Gore Says Climate Deal Needs More Public Pressure

[Sunsettommy]

Reuters.com
Tue Jul 7, 2009 11:03am EDT
By Peter Griffiths

Excerpt:

OXFORD (Reuters) - Public awareness about the "catastrophe" of climate change is not high enough to pressure politicians into taking action, former Vice President Al Gore said on Tuesday.

Gore, who shared a Nobel Prize in 2007 for his environmental campaigning, said politicians will only do more once the people who elect them force the issue.

Voters need to tell leaders they must act on the environmental concerns if countries are to strike a new deal on global warming at U.N. climate talks in Denmark later this year.

"The only way we can get one is if politicians in each country act and the only way that can happen in turn is if awareness rises to the level to make them feel it is a necessity," Gore said in a speech.

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticN...9R20090707