Gore kicking off 24 hours of climate talks around the world

Former Vice President Al Gore kicked off a series of climate presentations on Wednesday evening that will continue around globe over 24 hours, a lively talk espousing political and U.S. policy changes. event, called “24 Hours of Reality” is an endeavor of Climate Reality Project, founded by Gore to educate public and inspire action on climate change. Gore said he has trained more than 20,000 climate activists, some of whom will be fellow presenters for talks, which will continue through Thursday at more than 1,700 locations as far flung as Antarctica and Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

opening presentation took place at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, where an audience of more than 1,000 people gave him a standing ovation. One of moments of loudest applause came when he suggested President Donald Trump could be voted out of office next election. Speaking of Paris Climate Agreement, Gore said that although Trump wants to back out of it, U.S. cant legally pull out until day after next year’s presidential election. “If re’s a new president, pardon me for a minute,” he said to laughs as he stretched out his arms and looked up. “w don’t you dare interpret that as a partisan gesture. I have freedom of speech and freedom of prayer.”

Gore said he tries to avoid partisan politics at his climate presentations, and he me a point of praising Vanderbilt’s College Republicans for calling on Republican National Committee to change its stance on climate. He did t shy away from politics. At one point, Gore took aim at Trump’s characterization of Central American refugees coming to U.S., calling m “climate refugees” and saying many are fleeing drought. “ reason y’re leaving is because y’re hungry,” Gore said to applause. “y’re t rapists and terrorists. y’re hungry and y’re trying to feed ir families.”

He also took a shot at Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, accusing him of giving “ green light to burn down more of Amazon.” Gore me clear that he thinks many current U.S. politicians should go. “We need to really clean house. Change is t happening fast eugh unless we change policy,” he said. Later he ded, “To change our policies, we’re going to have to change our policy makers.” Gore said one aspect of problem in U.S. is what he called “our democracy crisis” caused by influence of special interests on politicians. “y put a coal lobbyist in charge of EPA, for God’s sake. fact that re is t widespre outr about that is a symptom of our weakened democracy,” he said.

Gore called climate change “ life and death struggle of people alive today,” comparing it to 9/11, Pearl Harbor and such World War II battles as Dunkirk and Midway. And Gore expressed his support for so-called Green New Deal, a sweeping Democratic proposal to combat climate change, which he called “an aspirational set of goals.” Green New Deal seeks to shift U.S. away from fossil fuels such as oil and coal and replace m with renewable energy sources. It calls for virtual elimination of greenhouse gas emissions responsible for global warming by 2030. “I think it’s a very effective and brilliant branding because it conveys idea that solutions to climate crisis have to be on scale of New Deal,” he said.

Prior to Gore’s presentation, actor and singer Jen Smith took st briefly to talk about impact that Gore’s documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” h on him. “For me, for my generation, for all generations that are going to have to go forth, dealing with climate crisis, I am so gl we have an icon here to look up to,” Smith said.