Former Vice President Al Gore made a major address today at New York University. He called for Republicans to recognize that global warming is a reality and urged the United States to begin acting responsibly.

So, what would a responsible approach to the climate crisis look like if we had one in America?

Well, first of all, we should start by immediately freezing CO2 emissions and then beginning sharp reductions. Merely engaging in high-minded debates about theoretical future reductions while continuing to steadily increase emissions represents a self-delusional and reckless approach. In some ways, that approach is worse than doing nothing at all, because it lulls the gullible into thinking that something is actually being done when in fact it is not.

An immediate freeze has the virtue of being clear, simple, and easy to understand. It can attract support across partisan lines as a logical starting point for the more difficult work that lies ahead. I remember a quarter century ago when I was the author of a complex nuclear arms control plan to deal with the then rampant arms race between our country and the former Soviet Union. At the time, I was strongly opposed to the nuclear freeze movement, which I saw as simplistic and naive. But, ¾ of the American people supported it — and as I look back on those years I see more clearly now that the outpouring of public support for that very simple and clear mandate changed the political landscape and made it possible for more detailed and sophisticated proposals to eventually be adopted.

As we noted in yesterday’s post, the Republicans appear ready to flip flop on global warming. The upside of this is that W (worst ever) may now have something to talk about with his Democratically controlled congress (yes we are optimists, but what the heck).

Click here to read his speech.

Posted on Monday, September 18th, 2006 at 6:45 pm in National News.