Al Gore Offers To Work With Trump On Climate Change

One is a non-believer of climate change. The other is a long-time environmental activist. However, despite their differences, former Vice President Al Gore is willing to work with Donald Trump to ensure that the United States maintains its lead in combating climate change.

In an online post on the Climate Reality Project website, the longtime environmental activist said that he hoped, in the spirit of Trump's wish to be president for "all Americans," that they can work with the overwhelming majority who believe in the climate crisis as a threat to the nation.

Unfortunately, this could be more of a statement for the sake of formality. Al Gore campaigned hard against Trump in the last year, even saying that his election could "take us toward a climate catastrophe."

As The Washington Post noted, Trump is a climate skeptic and has called global warming a "hoax" with an "energy independence" statement with ideas that could make environmental advocates cringe.

Trump's site stated, "Rather than continuing the current path to undermine and block America's fossil fuel producers, the Trump Administration will encourage the production of these resources by opening onshore and offshore leasing on federal lands and waters."

This leads to even more problems regarding the Paris Agreement. Niklas Hoehne of the New Climate Institute was quoted by CBC News to have said, "If President Trump abandons current policies as he has threatened to do, we estimate that in 2030, U.S. emissions will be similar to what they are today." This is problematic considering that President Barack Obama promised to cut the U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 26 to 28 percent by 2026 -- from the 2005 levels.

At this point, however, it is too early to say how the policies of the newly elected Trump could affect the wider scope. While his election could increase the global temperature estimate, there are still uncertainties -- although a shift to renewable energies is likely to continue.