Earth Equity News

Gore Finds a Receptive U.S Senate. By Bryan Walsh, Time, January 28, 2009. "It's always a warm bath of mutual admiration when the U.S. Senate welcomes back one of its former members for a hearing. But when former Vice President (and Senator) Al Gore showed up today to testify at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the event was a full-blown lovefest. New Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman John Kerry expressed his deep respect for Gore's post-Senate career and noted in an aside, 'It's well-known that we have a certain political experience in common.' (Hint: it doesn't involve winning.) Christopher Dodd hailed Gore as having been for years a 'lonely voice in the wilderness' and pointed out that the Nobel Peace Prize winner had been warning about climate change ever since he was a member of the House of Representatives decades ago. Even Republican members like Bob Corker and Richard Lugar hastened to add their admiration for Gore, who was appearing before Congress for the first time in nearly two years. The happy atmosphere wasn't just senatorial clubbiness. The fact that Kerry chose to make global warming the subject of his first hearing as chairman of the committee signals that in President Barack Obama's Washington at least, Gore's views on the severity of climate change and the need for action are gaining clout -- and not just for environmental reasons. 'Climate change will be increasingly central to our foreign policy,' said Kerry."