Al Gore, prominent environmentalist and former presidential candidate, headed to NYC’s Trump Tower on Monday morning to discuss climate change with Ivanka Trump, the president-elect’s oldest daughter. But he also gained the president-elect’s ear while in the building.
President-Elect Trump has called climate change a “hoax” many times, even accusing the Chinese government of creating this “fake” problem to steal U.S. jobs (in tweets that still remain online). Needless to say, he seems like the kind of guy who purposely wouldn’t recycle. But he seems to have softened his position a bit on global warming, and that may be thanks to his daughter.
Ivanka isn’t registered with a political party, according to The Washington Post, and many think she’s pushed her father to adopt some Democrat-leaning positions, such as paid maternity leave. But she supported her father throughout his campaign, even with Trump’s insults, sexual assault allegations and racism, so it’s probably safe to say she isn’t very liberal.
Still, Gore seemed somewhat impressed by the meeting.
“I had a lengthy and very productive session with the president-elect. It was a sincere search for areas of common ground,” Gore told reporters after a 90 minute meeting at Trump Tower. “I had a meeting beforehand with Ivanka Trump. The bulk of the time was with the president-elect, Donald Trump. I found it an extremely interesting conversation, and to be continued, and I’m just going to leave it at that.”
The New York Times reports that hundreds of scientists have signed a letter to President-Elect Trump telling him that climate change is real and urging him to take action. The letter reads in part:
“We urge you to decide if you want your Presidency to be defined by denial and disaster, or acceptance and action,” says the new letter, which has been signed by 700 scientists and academics.
As Al Gore said, this conversation is to be continued. We’ll see what changes in Trump’s plan come of it.