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Former Vice President Al Gore addressed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday to strongly urge congressional action on global warming this year. Ahead of an international conference in Copenhagen, Denmark later on this year in December, Gore warned that \u201cWe have arrived at a moment of decision.\u201d Indeed, a new report on global warming concluded that its effects are, in a sense, irreversible. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, states that even if all carbon dioxide emissions were to cease today, the climate would still feel the effects of what has already been done for the next 1,000 years. Susan Solomon, the lead author of the report, noted that such a finding only makes taking current action all the more imperative. The Obama administration, in seeking to break with the stalling policies of former President Bush, wants the United States to become proactive on global warming ahead of the Copenhagen conference. International participants will be hoping to outline a new treaty to follow the Kyoto Protocols that the U.S. under Bush previously failed to ratify.<\/p>\n
GUEST: Liz Perera, Washington Representative for the Union of Concerned Scientist’s Climate Program.<\/p>\n