Obama is struggling to gain ground in Pennsylvania so aligning oneself with GW (Global Warming, not GW Bush but take your pick) might not seem like the best political maneuver in general nor certainly on the campaign trail. You see, the earth’s changing climate is still a red-hot political potato for a number of reasons, some of which were most excellently demonstrated during last night’s premiere of Sundance Channel’s The Green in the feature documentary Garbage Warrior. The film recounts numerous twists and turns that its protagonist must negotiate in order to get legislation passed legalizing a testing site for the development of sustainable housing, namely his “earth ships.” One hurdle takes the form of GW-denying state representatives, and allies advise the Garbage Warrior not to deploy the greenhouse gas card in the service of arguing his case. So we were quite glad to hear Illinois senator Obama’s answer to today’s town hall question “if elected president would he consider tapping Gore for his Cabinet to address global warming.”

I would. Not only will I, but I will make a commitment that Al Gore will be at the table and play a central part in us figuring out how we solve this problem. He’s somebody I talk to on a regular basis. I’m already consulting with him in terms of these issues, but climate change is real. It is something we have to deal with now, not 10 years from now, not 20 years from now.

Obama said he would use Gore to help forge a cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions designed to lower pollution, however, he cautioned that such a system could mean an increase in electricity bills from power companies that rely on coal-burning, and that some of the money generated from a cap-and-trade system may be used in the beginning to help lower income or fixed income customers with those bills.

He also called on individuals to do their part to lower energy consumption. “All of us are going to have to change our habits. We are a wasteful culture,” he said singling out the use of compact fluorescent light bulbs, energy efficient appliances, and unplugging power chargers when they’re not in use as relatively simple solutions.

“Those kinds of simple steps, if everybody takes them, can drastically reduce our energy consumption.” Well it looks like aligning oneself with GW (Garbage Warrior) may not be such an ineffective idea after all.

View a clip from Garbage Warrior here.

CHECK OUT ANOTHER GARBAGE WARRIOR CHAD PREGRACKE OF LIVING LANDS AND WATERS:

ReelCYCLE: The Rivers’ Garbage Man on CBS News WATCH>> 1 Minute VIDEO

Chad Pregracke Biography: Founder & President of Living Lands & Waters

MORE GORE ON SUSTY »
Gore Investment Vehicle Closes $683m Fund Demonstrating That Green Is Fundamental Finance
Al Gore: Another Inconvenient Truth Slideshow in 2 Minutes
Al Gore’s New Slideshow: Uncle Sam is the Man With the Golden Arm (30 second video)
Al Gore’s New Slideshow: CSI Climate and the Case of the Unheated Stratosphere (30 second video)

via:: TriCities.com

photo: From The Screening Of Garbage Warrior (Photo Credit – Godlis)