Climate Change Thought Leader: Al Gore

While I am not the biggest fan of Al Gore (or any national politician for that matter) he has done much for bringing about awareness of global climate change. In a recent op-ed on the New York Times site entitled, "We cant just wish away climate change." In this article Gore attacks the um, attacks, on the science of global climate change and makes some great points in the process.

First he says that even if global warming isn't happening, their are still many reasons to develop green energy, like national security and job creation.

Second Gore says, that although climatologists sometimes make mistakes (like overestimating the melting of some Himalayin glaciers) and science is not perfect. We should , however, pay attention to the  scientific consensus developed over the last 22 years that says global climate change is happening.

Third, Gore addresses the current unusual cold weather on the east coast by contrasting it with the unusually hot weather we had during the summer. He explains that climate change cannot be accurately measured locally because it is a global trend. Extremes in weather patterns are one sign that the climate is shifting. He also point out that the last ten years have been the hottest "since modern records have been kept"

Gore then explains how global warming works, but if you don't already know this you need to take a science class. He does explain that hurricanes are predicted to get worse but less frequent and droughts are getting worse and longer lasting.

Then he comes to the whopper, "our civilization is still failing miserably to slow the rate at which these emissions are increasing — much less reduce them." Ouch.

At this point Gore begin to criticize the "political paralysis" that has stopped Obama from doing basically anything, including taking the necessary steps to slow climate change. I've been following this particular issue and it is indeed frustrating how petty and non-compromising our congress has been lately, but that's another issue entirely.

Here's where it starts getting really interesting from a branding perspective, Gore explains how an economic solution (cap and trade) is the easiest to implement and has the best chances of succeeding.

So what would cap and trade do from a branding perspective? Well once companies start getting charged for their pollution, they will have to stop polluting (or dramatically decrease their pollution) to stay profitable. This would be a boon to sustainability leaders who already have solutions to emissions problems. I am confident that cap and trade would boost green markets, from solar-power to green branding, and will start all once polluting industries on the path of sustainability.

Most of the arguements against cap and trade are coming from people who want our market to stay "free." I once considered myself a free-market capitalist but have realized (especially with our current economic situation) that our idea of free market is flawed, as it doesn't take into account all the externalities of production, namely pollution. Cap and trade is one way to start accounting for one of these externalities.

And here's a cool info-graphic form Treehugger showing how the different cap and trade bills would effect emissions.