Gore praises Hawaii’s environmental efforts

Al Gore brought his inconvenient truth to Hawaii on Tuesday night, praising local officials for making progress on global warming issues but saying there’s more work ahead.

"There is hope. And not only hope; we are going to win this," the former vice president declared at the Stan Sheriff Center to applause.

Gore, wearing two lei, spoke before an adoring crowd of about 9,000, who greeted him with a standing ovation and saw him off in similar fashion. On hand were more than 4,000 students. Tickets were free.

Gore freewheeled around the stage, waving his arms and pointing his fingers and showing slides and charts — much like his Academy Award-winning 2006 documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth."

"Hawaii is in a unique place to see the vulnerabilities we are all facing globally," he said. "But it’s also a great place to see the opportunities."

He praised Hawaii for progress in solar and wind energy, research and innovation.

The state is playing an inspiring leadership role in the climate change effort, Gore said.

"I’m incredibly impressed with what Hawaii is doing," he said.

Elsewhere, he has mixed feelings about what is happening. But, he added, more and more people are becoming converts to the global change gospel.

Extreme weather events — such as hurricanes and droughts — that are tied to climate change, he said, "are waking people up and making believers out of deniers."

Solar energy is becoming more affordable and sweeping the globe, he said.

"This is unstoppable. We are going to win this."

To the students, he urged them to carry on the global warming crusade.

"If we act together, we can solve this."

Gore’s speech was sponsored by the Stephen and Marylyn Pauley Seminars in Sustainability. It capped off a daylong summit called "Ascent: Developing a New Social Contract for Public Investment in a Green Future," organized by the University of Hawaii and U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz. Earlier on Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer discussed possible solutions to Hawaii’s most pressing problems, including avoiding the worst impacts of climate change.

Gore is the founder and current chairman of the nonprofit the Climate Reality Project and the co-founder and chairman of Generation Investment Management. He is a member of the board of directors of Apple Inc. and a senior adviser to Google.

In the aftermath of his vice presidency and failed presidential bid, Gore has become an international leader on issues of global warming and renewable energy, winning the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize in conjunction with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for his work in climate change activism.

Gore is a polarizing figure, a liberal superstar who is vilified on the right, blasted by conservatives for getting rich on investments in green technology firms that were helped along in part by federal grants. He has founded a number of nonprofit organizations.

Gore is also a partner in the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, heading its climate change solutions group.

Hawaii has become a national leader in renewable energy and innovation thanks to efforts such as the Climate Action Plan in 1998 and the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative in 2008. The state leads the nation in the amount of solar installed per capita. There are six wind farms, a geothermal plant and biodiesel plant. The state has also been a center for research into more cutting-edge technologies, including ocean thermal energy conversion and wave energy, as well as advanced biofuels. Hawaii also requires new single-family homes to have solar water heaters.

Gore vowed to carry on the fight.

"We are going to take action. We are going to solve this," he said. "People are waking up and they are realizing we’ve got to make some changes."