The Al Gore 500

Written by Greg Pollowitz, Planet Gore | 26 May 2009

This Drudge-linked McClatchy piece is getting a lot of traffic today on Al Gore's address to 500 business leaders from around the world on why we are in a race to save the planet from global warming "this year" because "Mother Nature does not do bailouts."

First, we knew Mother Nature was a conservative and wouldn't approve of the Obama administration — it's just odd to see the Goracle admit it, too.

Second, there's better reporting on the event in the WSJ. The 500 global business leaders are there, yes, to address global warming — but in a way that creates a level playing field. An excerpt from the Journal:

In some respects, the meeting served to highlight the divisions in international business over climate change. Some companies have argued that setting deep emissions-reduction targets in the midst of an economic slowdown could jeopardize recovery.

Such views are particularly prominent in the U.S., which has signed but not ratified the Kyoto Protocol, adopted in 1997. The pact doesn't require developing countries to cut emissions. The U.S. and China are the world's biggest generators of greenhouse gases, accounting for nearly half of all pollutants each year. Neither has been willing to cut emissions without a similar commitment by the other. Agreement between the two nations is seen as critical for reaching a new global climate treaty in Copenhagen that sticks. [. . .]

Speakers said a new deal with global targets will be crucial in creating a level playing field, especially for energy-intensive industries. Failure, they warned, lead to a free-for-all and "green protectionism" — where industries in countries with tough rules would lose out to rivals in countries with less strict policies.