Former Democratic vice president and climate change evangelist Al Gore is off to Iowa next month to train a grassroots army of global warming advocates in the first-caucus state.
The political push for climate awareness was announced by Gore on Monday through his advocacy group the Climate Reality Project, which seeks to build political will for public policy changes aimed at curbing the use of fossil fuels.
The announcement comes as some environmentalists warn that continued divisions on the issue of climate change among Democrats and Republicans could undermine the president’s efforts to reach a deal on global emissions reductions later this year in Paris.
Gore’s Project promotes awareness of the impacts of anthropogenic (man-made) global warming, advocating for renewable energy and advanced agricultural practices to reduce carbon emissions, which scientists say are warming the planet and activists blame for severe weather and droughts.
Gore said the effort is necessary to build the “political will” necessary to support President Obama’s push to reach a deal to curb global carbon emissions later this year at a United Nations conference in Paris. His effort would also help raise climate change as a national priority ahead of a presidential election year.
Gore announced that he will begin training a cadre of hundreds of activists to make voters aware of the importance of climate change ahead of the meeting, as well as the coming presidential election.
“Our goal for 2015 is to build the political will necessary for significant action at [the conference] in Paris in December,” said Gore, who is both founder and chairman of the Climate Reality Project.
“To achieve that goal, Americans must unite to call for climate action. It is my hope that by hosting a Climate Reality Leadership Corps Training in Iowa, we can bring together passionate leaders — Democrats, Republicans and Independents — to demonstrate that Americans want climate action now.”
The group said this year is important for climate change advocacy, “both for climate action in December at [the meeting in Paris] and in the lead-up to a U.S. presidential election.”
“As the first caucus state, Iowa holds unique significance in determining the pressing issues that candidates and our country focus on over the next 18 months,” the group said.
