coverstory
;By Al Gore [CONNECTION EXCLUSIVE]
s a nation, we face three
interrelated crises that
collectively threaten to de-stabilize our way of life: the
climate crisis, the continuing
economic crisis and the secu-
rity crisis, all stemming from our absurd overdependence on foreign oil, the largest reserves
of which are controlled by sovereign states in
the Persian Gulf.
Fortunately, there is a growing realization
that the solutions to the climate crisis are also
the most important solutions for the other
two crises. We can simultaneously protect our
climate and establish stability for our economy and our national security.
A
bone of my new book, Our Choice: A Plan to
Solve the Climate Crisis, which picks up where
An Inconvenient Truth left off.
One of the many conclusions I have
drawn from these Solutions Summits is that
we have all the tools we need to solve this crisis many times over.
Solutions Summits
Three years ago, I began convening a series
of “Solutions Summits” to bring together the
world’s top leaders from government, science,
engineering, industry, agriculture and the
nonprofit community. Since that time, I have
held more than 30 such gatherings, with participants presenting cutting-edge solutions
across a wide variety of fields. In addition to
these summits, I have engaged in lengthy one-on-one conversations with experts in fields as
diverse as neuroscience, economics, information technology and agriculture. The information that I learned from these specialists,
coupled with my own experiences in government, advocacy and business, form the back-
Solving one problem
creates another
Our economy, although improving, still
faces challenges with high unemployment
rates, fluctuating energy prices and instability
in key industries such as banking and automobiles. Top intelligence experts and retired
military leaders have raised warnings about
the national security implications of our reliance on foreign oil and the climate crisis itself,
including the possibility of hundreds of millions of climate refugees destabilizing nations
around the world.
One reason we’ve seemed paralyzed in
the face of these crises historically is our
tendency to offer solutions to each separate crisis without taking the others into
account. These outdated proposals
have not only been ineffective, they
have almost always made the other
crises even worse.
Yet, when we step back and look
at these difficult challenges simultaneously, we can see the common thread
running through all three: our dangerous
Ending our reliance on
carbon-based fuels Se parate prob l on e s olu t ıo n
