Gore calls global warming 'most dangerous crisis ever'
Pastor Dale Morgan
Gore calls global warming 'most dangerous crisis ever'*
BUENOS AIRES, May 11 (AFP) May 11, 2007
Former US vice president Al Gore on Friday warned that global warming
presented the most severe crisis ever faced by humans but said the
planet could be saved if the right steps are taken.
Speaking in the Argentine capital at the first-ever biofuels congress,
Gore described the gradual increase of the earth's temperature as the
"most dangerous crisis we have ever faced as a civilization."
The failed 2000 presidential candidate showed images of melting glaciers
and presented scientific evidence of the trend, as seen in his traveling
slideshow which was transformed into the Oscar-winning documentary "An
Inconvenient Truth."
"Global warming is not a political issue. It's a moral issue, an ethical
issue, a survival issue," Gore told the conference, which focused on
finding efficient ways of promoting grain-based and plant-based fuels.
Gore explained that 2005 was the planet's hottest year on record and
that the polar ice caps were already melting, a phenomenon that risks
creating a sudden rise in sea level.
An increase of one meter (three feet) could create 100 million refugees
worldwide, while an increase of six meters (18 feet) could create four
times that number, he said.
"If we allow that to happen, it would be the most unethical and immoral
decision by any kind in the whole of human history," he said.
"Are we going to say to our children that we were too busy to pay
attention?" Gore asked.
"No, it's not too late," he said, emphasizing that political will was
needed to create more environmentally friendly ways of fueling modern
society.
The World Economic Forum said in a report last month that Latin America
was "well positioned to become the global leader in biofuels and
renewable energy," citing especially refining sugarcane into fuel in
Brazil and soybeans in Argentina.
Despite government incentives to reduce greenhouse gases, critics are
concerned that promotion of plant-based fuels could cause food prices to
rise in Argentina, where more than 30 percent of the population lives
below the poverty line.