This post, Big on Optimism, includes excerpts from the Climate Reality Leadership Corps sources. I’m a climate leader from the Chicago2013 training conference. (Rolly Montpellier~Editor for BoomerWarrior)
Hope isn’t always easy. With global temperature records being broken month after month, rising seas off coastal cities like Miami causing “sunny day flooding,” droughts and wildfires destroying thousands of acres of forests, and more severe hurricanes and typhoons, many wonder how we’ll solve this planetary crisis in our lifetimes.
Big on Optimism
I want to remind you that you can – and should – be hopeful. Here are a few reasons why [Al Gore is big on optimism]:
- In 2000, analysts projected the world would have 30 gigawatts of wind energy capacity installed by 2010. In 2015, the world passed this mark by 14.5 times!
- Experts also projected in 2002 that the world would install 1 gigawatt of solar power per year by 2010. Last year, we beat that figure by 58 times over. And this year, we are on track to exceed that prediction by 68 times over!
- The cost of solar energy has decreased about 10 percent each year for the past 30 years, and we’re getting closer to grid parity in more and more markets around the world, which means solar power will soon cost less than electricity from fossil fuels in more and more places around the world!
Then there’s the Paris Agreement. In December, 195 nations reached a historic agreement at the UN’s COP 21 climate conference in Paris, to reduce carbon emissions and put us on a path to a sustainable future. The Paris Agreement marked a turning point for our movement and will have a positive impact on the health of people everywhere and the planet for generations to come.
In the following TED talk, Al Gore is big on optimism. He shows us what the world can look like if our world leaders live up to their promises in the Paris Agreement, and why he’s optimistic that we can and will solve the climate crisis.
The Case for Optimism on Climate Change
Published on Feb 25, 2016
Standard YouTube Licence
Do We Really Have to Change?
The challenge came first. Each day, manmade greenhouse gas pollution traps the same amount of heat energy as would be released by 400,000 Hiroshima-class atomic bombs. This trapped heat is warming the oceans and increasing the water vapor and energy in our atmosphere, leading to stronger storms, more extreme floods, increasingly long droughts, and other results characterized as “a nature hike through the Book of Revelations.”
Can We Change?
Fortunately, we’ve already started to change. Renewable energy is growing exponentially. In fact, its growth has significantly beaten expert projections time and time again. And the cost of solar energy has come down around 10 percent every year for the past 30 years. With all this expansion, the renewable energy transition could very well be the biggest business opportunity in the world right now.
Will We Change?
This question is up to us – all of us – right now. In December 2015, 195 countries approved the Paris Agreement on climate change and agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It was truly a breakthrough after decades of failed attempts. And around the world, from China to India to the US, countries are adding more and more capacity in renewable energy (in fact, 69 percent of new electrical capacity added in the US last year came from renewables). The change is happening – what’s up to us right now is how long we take to get there.
When any great moral challenge is resolved into choice between right and wrong, the outcome is preordained because of who we are. That is why we are going to win this ~ Al Gore
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Rolly Montpellier is the Founder and Managing Editor of BoomerWarrior.Org. He’s a Climate Reality leader, a Blogger and a Climate Activist. He’s a member of Climate Reality Canada, Citizens’ Climate Lobby (Ottawa) and 350.Org (Ottawa), the Ethical Team (as an influencer) and Global Population Speakout.
Rolly has been published widely in both print and online publications. You can follow him on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Pinterest.
Here’s my problem with Gore’s talk, the only change he refers to is switching to renewables as if that is all we need to do, it ain’t, that’s maybe at best 40% of what’s needed. He mentions nothing of reducing demand, which is another 40% of the solution and the rest is in things like efficiency. But Gore is supply side only and I mean only. Of course he’s no different than any other spokesperson in the mainstream except that, he’s just adamant about it.
I have a feeling Gore knows supply side solutions are not going to fix it all and I even think he knows we’ll have to reduce production and consumption and at a minimum stagnate economic growth. But he doesn’t talk these things cuz he’s afraid of scaring people off. I understand that logic, but it’s wrong, people need to know what we “really need to do” whether it scares them or not.
While it is true that Al Gore is rather silent on the need to modify our diet and consumption behaviors, his focus has been on transitioning away from fossil fuels to a renewable energy future. But even under a zero-carbon scenario, the over-exploitation of earth’s resources will continue with the addition of another 2 billion people by 2050. Humanity and most species will still face the threat of extinction on a depleted planet.
Thank you for your comments.
Thx for the topic.
I was a bit surprised to see the 2006 talk posted. Not that there is anything wrong with it. … However, Al Gore’s more recent TED presentation may be more informative, if not just more timely.
http://www.ted.com/talks/al_gore_the_case_for_optimism_on_climate_change
Hello Bill – thank you for your comments and welcome to BoomerWarrior.
I’m glad you pointed out that the embedded video is from 2006. That is an error which I will correct and repost.
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