Al Gore’s Grassroots Fight

In India, Aditya Pundir is training teachers to talk to middle school, high school, and college students about climate change. In Brazil, Roberto Vámos is meeting with high-ranking government officials to push for a strong pledge to cut greenhouse-gas emissions. In Australia, Adam Majcher is laying the groundwork for major rallies calling for action on climate change. All three work for Al Gore. Climate Reality Project, Gore's green group, is recruiting activists in eight countries expected to play a key role at a major climate summit in Paris later this year. The group hopes that each country will sharply curb greenhouse-gas emissions by signing onto an international agreement to stave off the most devastating impacts of global warming. The effort extends across Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, India, the Philippines, South Africa, and the United States. "We're pushing to make urgent action a necessity and really create the will for political action on climate change," Climate Reality president and CEO Ken Berlin said in an interview. But Gore isn't just looking overseas. The former vice president, Nobel Prize winner, and star of an Oscar-winning documentary has raised some eyebrows with his plans here at home. In May, Gore is headed to Cedar Rapids, Iowa to train the next batch of Climate Reality Leaders, volunteers taught to talk about climate science and call for action to rein in rising emissions. In September, Gore will travel to Miami, Fla., the home turf of Republican 2016 contenders Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio, to do it all over again...more