A Must-Read Solutions Book By Al Gore

Grist and Joe Romm provide a fantastic review of Al Gore's New Book, Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis.

Says Romm about the book, which is based on 30 of Gore's Solution Summits, as well as one-on-one discussions with leading world experts:

I was at one of the Solutions Summits, as long-time readers know (see “My Al Gore story”).   I was interviewed by Newsweek about that Summit for their cover story:

Gore assigned each speaker at the summits a half dozen or so questions: Is nuclear power a viable solution? How can new photovoltaic technologies enter the market? He moderated every discussion, and no one remembers him ever glancing at his iPhone during even the most eye-glazing PowerPoint slides (”differentiation of value chain strategies”). Every panel at the New York meetings ran late, recalls Joseph Romm, who oversaw the Department of Energy’s renewables program from 1995 to 1998, as Gore asked question after question.

“It was a fire hydrant of information,” says Romm, and it taught even experts things they didn’t know “about the latest technologies and strategies for clean energy.”

Gore also hosted a reception afterward, where he betrayed no doubt that everyone would find everything as fascinating as he did. “Have Tim tell you all about soil carbon!” he said to one scientist. “Gore bothers to come talk to us,” says climatologist Gavin Schmidt of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies. “Most other politicians are too busy: ‘Just give us the talking points.’ He’s the only politician who’s interested in the nuts and bolts of the science—and the only one who knows what a hydroxyl radical is.”

Like Gore, I learned a lot from the summits.

I can't wait to pick up a copy...

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