Gore rallies climate conference delegates

POZNAN, Poland, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore says the world needs to drop its obsession with celebrities and concentrate on saving future generations from global warming.

Gore, trying to rally delegates to the United Nations Climate Change Conference that concluded Friday in Poznan, Poland, used soaring rhetoric to urge participants to renew their moral commitments to fight to end global warming, The Daily Telegraph reported.

"The political systems of the developed world have become sclerotic," he said. "We have to overcome the paralysis that has prevented us from acting and focus clearly and unblinkingly on this crisis rather than spending so much time on O.J. Simpson, Paris Hilton and Anna Nicole Smith."

The conference ended in harsh criticism of the European Union for failing to move forward on emission standards. Gore, however, said help was on the way from U.S. President-elect Barack Obama and his "new green deal," which he predicted would be copied all around the world, the Telegraph reported.

"Once he (Obama) is president, the (United States) will engage vigorously in theses negotiations and help to lead the world toward a new era on global co-operation on climate change," Gore said.