Gore and the greens plot to clean up at the Obama White House | News & Politics | News & Comment

FIRST POSTED JANUARY 6, 2009

businesses. They cannot drive the clean tech revolution alone. They need government help.

Fortunately for them, Obama, egged on by Gore and others, is poised to provide it. Green businesses which have been rumbling along for years now, struggling to gain traction because of their cost or complication, could take off with the right tax credits or other government support.

Gore's supporters say that he is simply doing all he can to safeguard the future of the planet, pushing his agenda through business, government and the media. He was an active environmentalist long before he entered business. Now, as a private citizen, he recognises that government cannot change America's energy policy without business and vice versa, so he is playing a role in both. And he stands to become even richer from changes which are overwhelmingly positive for society.

"Al Gore's supporters say that he is simply doing all he can to safeguard the future of the planet"

A more cynical interpretation is that he is seeking to profit from the climate change alarmism he has done so much to stoke.

Set aside for a moment the arguments over the facts and opinions expressed by Gore's Oscar-winning film, An Inconvenient Truth. Does it change your attitude to the film if you know that Gore will make an enormous amount of money if governments and investors act on it? Does he still seem such a selfless advocate of the planet's good health?

Perhaps, but there is no doubt that in the coming Obama years, Exxon and Chevron will be replaced in Washington by Kleiner Perkins, Gore and the rest of the clean technology gang and good for the planet or not, it should be very good for them.

FIRST POSTED JANUARY 6, 2009

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There is no need to be cynical here. The days of indigent prophets a la Gandhi are gone. Today's message bearers need capital to get heard. Gore tried the democratic way and look where that got him. Hats off to him for learning the lesson and going the realism route. A well planned and excellently managed return to the fray. Don't be so jealous!

Posted by Paul Hirsh at 10:52am on January 6, 2009

I totally agree. Gore has undoubtably done a huge amount of good in bringing the environmental message to the front of the developed world's mind. If it makes him a billionaire in the process so what. I would rather Gore got rich saving the planet than Bush or any of his Dad's oil buddies getting the money.

Posted by richieb64 at 10:37am on January 7, 2009

The rich are the problem; they pollute far more than the rest. Gore has no problem with flying in his private jet all over the planet lecturing people on how they need to change. He's only just discovered energy efficient light bulbs, but he has one now... ONE. Those people who have for years, decades, been limiting their footprint, limiting their greed, are rightly suspicious of a politician who, having failed to make president, took a career change and became an instant guru. Some conspiracy theorists even think he's at the bottom of their pet hate, the imagined 'global warming conspiracy', which may be a reflection of general distrust of politicians. I would rather no one got rich, whether from writing books about climate change and shares in green companies or selling oil. The poorest people in the world have nothing to do with climate change, their lives are already sustainable, Gore's isn't and his hypocrisy grates. When he starts giving his wealth away to the poor, or buying energy efficiency devices to give away to those who can't afford them, then I'll believe his sincerity. Until then he's no more sincere, or green, than Blair. Rhetoric is cheap, action costs.

Posted by Peter Simmons at 12:11pm on February 2, 2009