By DEVLIN BARRETT
Associated Press Writer
http://www.theledger.com/article/20080402/APP/804020776
Sen. Barack Obama
said Wednesday he would give Al Gore, a Nobel prize
winner, a major role in an Obama administration to
address the problem of global warming.
At a town-hall meeting, Obama was asked if he would
tap the former vice president for his Cabinet to handle global warming.
"I would," Obama said. "Not only will
I, but I will make a commitment that Al Gore will be at the table and play a
central part in us figuring out how we solve this problem. He's somebody I talk
to on a regular basis. I'm already consulting with him in terms of these
issues, but climate change is real. It is something we have to
deal with now, not 10 years from now, not 20 years from now."
Since leaving the White House, Gore has gone on to become one of the world's
leading voices for combating the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.
His work earned him a share of the Nobel last year.
Popular among Democrats, Gore is perhaps the single most coveted endorsement up
for grabs in the long-running competition between Obama
and rival Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The relationship between Gore and the
Obama said he would use Gore to help forge a
cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions designed to lower pollution.
The
He also called on individuals to do their part to lower energy consumption.
"All of us are going to have to change our habits. We are a wasteful
culture," he said.
Using compact fluorescent light bulbs, energy efficient appliances, and
unplugging power chargers when they're not in use are relatively simple
solutions, he said.
"Those kinds of simple steps, if everybody takes them, can drastically
reduce our energy consumption."
(This version CORRECTS Corrects thruout
to DELETE reference to questioner asking about position higher than Cabinet.)