal.net/?p=1415), Gore was quoted correctly. But FYI: the Youtube video you reference was of another comment, made in Germany a couple of months ago.

If George Will’s heart is in the right place, shouldn’t he get a pass on some slight exaggerations? Or is there some way to interpret Will’s statements in such a way as they are not incorrect? It’s not like he is Al Gore or anything, right?

I would really be interested in your thoughts about how well the MSM journalists are meeting these criteria these days. Especially holding power to account, vis-a-vis BO, given that people hardly knew who he was before the election–and don’t know much more even now (only my opinion, I guess). Why are the journalists still so quiet about his past associations, e.g.?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrPCUWWjh0c

In this post:

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/03/14/guardian-al-gore/

In my post I speculate that he meant to say that Arctic sea ice would be gone in a few years. But even then he would have been exaggerating — as my post points out with mention of a new study, published in Nature Geoscience, finding that Arctic sea ice in September could be gone by 2100. Of course some scientists say sooner, maybe 20 years. Either way, it’s a far cry from complete deglaciation and 230 feet of sea level rise in a few years.

As for Roger’s question about whether Gore should get a pass if his heart is in the right place, definitely not from a journalist. Whether I feel personally that a particular politician is generally doing the right thing is irrelevant.

My job as a journalist is to try as hard as I can not just to get the facts straight but also to try to tell the truth about the facts. That explains why my comments were tempered. But it is also journalism’s creed is to hold power to account. Which is why I decided to publish that post.

It’s interesting that the story of Schellnhuber’s presentation doesn’t seem to appear anywhere except that NY Times article.

I’d sure like to see the whole presentation. From the account, NY Times account, it was very, very strange! Perhaps he’s been working with Steven Chu?