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As global warming activist and former Democratic Vice President Al Gore appeared as guest on Sunday”s State of the Union, CNN host Jake Tapper declared that President-elect Joe Biden’s leadership is needed in fighting climate change, and cued up his liberal guest to call for action on the issue from Biden in his first 100 days.
After beginning the interview by letting Gore react to President Donald Trump’s refusal to concede the recent election to Biden, Tapper noted that it was the 20th anniversary of Gore giving his concession speech to George W. Bush in 2000, as well as the five-year anniversary of the Paris climate agreement. Tapper then pushed for more action on carbon emissions:
President-elect Biden has pledged to make climate change a priority in his administration, beginning with rejoining the Paris agreement. Beyond that, though, as somebody who’s been warning about environmental peril for decades now, what is the number one thing you would like to see from President Biden in his first 100 days that would suggest to you that he is as serious about confronting climate change as you want him to be, as the world needs him to be?
Gore began by cheering for Biden to impose more regulations, alleging that it would create jobs:
Well, I think he is, and he has made the protection of the climate balance a centerpiece of his economic plan, as he should, because multiple studies show that the best way to create the tens of millions of new jobs we need to recover from the ravages of the pandemic, and particularly the economic ravages of the pandemic, is to invest in this sustainability revolution and renewable energy and batteries in electric vehicles and efficiency improvements.
He then tried to link the pandemic to a “climate crisis” as he continued:
And it’s worth pausing for a moment, Jake, to look at the connections between this pandemic and the climate crisis. Number one, the pandemic has shown us the dangers of ignoring grave warnings from the leading scientists and experts like Bill Gates who’s been warning about such a pandemic for so long, when we get warnings from the leading virologists and epidemiologists that “This thing is coming — we should prepare for it.” And the same is true of the climate crisis. Secondly, the climate crisis has made the ravages of the pandemic worse because the air pollution that comes from burning fossil fuels makes people far more vulnerable to the pandemic.
After he concluded by predicting that President Biden will “rally the world” to the cause, Tapper gave no contrarian point of view as he then just pivoted to asking the former Vice President about the advice he gave to Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
This episode of CNN’s State of the Union was sponsored in part by Prilosec. Their contact information is linked,
Transcript follows:
CNN
State of the Union
December 13, 2020
9:36 a.m. Eastern
JAKE TAPPER: In addition to this being the 20th anniversary of your concession, you have an op-ed in the New York Times this morning marking the five-year anniversary of the Paris climate agreement. President-elect Biden has pledged to make climate change a priority in his administration, beginning with rejoining the Paris agreement. Beyond that, though, as somebody who’s been warning about environmental peril for decades now, what is the number one thing you would like to see from President Biden in his first 100 days that would suggest to you that he is as serious about confronting climate change as you want him to be, as the world needs him to be?
FORMER VICE PRESIDENT AL GORE: Well, I think he is, and he has made the protection of the climate balance a centerpiece of his economic plan, as he should, because multiple studies show that the best way to create the tens of millions of new jobs we need to recover from the ravages of the pandemic, and particularly the economic ravages of the pandemic, is to invest in this sustainability revolution and renewable energy and batteries in electric vehicles and efficiency improvements.
And it’s worth pausing for a moment, Jake, to look at the connections between this pandemic and the climate crisis. Number one, the pandemic has shown us the dangers of ignoring grave warnings from the leading scientists and experts like Bill Gates who’s been warning about such a pandemic for so long, when we get warnings from the leading virologists and epidemiologists that “This thing is coming — we should prepare for it.” And the same is true of the climate crisis. Secondly, the climate crisis has made the ravages of the pandemic worse because the air pollution that comes from burning fossil fuels makes people far more vulnerable to the pandemic.
The third connection that we are seeing today is, with the first distribution of these vaccines, that the scientific revolution is still accelerating in its power, and that also is true where the solutions to the climate are concerned. (audio gap) … 90 percent of all new electricity integration will come from solar and will end in renewables. We’re seeing a dramatic advance with nation after nation of announcing just in the last few months, major new commitments that quickly phase out the global warming pollution that’s causing this crisis. Now, the crisis is still getting worse faster than we’re deploying solutions but with the United States restored to its traditional post-World War II position of leaders in the community of nations, President-elect Biden can really rally the world to make more rapid progress in solving the climate crisis. He’s made the decarbonization of the electric grid, for example, the centerpiece of his economic plan. And I think that’s a great start.
TAPPER: Quickly, sir, if you could, we’ve only got about a minute left. You’ve spoken to Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. What did you talk about with her? What advice did you have?
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