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[applause]
You've been welcomed, I welcome you again. Especially I want to acknowledge Dianne Feinstein,
who has been a partner in this operation since she came to the senate. Dianne Feinstein has
had a love affiar with this great lake since she was a child. Her visits here those many
years ago recognized the quality of this natural resource, the beauty of nature. I acknowledge
governor Brown and governor Sandoval and I've said this before and I'll say it again: they've
set an example with this beautiful part of the world in acknowledging that a progressive
governor and a conservative governor can work together for the good of the people of their
states. So, thank you very much, governors.
[applause]
We didn't get a confirmation of this until the last minute, but I'm so thankfull and
we're all fortunate to have with us today the Russian ambassador to the United States,
ambassador Sergey Kislyak, and I'm sorry because we didn't know he was coming but I would like
somebody to escort the ambassador up here... [applause] I've had the good fortune and I
appreciate very much the many courtesies he's extended to me. He's always available, always
returns his phone calls, even though sometimes the subject of the conversation isn't the
most pleasant. We work together and I have great admiration for him because he and I
do our best working for the betterment of our two soverign nations. Thank you very much
for being the first russian ambassador ever to see Lake Tahoe.
[applause]
You see, one reason that he's interested in this beautiful lake is that in his country,
they have the other lake. There are only two alpine glacial lakes in the world, Lake Tahoe
and Lake Baikal. Now, I told him today that he is not to boast about the size of Lake
Baikal. [laughter] We love this lake that we share with California. It is a beauty of
nature. Lake Baikal is interesting: it's 400 miles long and 50 miles wide, and that lake
has more than 20% of all the fresh water in the world in that one lake. They have freshwater
seals and all kinds of unusual animals. Now, we have done some really good things: we have
now the Tahoe-Baikal institute that has been going on for a significant number of years.
[applause] It's a program of cultural and environmental exchanges between students and
academics. It's a wonderfull organization. I've been to Lake Baikal: it is stunning,
and if Mark Twain could've seen that he would've said the same thing about Lake Baikal that
he said about Lake Tahoe "the fairest place in all the earth." and I'm confident that
these two places, Lake Baikal and Lake Tahoe are two of the fairest places in all the earth.
We should all be proud that we have done so much to preserve both these lakes. We can
criticize the former Soviet Union and russia all we want, but we should acknowledge that
they have done a great job of protecting that great lake.
[applause]
So, let's talk a little bit about really how this summit came about, how the first one
came about. I was a junior senator and I had been coming to the lake for a long time. I
was elected to my first statewide office in 1970 and everyone complained about Lake Tahoe.
The quality of the lake wasn't what it used to be, and so I was up here and the press
said "What are you going to do about it?" and what I wanted to say was "How the hell
am I supposed to know? I don't know." but, what I did say is this: "I think the only
thing left is a presidential summit." Now, folks, I'd never been to a presidential summit,
I frankly didn't know they existed. [laughter]
But I called my friend Al Gore. Al Gore and I have known each other since 1982. If there
were ever two non-blood brothers in the world it's him and I. I just think so much of him
because he's been so good to me and I've tried to reciprocate. And I said, "Mr. Vice President,
here's what we have, and what I've asked for is a presidential summit. Will you help me?"
and he said "Yes." Now, as I look back at how I felt about this 16 years ago, I knew
this basin was at risk: I knew that algae was growing, I knew that lake temperatures
had increased, but I thought 'well, maybe we'll have a good photo op.' but that isn't
how it worked.
Gore and Clinton, they weren't going to settle for a photo-op. They had four cabinet officers
come here, not only for a visit but to do hearings with the people here. Environmentalists,
developers, state and local government and more than 50 organizations participated. It
was really something. Now I can look back, and, actually, we spent two days that first
summit, it wasn't something that was good for our states from a public relations perspective
for one day, not just for our nation, but it was an international event for two days,
and people focused on this great part of nature that was being hurt. And, it was a wonderfull
event. And we finished this event with speeches that were given, but as soon as we finished
it, there was a presidential executive order designating this lake as a national priority;
and that's the main reason that we've been able to spend here since that time $1.8 billion
dollars. Pretty good, huh?
[applause]
I had the good fortune about a month ago to go to the renaming of the Environmental Protection
Agency complex in Washington, DC, Named after President Clinton; and that speech he gave
was a typical Clinton speech. He pretended it was unprepared, but it was prepared. [laughter]
and he started by saying (and this is paraphrasing but pretty close to every word) he said "I'm
gonna lay out the things that we've done for the environment during my 8 years as president..."
and he said "We've done a lot, but I want everyone here to understand that everything
I'm going to talk about could never have happened without Al Gore." and he said "Al Gore was
the quarterback of the things I'm going to talk about."
Well, I have already told you how I feel about this good man. He has been a member of the
congress of the United States, where we first met, a United States senator, Vice President
of the United States, ran for president twice (I supported him both times) but the most
significant thing he has done was to alert the world to what's happening to our world.
He's been tireless. He devotes the vast majority of his time to explaining to the world, not
just the United States, the world, what's happening to this world. Now, when the history
books are written about this era and other eras; when they're written about this era
they're going to talk about the most important messenger that has existed for saving this
Earth: it's my pleasure to introduce Al Gore. [applause]
[Jack Durst] This video is part of the Tahoe Summit 2013 playlist. If you'd like to see
ALL of the videos in the Tahoe Summit playlist, click on the moving video on your screen right
now. If you're interested in seeing a video of a particular person just wait till you
hear their name and click on the picture of them. We had a lot of amazing people presenting
at the Tahoe Summit. Senate majority leader Harry Reid gave a great speech at the Tahoe
Summit. Al Gore gave a 30 minute keynote speech on the impact of climate change on Lake Tahoe
that is truely excelent, you should definitely check it out. Also Senator Dianne Feinstein
gave a lovely speech at the Tahoe Summit, as did Governor Jerry Brown and Governor Brian
Sandoval of Nevada. Also there was a number of speeches from people from the TRPA who
you can click on right now. So, please feel free to link or embed this playlist or any
of these videos on your blog or website. If you like this video please share it with all
your friends on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. Thumbs-up if you enjoyed the video, thank
you, and Keep Tahoe Blue. Bye.