(Host) Senator Bernie Sanders says Al Gore should be applauded for setting a goal of weaning the United States off of fossil fuels.
Sanders was in the audience in Washington Thursday when Gore called for replacing coal and oil with solar, wind and other renewable sources.
(Sanders) "What it requires is political leadership. We had political leadership from Kennedy in terms of going to the moon. We had political leadership from Franklin Delano Roosevelt in transforming our economy, to take on Nazism. We did that within a couple of years. We need that type of leadership now.”
(Host) Shifting to renewable energy will mean that many workers will lose their jobs in coalfields and other fossil fuel industries.
Sanders says that will be difficult and those people will need government assistance. But he says the U.S. can’t afford not to make the transition.
(Sanders) "I want people to know what the cost is if we do not act. Do you know how much the war in Iraq is costing us? We are spending hundreds of billions of dollars for foreign oil, propping up dictatorships who we should not be propping up. That is a cost.”
(Host) Sanders says other costs include the damage inflicted by global warming and the health problems some people suffer from pollution.
Sanders has introduced a bill that would begin to implement Gore’s strategy. The legislation would offer incentives to people who install solar panels on their rooftops.
When Sanders met with him backstage after the speech, Gore endorsed the bill, known as the “Ten Million Solar Roofs Act.”
Photo: Former Vice President Al Gore speaks about energy and the future, Thursday, July 17, 2008, at Constitution Hall in Washington. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)