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Cary Institute president advises Al Gore on climate change

Cary Institute President Bill Schlesinger participated in a roundtable discussion with Former Vice President Al Gore in New York City in mid-January. Hosted by the Alliance for Climate Protection, the forum brought together 15 leaders of the environmental field, including Amory Lovins, Anne Lauvergeon, Bill McDonough, Mario Molina, John Pershing, and others, to debate future options in the area of nuclear power, sustainable building design, and carbon sequestration in soils.

Schlesinger provided an overview of the amount of carbon in world soils, both organic and inorganic (caliche), its rate of formation, and opportunities for better management to increase carbon stores. “When organic materials escape decomposition and accumulate in soils, they represent carbon dioxide that might otherwise be returned to the atmosphere,” Schlesinger commented.

Gore has been working with a variety of non-profit and business ventures to find solutions to global warming, and this was one of a series of briefings he has held during the past year to keep abreast of the issue and advise the Obama administration on the best avenues to pursue.

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