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By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 31, 2008; A04
Former vice president Al Gore will launch a three-year, $300 million
campaign Wednesday aimed at mobilizing Americans to push for
aggressive reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, a move that ranks
as one of the most ambitious and costly public advocacy campaigns in
U.S. history.
The Alliance for Climate Protection's "we" campaign will employ
online organizing and television advertisements on shows ranging from
"American Idol" to "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart." It highlights
the extent to which Americans' growing awareness of global warming
has yet to translate into national policy changes, Gore said in an
hour-long phone interview last week. He said the campaign, which Gore
is helping to fund, was undertaken in large part because of his fear
that U.S. lawmakers are unwilling to curb the human-generated
emissions linked to climate change.
"This climate crisis is so interwoven with habits and patterns that
are so entrenched, the elected officials in both parties are going to
be timid about enacting the bold changes that are needed until there
is a change in the public's sense of urgency in addressing this
crisis," Gore said. "I've tried everything else I know to try. The
way to solve this crisis is to change the way the public thinks about
it."