Gore holds up Churchill as inspiration

OXFORD, England, July 8 (UPI) -- Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore says World War II-era British Prime Minister Winston Churchill can serve as an inspiration for battling global warming.

Speaking Tuesday at Oxford University's Smith School World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment, Gore urged political leaders to follow Churchill's example of resolve in the fight against climate change, The Times of London reported.

"Winston Churchill aroused this nation in heroic fashion to save civilization in World War II," Gore said. "We have everything we need except political will, but political will is a renewable resource.

"The level of awareness and concern among populations has not crossed the threshold where political leaders feel that they must change. The only way politicians will act is if awareness raises to a level to make them feel that it's a necessity."

Gore said those who doubted massive cuts in mankind's carbon emissions can be achieved should look at the young scientists -- average age 26 -- who worked at NASA in 1969.

"They were 18 when they heard President Kennedy say he wanted to put a man on the moon in 10 years," Gore said.