Al Gore doing an Ask Me Anything on Reddit right now

[Prism]

In case anyone is interested:

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1p211s/hi_reddit_this_is_al_gore_and_im_in_los_angeles/

[Sunlei]

1. Thanks for post, Al Gore was very good & some good questions were asked.

What is your opinion on China's smog problem?
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[–]AlGoreFormer Vice President
Unbelievably bad air pollution in China -- particularly in the North of China. Check out Harbin (population 11 million) on Google today: the city is shut DOWN by air pollution; 1000+ ppm (compared to a safe level of 25 ppm). Chinese Communist Party values stability, but public protests, demonstrations and serious unrest are beginning to threaten stability and what they call the "Mandate of Heaven". The good news is that their new president is seemingly determined to take action. They have just banned any new coal-burning plants in three heavily polluted areas, and have implemented cap-and-trade in five cities and two provinces -- as pilot for a nationwide cap-and-trade for the whole country by 2015. If they follow through, this will be a HUGE deal for global carbon pollution reduction. And since folks literally ARE "holding their breath", maybe they will follow through. The bad news is that they are still increasing the amount of coal they burn. I'm betting on the Chinese people using the internet -- in SPITE of the censorship there -- to win this struggle.

[–]DiegoVonCosmo

When the Constitution was written, the U.S. government was intentionally designed to be inefficient with the goal of forcing compromise in order to be functional. This worked rather well for 200 years as compromise deals could be struck behind closed doors, but it seems that in the modern era of the never-ending campaign, compromise seems impossible as moderates are attacked by talking heads for backing down on their principals and challenged in primary elections by more "ideologically pure" candidates. My question for you is, given the current media environment, is it even feasible for the United States to have a functional national government without radical changes to how the legislative branch functions? In other words, in the age of the 24-hour news cycle, is it still possible for significant legislative compromise to be reached when we have gerrymandered districts, mandated biennial congressional elections, and a 60-vote requirement to break a Senate filibuster? If so, what can be done to end the current state of perennial stalemate?

[–]AlGoreFormer Vice President

Our Democracy has been hacked. Big money, anonymous donors, "corporations-as-people", "entertainment-as-news", Members of Congress-as-supplicants to the wealthy and powerful, and apathy-as-irony -- all are threats to our freedom. One of the best solutions is to accelerate the transition of our democratic institutions to the internet as quickly as possible -- to bypass the gatekeepers who charge huge tolls for access to the public's mind over television.

Got to get back to 24 Hours of Reality. Please tune in to the 24th hour at climaterealityproject.org

[Uncle Joe]

2. Thanks for that excerpt, Sunlei.

[leftyohiolib]

3. why did u give up in florida in 2000 - why did u let the supreme court pick pick putus for florida?

this country is , in part, the way it is becuase you gave up in 2000 , im sure you feel differently but why?