At the end most people will not do anything if they do not realize it is about money, THEIR money. If Al Gore shows - as so many other investors and renewable energy firms around the world - that renewable energies will make you rich, well, that's just exactly the message that most people need to hear. If arguments of responsibility do not help, money might do the trick. Hopefully. And cheers to Al Gore!

This IS Al Gore's way of capitalizing on hysteria.

The venture capitalists involved are going to see their capital fly out the window. Might as well have thrown the cash in the fireplace. At least they could have gotten a little heat energy from their (now dearly departed) wealth. But since it's not my money, I guess I don't really care.

When Al's hysterical minions come to tax me, though, then that will be a different story.

Not much of a thinker are you Mike? Minions may be minions, but you really think we shouldn't be investing in efficiency?

I think Al Gore is basically capitalising on the hysteria generated by him. He has also made sure his name is remembered in public sphere, even though he was an also ran for presidential term.

Having said that - climate change is a real threat but whether the money spent by Al Gore is going to yield results - one has to wait and watch. Already there is a fault line in his scheme of things - spending money on biofuels...todays' food crisis is thanks to the maximum usage of food crops for biofuel in the US and Europe.

Nobody will say let us reduce our usage of energy - let us reduce the number of the cars produced, let us reduce the mad rush towards destroying all our land resources in the name of profit - ultimately everything boils down to that - Profit at all costs. Al Gore is no different - any scheme which goes without the basic understanding that human related activities must reduce, we must change our land use planning, we must have more comprehensive plan to ensure future food and water security - all this nonsense about energy efficiency etc etc is useless.

The developed nations people and the rich class in the developing world are so spoilt they don't want to do away with their "COMFORTS" and Luxuries which are a product of the energy intensive industries - so while they continue to play with their newest gadgets, produced by the industry - they will continue to expect the poor from the developing world to sacrifice their food crops for Bio fuels, so that "these spoilt brats of the world" can continue to live their energy and resource intensive lifestyles.

A fundamental shift in people's attitude is needed if we have to save the planet. One cannot do that raising millions in the name of saving energy - and energy is only one issue of Global warming and climate change. There are far deep rooted malaises invovled - and money and profit are the big drivers for world destruction - if people cannot say, "hey let me live with a little less, let me be a little less selfish" we cannot save the earth.

Good show Mr. Gore. Whether you capatilize on this or not, at least someone is doing something about it.

Great for Al!!
The real tragedy of this ... this is what the
US spends on a day in Iraq.... how grim it is...

sasaswati - great points. However, energy efficiency is definitely the key first step and should be encouraged. The alternative is crashing down all at once - the US will go down in flames and bring half the world down with it. I'd rather have incremental change even if it does mean putting up with some annoying hypocrisy while we get there.

From Nashville Business Journal

I found this quote from Blood to be interesting; and not just because it's the first time I've seen the word "ginormous" in print.

[David Blood is the former Goldman Sachs Asset Management boss who manages Generation Investment Management]

"A fear expressed by some is that the first thing to go in a downturn is the nice-to-have sort of investment. Some people put green investments in that category, but we think that is nonsense. This is not nice-to-have - it is fundamental finance...because the transition from a high-carbon to a low-carbon economy is a ginormous step that is going to happen quickly," he told the newspaper.

Dear Ms. Garr,

Trading in carbon futures is not efficiency; it is financial flim-flam that buggers up capital markets. Let the free market work. Nothing breeds efficiency like unfettered capitalism.

Algore has created an imaginary need that is being forced on us by government fiat. That is not how free markets work. They respond to real needs. Artificial price controls and tax gouging produce nothing; in fact they constrain wealth creation.

But that's the liberal point, right? We "need" to impose poverty, starvation, and global fetters on wealth. Let's all be equally poor in the name of Marxist egalitarianism and "saving the planet."

The GW crisis is artifice and imaginary, but the resulting suffering is real. Remember that while you fill your tank with food ripped from the mouths of the poorest people on Earth.

There is no such thing as global warming people!!!!! Al Gore has investments in "planet safe products" "PSP" such as florescent light bulbs ,so he has to enforce global warming so that people buy "PSP" and he gets tons of money! They do not tell you that those products are actually harmful not safe! The florescent light bulbs actually contain mercury, and when you throw them away they do not go to a special plant to dispose of it. They go to the city landfill
and when they break, the mercury goes into the ground and contaminates the soil and water that runs under ground. Also scientists are forced to promote the global warming myth or they will not be paid grants for research for other things. Basically the government is corrupt and will do anything for money. Global warming is also used by the government as an excuse to sell our factories to china. China does not buy into this global warming crap, because they are not stupid and know what is best for there economy. There record snow fall every were like in ANTARCTICA,NEW ENGLAND,MICHIGAN,SCOTLAND,FRANCE,
AUSTRIA,SWITZERLAND,EUROPE,CENTRAL AISIA,MIDDLE EAST,PARTS OF CHINA,ALASKA,OTHER US STATES,MEXICO,AUSTRALIA,IRAN,GREECE,SOUTH AFRICA,GREENLAND,ARGENTINA,AND CHILI.BAGHDAD saw it's first snow in record history!!!!!!