Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore pushed senators Wednesday to lead the world as it gears up to negotiate a new international agreement on climate change this December.
"Our country is the only country in the world that can really lead the global community, and this is the most serious challenge the world has ever faced," Gore said Wednesday at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing. "This is the one challenge that could potentially end human civilization, and it's rushing at us with so much speed and force. It's unprecedented."
Gore listed a litany of climate-change indicators that already have begun to occur, including increased melting of the polar ice cap, a significant rise in the number and severity of annual natural disasters, and a spike in ocean acidity precipitated by the water's absorption of carbon dioxide.
Changing climates around the world could lead to droughts and other resource shortages, which, in turn, will likely spark instability as different groups fight over available water and food, experts say. In addition, if higher temperatures cause global sea levels to rise 39 inches, or 1 meter, as predicted by some scientists, 56 million people in 84 developing countries may become refugees, according to a 2007 study by Susmita Dasgupta, a World Bank scientist.
In response to these potential catastrophes, the world's leaders plan to meet this December in Copenhagen, Denmark, to negotiate a replacement to the Kyoto Protocol, the current international treaty that requires those who have signed it to limit their emissions to a certain level. Although the United States signed the agreement, it is the only major industrialized nation that has not ratified it.
Things will be different this time around, said Committee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., who said attendees at the last U.N. climate meeting, held in Poznan, Poland, last month, told him they want the United States to lead.
"They said to us this challenge cannot be solved without the active leadership of the U.S.," Kerry said at Wednesday's hearing.
At a time when the economy continues to plummet, though, free-market economists and others at home in the United States have raised questions about whether now is the time to invest in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions.
Picking between the two isn't an option, Kerry said.
"Those who pose this question have it fundamentally wrong," he said. "We can't afford not to address climate change. It will be far more damaging in the long run."
Mitigating climate change will actually boost the economy, if it's done right, Gore said, by creating jobs for the development of renewable energy projects, like wind and solar farms, and the construction of a new national electricity grid. Because of this, Gore said the first step toward leadership lies in passing the economic stimulus package -- along with its investments in green energy -- currently in Congress. The next step is placing a price on carbon, either through capping national emissions at a certain level or through a tax.
If Congress does pass a cap-and-trade program -- a system wherein entities would buy and sell shares to emit carbon -- it should learn from the mistakes of the European Union, which already has one in place, said Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn.
"There's been a lot of form over substance," Corker said.
"I hope we'll be transparent with the American people," said Corker, encouraging policymakers to return any profits made by the sale of carbon emissions shares to the people.
If legislators place a price on carbon, then the White House will be in a position to lead the talks for the next international treaty, Gore said, which he hopes includes five elements: strong emissions targets and timetables for industrialized nations and lesser but binding commitments for developing countries; the inclusion of measures to limit deforestation, which contributes 20 percent of annual global greenhouse gas emissions; compensation for carbon sinks, like crops that sequester the gas; an entity to monitor compliance; and measures to ensure developing countries have access to technologies that help them decrease emissions and adapt to the effects of a changing climate.
The final point is particularly important, said Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee. Deployment of genetically modified crops, whose DNA has been altered by scientists to increase yields, should be at the top of the list for adaptation tools, he said.
"Genetically modified crops have the potential to improve agricultural productivity in the poorest parts of the world," he said.
However, EU policies restricting the import of GM foods have discouraged many developing countries from adopting the technology. Opponents say such crops aren't as safe as the original, and altering the DNA harms the food chain.
"Opposition to GM technologies contributes to hunger in Africa in the short run and the inability to adapt to climate change and declining food supplies in the future," Lugar said.
Whether the EU will relax its anti-GM stance remains to be seen, but it looks likely that the new U.S. Congress and administration will take the steps outlined by Gore.
President Barack Obama's newly appointed Cabinet members -- from Energy Secretary Steven Chu to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar -- have expressed broad support for investments in renewable energy and the establishment of a cap-and-trade system, with the ultimate goal of energy independence.
"I want to work very hard to get the country finally to the point where we can say we've become an energy independent nation," Salazar told reporters Wednesday at a news conference.
And that independence, according to Gore, is exactly what will enable the United States to lead.
