2008-11-12 I Got Up In Al Gore's Face

2008-11-12 Mark Sullivan Washington Post \Al Gore\global warming http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/10/AR2008111001868.html I Got Up In Al Gore's Face I Got Up In Al Gore's Face  During his remarks to the packed room here Friday afternoon, Gore laid out the main poles of a nationwide public works project that would largely replace our foreign oil dependence with a dependence on solar and wind power. Gore envisions a nationwide "Smart Grid"--a massive underground network of electrical power lines that would be powered by massive solar panel installations in the Southwest, and huge wind turbine installations in the Pacific Northwest. The Smart grid would dole out power and regulate itself using 21 Century computer technology, Gore said. Gore said such a system would cost $600 billion to build, but that it would pay for itself quickly. Perhaps as importantly, when you see Gore speak, you really "get" what an urgent situation we're in. He has a way of making it hit you in the fear centers of the brain, causing you to think "We've got to do something--now." That ability alone, makes Gore important. He says his message is not getting through. When asked about the goal of his movie An Inconvenient Truth – to wake people up to an approaching global, environmental crisis – Gore said "I think it's been a failure . . . I feel, in a sense, that I've failed badly." The New York Times has a more complete account of Gore's comments inside the event Friday. The "failed badly" quote has been taken out of context here to imply that Gore now disbelieves in global warming.

&ldquo;Would a cabinet-level position let Gore sell his vision of a self-regulating, wind and solar-powered Smart Grid to power America?&rdquo; Gore is quoted expressing regret over his apparent failure to educate and motivate America regarding the ongoing global warming crisis.   