G L O B A L I S S U E S Climate Change Choices AN OPTIMISTIC OUTLOOK FOR CURBING EMISSIONS
Vice President Al Gore
(Excerpts from the vice president's remarks December 8, 1997, at the climate change convention
in Kyoto, Japan.)
We have reached a fundamentally new stage in the development of human civilization, in which
it is necessary to take responsibility for a recent but profound alteration in the relationship
between our species and our planet.
Because of our new technological power and our growing numbers, we now must pay careful
attention to the consequences of what we are doing to Earth -- especially to the atmosphere.
There are other parts of Earth's ecological system that are also threatened by the increasingly
harsh impact of thoughtless behavior:
The extra heat that cannot escape is beginning to change the global patterns of climate to which
we are accustomed, and to which we have adapted over the past 10,000 years.
The trend is clear. The human consequences -- and the economic costs -- of failing to act are
unthinkable. More record floods and droughts. Diseases and pests spreading to new areas. Crop
failures and famines. Melting glaciers, stronger storms, and rising seas.
Our fundamental challenge now is to find out whether and how we can change the behaviors that
are causing the problem.
To do so requires humility, because the spiritual roots of our crisis are pridefulness and a failure
to understand and respect our connections to God's Earth and to each other.
None of the proposals being debated here (Kyoto) will solve the problem completely by itself.
But if we get off to the right start, we can quickly build momentum as we learn together how to
meet this challenge.
Our first step should be to set realistic and achievable, binding emissions limits, which will
create new markets for new technologies and new ideas that will, in turn, expand the boundaries
of the possible and create new hope. Other steps will then follow. And then, ultimately, we will
achieve a safe overall concentration level for greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere.
The first and most important task for developed countries is to hear the immediate needs of the
developing world. And let me say, the United States has listened and we have learned.
We understand that your first priority is to lift your citizens from the poverty so many endure and
build strong economies that will assure a better future. This is your right: it will not be
denied.
Reducing poverty and protecting Earth's environment are both critical components of truly
sustainable development. We want to forge a lasting partnership to achieve a better future. One
key is mobilizing new investment in your countries to ensure that you have higher standards of
living, with modern, clean, and efficient technologies.
That is what our proposals for emissions trading and joint implementation strive to do.
To our partners in the developed world, let me say we have listened and learned from you as
well. We understand that while we share a common goal, each of us faces unique
challenges.
We came to Kyoto to find new ways to bridge our differences. In doing so, however, we must
not waiver in our resolve.
For my part, I have come here to Kyoto because I am both determined and optimistic that we can
succeed. I believe that by our coming together in Kyoto we have already achieved a major
victory, one both of substance and of spirit. I have no doubt that the process we have started here
inevitably will lead to a solution in the days or years ahead.
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