Gore urges U.N. to "overcome paralysis" on climate

By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore bluntly told a U.N. conference on Monday that the planet would be better off if people cared more about global warming and less about O.J. Simpson and Paris Hilton.

Gore, the star of the Oscar-winning film "An Inconvenient Truth," joined the head of the United Nations and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to speak with one voice to urge quick global action to stem emissions that heat the Earth.

But it was Gore, who has become a guru for environmentalists, who stole the show as the United Nations turned its attention to the global ramifications of climate change and the need to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

"We have to overcome the paralysis that has prevented us from acting and focus clearly and unblinkingly on this world crisis, rather than spending time on Anna Nicole Smith and O.J. Simpson and Paris Hilton," Gore said, drawing applause in referring to widely chronicled U.S. scandals.

Schwarzenegger said: "The time has come to stop looking back at the Kyoto Protocol.... The rich nations and the poor nations have different responsibilities, but one responsibility we all have is action."

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon joined that call to action in his remarks to about 80 world leaders who met to focus on the problem of climate change. "Today let the world know that you are ready to shoulder this responsibility and that you will address this challenge head on," he said.

The session is meant to gather momentum for a meeting in Bali, Indonesia, in December where negotiators will start work on a climate treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which set binding emissions targets for 36 developed countries. The Kyoto plan expires in 2012.

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