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#32 |
Dialogue with Al Gore & Ryoichi Yamamoto on "Climate Change +2C" |
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Yamamoto:
Year 2006 will be remembered as the year that various observations proved that global warming has begun to provoke further global warming. And year 2007 is predicted to be the hottest year ever in human history, due to the acceleration of the El Nino affect and global warming. This is why 2007 will be a fateful year for mankind.
In the book I was involved in as chief editor, "Climate Change +2C," the changes in climate if rapid economic growth continues at the current pace are simulated. According to this simulation, in twenty years the climate will already reach the "target climate 2C," established by European countries. How seriously are political and business leaders around the world taking this current situation of accelerating global warming into consideration?
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Gore:
I think there's beginning to be a change in the opinions of the people around the world including in my own country, and some business leaders have now provided leadership. But much more needs to be done. There are many people who still don't see the seriousness of the crises. And there are many others who understand that intellectually, but do not feel the sense of urgency that is essential in order to mobilize an adequate response. |
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# Challenging our Moral Imagination |
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Yamamoto:
I also believe that the world's political and business leaders need to take action now, but what is the key to making this awareness widespread? |
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Gore:
It is a challenge to our moral imagination because never before in human history have we seen this kind of impact on the planet. We have multiplied by four the number of people on the planet in less than a hundred years, and our technologies are now thousands of times more powerful than the ones our grandparents could use. And our thinking is now more focused on short-term gratification and short-term results without the acceptance of responsibility for the longer-term consequences of what we do now. And all of these things have created a collision between human civilization and the earth's ecological system, the most fragile part of which is the very very thin shell of atmosphere that we now filling up with global warming pollution, and getting a broader understanding of what it's all about and why it's so serious and why our response has to be urgent and bold, that is still the challenge that lies before us. |
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# We can still turn the thermometer back down |
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Yamamoto:
On January 8th of this year, a newspaper in Canada published an article that read, "If global warming progress at the current runaway speed, 4.5 billion people could die by year 2012." There was no mention of what calculations this was based on, but this was astonishing news to behold at the beginning of the new year. |
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Gore:
Well I don't believe that. I think that this is an example of how sometimes a grain of truth can be used to support statements that are either wrong because they deny the reality of global warming or in the opposite direction inspire despair and convince people that it is too late and we can't do anything. What is important is to "realize that we need to act now." |
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Yamamoto:
It is a great concern that meltdown of methane hydrate can trigger the acceleration of global warming. |
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Gore:
It is true that there are large amounts of frozen carbon dioxide and methane in the frozen tundra especially in Siberia but also in Northern Alaska, and as that melts it will release some of that in to the atmosphere, but we still have time to turn the thermostat back down or stop turning it up. And the total amount of historic CO2 in the earth's atmosphere could double if all the frozen carbon and methane in Siberia melted, but it can still be preserved in its frozen state or a great deal of it can be, if we take action now. There is also a lot of frozen carbon and methane in shallow seas in the same kind of formations, methane clathrates or hydrates, and this is one of those so called tipping points that could have a negative feedback and magnify the problem. It should not inspire despair; we should simply understand that we have to take action quickly in order to avoid crossing one of these tipping points. |
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# Political will is a recyclable resource |
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Yamamoto:
You have been working on global warming issues for more than thirty years now, and you also showed strong leadership in putting the Kyoto Protocol together. However, the Bush administration did not ratify that. I cannot help thinking how this issue would have been different if you had become president. |
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Gore:
I would have made it my top priority and many things would have been different. I would have made different mistakes, but some of the ones that many of us warned against would not have been made. But I think truly the most important challenge we face is mobilizing the entire world to respond quickly and boldly to the climate crisis. |
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Yamamoto:
In your book "An Inconvenient Truth," which was published on the same day as your movie release, you have written, "We already have what we need to start working to solve this crisis. If there is an exception, it would be a political will. But, in America, a political will is a recyclable resource." Many people believe and support your words.
In the U.S., Republican Senator James Inholfe who had said "global warming is a hoax" resigned his place as chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, and Democratic senator Barbara Boxer took over. It is said that she will take leadership with respect to the global warming policies. Do you think the American policies on global warming issues will change now that the Democrats have won the midterm elections?
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Gore:
Yes, already there are positive signs that the new congress will take a more responsible approach and I'm optimistic. But the Bush - Cheney White House is still opposed to her action and in our system there will be competition between the congress and the president, but I am very encouraged about the new policies of the new congress. |
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Yamamoto:
Japan's present Cabinet has placed promoting innovation at the center of its fundamental policy, and especially believes that eco-innovation and creating environmentally conscious, highly eco-efficient products and services are very important. In order to make these eco products available worldwide, it has established an International Green Purchasing Network, and is now trying to expand through Asia, Pacific islands, and especially through China and India. I believe that eco-innovation and diffusion of eco products is the remedy for stopping global warming. |
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# People around the world will take action |
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Yamamoto:
What is your advice for business leaders and politicians in Japan? |
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Gore:
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Wellc I have a lot of respect for the leadership that Japan has provided, and the name Kyoto will be honored in all history for the way Japan hosted the treaty that marked the turning point. And so much more needs to be done, but thus far Japan has offered a great deal of leadership. I feel sensitive about offering advice to Japan because I have not been able to change the policies of my own country and we are doing so much less than Japan. But it is true that even the leaders like Japan have to do more.
This truly is a global emergency and all nations have to reduce CO2 and develop more rapidly the alternative products, the ones you are trying to encourage, that make it possible to continue growing and to have sustainable growth that improves the quality of life without consuming so many natural resources and causing so much pollution. So, yes, I do encourage the leadership of Japan, the political and the business spheres to do more. But I offer that encouragement again with humility because the US should be doing much more and I'm focusing the majority of my efforts on trying to change the policies of my own country.
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Yamamoto:
"An Inconvenient Truth" is a movie warning us about global warming. It is also a spectacular documentary movie that encourages us to stand up against it. Do you think that we will be able to resolve this issue in the future? |
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Gore:
I am optimistic. I think we will respond. We still have time, but we need to get busy and start now. |
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Al Gore
Former US Vice President
Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1976, then elected to the U.S. Senate in 1984 and in 1990. In 1993, he was inaugurated as the 45th Vice President of the United States and served for 8 years. Also known as a controversialist on environmental issues, his book "Earth in Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit" became a bestseller in 1992. Presently a board member for the Apple Inc. and a Senior Advisor to Google Inc.
Ryoichi Yamamoto
Professor at University of Tokyo, Institute of Industrial Science
Professor at University of Tokyo, Institute of Industrial Science
Graduated University of Tokyo, Faculty of Engineering Department of Metallurgy. Doctor of Engineering.@ Also an advisor to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, an honorary chairman of Eco-Material, chairman of the Institute of Life Cycle Assessment Japan, and honorary representative of the Green Purchasing Network. He is the author of "Chikyu-wo-sukuu eco-material kakumei (Eco-material revolution that will save the world)" and many others. He has also contributed to the following titles published as projects for Think the Earth as the chief editor: "Global Change in One Second", "Sekai-wo kaeru okane-no tsukaikata (The way you use money can change the world)", and "Climate Change+2C."
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| The film "An Inconvenient Truth" released in 2006 was initially only shown in 77 theaters in the U.S. However, it became available in over 600 theaters after it ranked in as one of the Box Office Top 10 movies. It became the biggest hit ever in the U.S. documentary film history. It is also interesting to learn that Jeff Skoll, a Hollywood producer and the founder of the world's biggest auction site eBay, was moved by Gore's lecture and that is how the film came to be made. This movie was nominated for the 2006 Academy Awards in two divisions, and won Best Documentary; Melissa Etheridge's song for the film "I Need to Wake Up" also won the gold. |
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Editor:Think the Earth Project@Soichi Ueda / Tami Okano
Photo:Koui Yaginuma
Cooperation:DIAMOND,Inc.
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