US:Former vice-president Al Gore returned to Capitol Hill yesterday with an emotional appeal to legislators to pass legislation that would cut the carbon emissions believed to cause global warming.
Mr Gore, who won an Oscar last month for his documentary An Inconvenient Truth and is nominated for the Nobel peace prize, told congressmen climate change represented the biggest crisis the human race has ever faced.
"The way we're going to solve it is by asking you on both sides of the aisle to do what some people fear we don't have the capacity to do anymore. I know they're wrong," he said.
Mr Gore called for a tax on the industrial use of fuels that emit carbon dioxide and the construction of more efficient buildings. He also wants legislation to increase fuel economy standards for automobiles, and a moratorium on any new coal-fired power plants that do not have adequate technology to capture and store carbon emissions underground.
"There is a sense of hope in this country that this United States Congress will rise to the occasion and present meaningful solutions to this crisis. Our world faces a true planetary emergency. I know the phrase sounds shrill, and I know it's a challenge to the moral imagination," he said.
Mr Gore rejected the argument of some critics that the US should only impose mandatory controls on greenhouse gases if China, India and other rapidly developing nations agree to do the same. "The best way and the only way to get China and India on board is for the US to demonstrate real leadership. As the world's largest economy and the greatest superpower, we are uniquely situated to tackle a problem of this magnitude."
Huge crowds came to the Rayburn Building to see Mr Gore, who is consistently placed by polls among the top three in the 2008 presidential race, although he says he has no plans to seek the presidency again.