MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Environmental superstar Al Gore arrives in Chile
Former U.S. Vice President Shares His Message Of Environmental Responsibility After months of build up, the wait is finally over. Environmental superstar Al Gore, a former U.S. senator and vice president, is finally visiting Chile — albeit for just a handful of hours.
Gore, whose environmental exposé film "An Inconvenient Truth" has been an international sensation since its 2006 release, arrives Friday in Santiago, where he will be the keynote speaker of a sold-out event entitled "Global Warming and Climate Change: The Time to Act is Now." During a talk that is likely to last just 40 minutes, Gore â€" a recent Nobel Prize nominee â€" is expected to cover many of the same issues addressed in his Oscar-winning film. In the movie, the former vice president presents scientific evidence supporting the theory of global warming, and outlines how climate change â€" if unchecked â€" will drastically affect the world we live in. Gore, who visits Chile by way of Argentina and is scheduled to leave the country later the same day, is reportedly being paid US$200,000 for his participation in the event. Local sponsors of the seminar include the environmental NGO Oikos, Chilevisión, and the daily newspaper El Mercurio. President Michelle Bachelet is expected to attend the event, as is her rival from the last election, billionaire-politician Sebastian Piñera â€" who owns Chilevisión and LAN airlines. Other speakers include Chile's recently appointed minister of the environment, Ana Lya Uriarte, Economy Minister Alejandro Ferreiro and Chilean philosopher Darió Salas. Gore's visit has been big news in Chile since the trip was first announced this past February. Friday's event â€" which takes place in Santiago's CasaPiedra â€" has also generated a fair bit of controversy. Last month, Socialist Party Sen. Alejandro Navarro openly questioned why the high-profile environmental seminar was being partially sponsored by the oft-demonized Canadian mining firm Barrick Gold, owner of Chile's controversial Pascua Lama gold mine. "We're very surprised that Barrick Gold is supporting Al Gore's visit. If he comes with the knowledge of what this type of support means for Chile and our country's natural resources, his visit will be contaminated," Navarro told the Santiago Times. Gore, once aware of Barrick Gold's affiliation to the event, was quick to dump the Canadian mining company from the sponsors' list. "Unfortunately, we were never asked to approve Barrick Gold as a cosponsor and as soon as we became aware that they were cosponsors, we asked that they removed," Gore's press spokesperson Kalee Kreider told the Santiago Times. Born in 1948, Gore served for eight years (1993-2001) as vice president under former U.S. leader Bill Clinton. He was later the odds-on-favorite to succeed Clinton and, despite waning campaign momentum, actually won the popular vote in the 2000 U.S. presidential elections. The highly-contested election, nevertheless, went to increasingly unpopular U.S. President George W. Bush. After losing the contest, Gore kept a fairly low profile â€" choosing not run in the 2004 presidential election. However, with the release last year of "An Inconvenient Truth," which went on to win to two Oscar awards, Gore's celebrity has rocketed. Rumors have even swirled that the former vice president could be a late entry candidate for the 2008 elections. So far Gore has repeatedly denied any immediate political ambitions. By Benjamin Witte The Santiago Times
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