Dream was the aspirational theme for speakers at a TED conference held recently in Vancouver, but Al Gore’s talk on climate change came during a darker “Nightmare” session. After all, thoughts of superstorms, rising seas, and crippling droughts would keep most of us up tossing and turning. “Every night on the TV, news is now like a nature hike through the Book of Revelation,” Gore says. Still, he focuses more on waking up from the bad dream of global warming.
The former vice president poses three questions: Do we have to change? Can we change? Will we change? His answer to all three is a resounding YES. Watch the above video to hear why Gore is so jazzed about our progress, particularly on the clean energy front, and to catch some of his contagious optimism. “Some still doubt that we have the will to act,” Gore finishes. “But I say the will to act is itself a renewable resource.”
This post first appeared in OnEarth.