Gore: ‘Put a price’ on climate skepticism

Former Vice President Gore said politicians should be punished politically if they don’t agree with the scientific consensus on climate change.

Gore, who has become a climate activist since leaving office, said charging companies to emit carbon dioxide would help the transition away from fossil fuels in a presentation at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. But he added that politicians must be pressured to act.

{mosads}“We need to put a price on carbon to accelerate these market trends,” Gore said, according to the Chicago Tribune. “And in order to do that, we need to put a price on denial in politics.”

Gore’s presentation focused on the politics of climate change, highlighting major events that he said were caused in part by a warming planet.

“We have this denial industry cranked up constantly,” he said, according to the Tribune. “In addition to 99 percent of the scientists and all the professional scientific organizations, now Mother Nature is weighing in.”

Extreme weather and the conflict in the Middle East are exacerbated by climate change, Gore said.

He also cited religious leaders, saying that climate skeptics disagree with Pope Francis.

“How about this Pope?” he said, showing a photo of Francis, who is planning an encyclical later this year to encourage all Catholics to take steps against climate change. “I’m not a Catholic, but I could be persuaded to become one.”