Al Gore wants you to be at Trout Lilly Saturday
I got a chuckle out of this article about Al Gore's US shadow delegation to the conference in Bali to create a new climate change agreement once the Kyoto protocol expires in 2012. They have more clout and respect from world governmental and business leaders than the official Bush delegation.
As talks on a new world emissions treaty open today on the Indonesian island of Bali, companies and investors such as General Electric Co., Chevron Corp. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. are backing Gore's push for global limits on climate- changing carbon emissions, a strategy Bush opposes.A new accord limiting global warming, to be in place by 2012, will affect the way $11.6 trillion are spent on new power generation, the International Energy Agency says. ``Clean'' energy may be the ``biggest business opportunity there's ever been,'' according to billionaire Ted Turner. Business leaders including GE's Jeffrey Immelt say they need clarity on the cost of carbon emissions to steer ``green'' investment decisions.
Later in the article:
``The transition to a new energy economy will create tremendous business opportunities,'' the billionaire Turner said last week in an e-mail. ``You see some of the best-run corporations in the world preparing for that shift, and businesses with their heads in the sand will get left behind.''The same could be said for state and local governments. The transition to a clean energy economy can create many new jobs in Illinois if political leaders start doing more than making empty promises about reviving the coal industry.
Supporters of a new, stronger agreement to stop global climate change are gathering around the world on December 8th. Environmental groups in Springfield are hosting a town meeting downtown at Trout Lilly Cafe this Saturday at 1:00pm. There will be a presentation on sustainable living, an open forum and information about taking action to affect policy at the local, state, federal, and international level.