Nobody knows the pain of falling short by a few hundred votes than former Vice President Al Gore. For those of us who watched as the presidency was snatched away from him during the 2000 election that wound is still fresh our minds and many of us still wonder how far ahead America would be now in dealing with the climate change crisis had George W. Bush never become president. It’s not too late to stop the worst effects of climate change, but the time for waiting for a perfect solution is over. We need to act now. Al Gore lays out the stakes in a new ad for Hillary Clinton:
“We’re paying the cost of carbon pollution every single day in so many ways and solving the climate crisis is the single most important thing we can do to choose a brighter future. It’s also the greatest opportunity we have ever confronted to create tens of millions of new jobs in every American community.
The choice in this election is whether we will really speed up these solutions and solve the climate crisis in time, or whether the United states will move backwards.
Hillary Clinton has put forward an ambitious proposal to dramatically expand our use of renewable energy and to continue providing world leadership whereas her opponent has said that he’s in opposition to all of those things, so it’s a pretty clear choice.
Hillary Clinton’s climate change plan takes solid, achievable steps toward reducing the effects climate change without having to rely on magical thinking that somehow an ambitious climate change bill will sail through a republican dominated congress.
Hillary’s plan will deliver on the pledge President Obama made at the Paris climate conference—without relying on climate deniers in Congress to pass new legislation. She will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 30 percent in 2025 relative to 2005 levels and put the country on a path to cut emissions more than 80 percent by 2050.
On day one, Hillary Clinton will set bold, national goals that will be achieved within 10 years of taking office:
- Generate enough renewable energy to power every home in America, with half a billion solar panels installed by the end of Hillary’s first term.
- Cut energy waste in American homes, schools, hospitals and offices by a third and make American manufacturing the cleanest and most efficient in the world.
- Reduce American oil consumption by a third through cleaner fuels and more efficient cars, boilers, ships, and trucks.
There is no doubt that with a Democratic majority in the House and Senate even more progress is possible. Her climate change proposals can be found here.
Fifteen years ago we had an opportunity to deal with this problem and allowed it to slip through our fingers while the right denied climate change existed and left refused to rally around the candidate that was best equipped to tackle the crisis. We no longer have that time to waste.
Stop trying to reassure yourself that everything will be ok by looking at polls and prediction models. Polls and prediction models don’t vote. We all need to takes steps and do everything we can. If you can’t GOTV take time this weekend to talk to your friends and neighbors as well as the people on your Twitter and Facebook feeds and let them know that Hillary Clinton is the only one choice for president this year who is capable of combatting climate change. Jill Stein will not win. Protest votes won’t do no good. Our future hangs in the balance.
As Gore concludes in his ad for Hillary.
I know for my personal experience that EVERY SINGLE VOTE COUNTS.
And I would simply urge everyone to go to the polls and vote for Hillary Clinton.