The Advertiser
By: Edwina Scott, Melbourne
The increasing size of bushfires is a classic example of how rapidly the climate is changing, U.S. climate campaigner Al Gore says.
In Victoria, a series of devastating fires swept through the state on Black Saturday, February 7, killing 173 people and destroying hundreds of homes and businesses.
In a keynote address to 1000 leaders in Melbourne, the former U.S. vice-president and Nobel prize winner launched a think-tank, Safe Climate Australia, telling guests the mounting challenges required immediate action.
"The planet has a fever,'' Mr Gore told those attending the gathering yesterday. "We have to act.''
Mr Gore, who presented the Academy Award-winning 2006 documentary An Inconvenient Truth , said the environmental crisis was gaining momentum. "It's difficult to ignore the fact that cyclones are getting stronger, that the fires are getting bigger, that the sea level is rising, that the refugees are beginning to move from places they have long called home,'' he said.
"The odds have been shifted so heavily that fires that used to be manageable now threaten to spin out of control and wreak damages that are far beyond what was experienced in the past.'' He emphasised recent action by the Obama Administration in the U.S. and the Australian Government were positive signs climate change had become a priority.
"In my country we have a new President and in only 30 days after taking office he was able to pass in the U.S. Congress $80 billion for renewable energy and for green infrastructure,'' Mr Gore said.
Mr Gore later joined about 30 serving members of fire, ambulance, police and state emergency services who will embark on a 6000km fundraiser Run for a Safe Climate along Australia's east coast.
Safe Climate Australia is a non-government organisation formed by a group of concerned scientists, community and business leaders that aims to move society towards a zero-carbon economy.