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Al Gore, Lehman's Roosevelt to Form New Global Warming Alliance

Submitted by Bill Becker on 17/May/2006

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May 10 (Bloomberg) -- Former Vice President Al Gore and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Managing Director Theodore Roosevelt IV have formed an alliance to boost public awareness about global warming, people familiar with the plans said.

The alliance, which will be unveiled today, is a diverse group that includes bankers like Roosevelt, Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures, former Georgia-Pacific Corp. President Lee Thomas, and former Environmental Protection Agency chief Carol Browner, said the people, who asked not to be identified.

Paramount, which plans to release a documentary later this month about climate change featuring Gore, will contribute $500,000 to the new nonprofit group, called the Alliance for Climate Protection. Gore, 58, will donate the $250,000 advance from his yet-to-be published book "An Inconvenient Truth", which is the same name as the movie, the people said.

The money will be used to begin an educational campaign about the threat of global warming across all media. The idea to corral Wall Street, business executives and former public officials into one alliance stems from the belief that environmental groups alone aren't doing enough to alert the public to the dangers of global warming, the people said.

The alliance's board members will include Brent Scowcroft, national security adviser to President George H.W. Bush during the 1991 Gulf War; Thomas, who was president of Georgia-Pacific until last year and served as EPA chief under President Ronald Reagan; and Browner who served under President Bill Clinton, the people said. Roosevelt, 63, a Republican and great-grandson of the 26th U.S. president, will serve as a co-chairman.

Gore, Roosevelt and Paramount officials didn't immediately return calls seeking comment. Scowcroft, Thomas and Browner also didn't return telephone messages.

Changing Minds

Researchers including NASA's top climate scientist, James Hansen, say carbon dioxide and greenhouse-gas pollution from cars, power plants and other human activity is leading to hotter temperatures that are triggering more powerful storms and extreme weather.

The Bush administration has so far questioned conventional theories about the existence, cause or severity of climate change and has declined to make policy changes that would greatly increase limits on pollution.

Senator James Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican and head of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, called man-made global warming a "hoax" in 2003 and last month said he opposes mandatory limit on carbon emissions because the restrictions could result in higher energy prices.

The Gore-Roosevelt group is seeking to combat such sentiments in Washington by enlisting the broad-based support of lawmakers, religious leaders, the agriculture industry, manufacturers and labor groups, the people said. There also are talks with a couple "high-profile" Republicans about joining the alliance, one person said.

Environmental Bandwagon

The campaign comes as more Republican lawmakers, corporate executives, investors, insurers and evangelical Christians are calling for President George W. Bush and Congress to take more aggressive action to combat global warming.

In 2001, Bush rejected the international Kyoto Protocol that restricts carbon emissions because he said it would make U.S. businesses less competitive and cost jobs. Instead, Bush has called on companies to reduce greenhouse gases voluntarily while his administration studies the issue further.

Hansen, Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican, and others contend there is already overwhelming scientific evidence available, which is being ignored because of efforts by lobbyists representing energy companies and manufacturing industries to quell concern.

Yet some companies, including General Electric Co., are going in the opposite direction, calling for some regulation so they can have certainly in their business plans as well as to spur a potentially lucrative market for selling "clean" technology products.

National Priority

Gore and Roosevelt will hold a news conference today to discuss the new alliance, according to the public relations firm Fenton Communications in Washington. Fenton spokespeople declined to provide further details.

Roosevelt, who's been a banker at New York-based Lehman since 1972, has long shared his family's history of environmentalism. His great-grandfather, President Theodore Roosevelt, made conservation a national priority, establishing wildlife refuges and national parks including the Grand Canyon.

Gore, the Democratic presidential candidate in 2000, has urged government action on climate change for decades. After losing his bid for the White House to Bush, Gore began traveling the U.S. -- as well as to other countries including China -- to talk about the threat of climate change.

His efforts are captured in the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth", which will be released in New York and Los Angeles later this month and in cities across the U.S. in June and July.