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Here's some of what's happening today at the Clinton Global Initiative ...
10:03 - They've just announced the names of all the heads of state who are here today (52 of them), representing 72 countries.
Former President Clinton just came on stage. "More than 600 commitments have been made. 20 mllion tons of greenhouse gases avoided, 3 million more micor-entrepreneurs have accessed capital."
"There are nearly 1300 CGI members in the room today. The premise of CGI is we are facing complex problems that governments are not or can't solve.
"Everyone has a different story and we inhabit the world in different ways. Just about everyone in this room believes that our common humanity is more important than our difference."
"We seem to all accept our shared responsibility for correcting the current challenges, and leaving a better world for our kids.
"We are webcasting, and we're giving everyone a chance to make their own commitments, MyCommitment.org."
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In the first hour of the Clinton Global Initiative that concluded a couple of minutes ago, Former President Bill Clinton discussed with Al Gore, the presidents of Wal-Mart, the World Bank and Afghanistan, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu an incredible range of the world’s most pressing issues.
Here are some highlights --
Al Gore - "The climate crisis isn't going to be fixed by private efforts alone. At the rate we're going, the polar ice cap will be gone in 21 years, and it won't return for millions. In 1987, two years after the hole in the ozone was discovered, President Reagan listened to the scientists and put us on track to start addressing climate change. People said it would be too expensive, but it wasn't. We need to call on President Bush to follow Reagan's example. We have to have binding reductions and the US has to lead the world to solve the climate crisis. If those who take the low road and cut corners aren't penalized and can gain advantage on others then it won't work. We need a treaty by 2009 and to put it in force by 2010.
"We can't continue to treat our environment as an open sewer. Think of it as a Tale of Two Planets. Earth and Venus are the same size and have the same amount of carbon. On Venus, the carbon is in the air and on earth it's in the ground. On earth, the average temperature is 59 F and on Venus the average temp is 800+F. We're taking carbon from the ground and putting it in the air."
Gore asked for a Global Marshall Plan for the creation of jobs around the reduction of carbons. He cited an African proverb -- "If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. We have to go far quickly, and need a mass persuasion campaign to change the climate of public opinion on climate change."
Former President Clinton interviewed Lee Scott, the President and CEO of Wal-Mart who talked about how his company’s environmental commitments have saved them a ton of money while doing good for the environment and customers. "These weren't exotic innovations. We got General Mills to straighten the noodles in their Hamburger Helper which meant they could fit in smaller boxes and we saved hundreds of tons of cardboard and kept trucks off the road. Our suppliers were waiting for us to ask them. We underestimated how much pride everyone would take in being a part of this." President Clinton acknowledged how many energy efficient light bulbs Wal Mart has sold, saying if everyone bought these light bulbs, 80 coal fired power plants wouldn't be needed.
President Clinton tried to get the head of the World Bank, Robert B. Zoellick to address the idea that there is a need for an organization to help countries use the most current and clean technologies to meet their energy needs, saying that he has heard from ministers that Africa should be the first oil-free continent. Clinton said, "If you are running a country with a per capita income of $300, you can't necessarily afford to hire the people you need to help you find the technologies that are going to provide for clean fuels while improving the economic circumstances of your people."
He went on to say, "If Lee Scott can do this, make a ton of
