‘‘Climate change is real, it’s here, it’s going to happen again,’’ he said. ‘‘What do we do about it and how do we harden our systems, how do we make sure this doesn’t happen with the fuel system again? How do we make sure it doesn’t happen with the cellphone system? Wanna talk about chaos!’’

Gore said he’s been pushing a carbon tax for decades. But his idea is not to use the money to lower the deficit, but to reduce payroll taxes in a revenue-neutral way.

‘‘We should tax what we burn, not what we earn,’’ he said.

Princeton University climate and political scientist Michael Oppenheimer likes the attention the issue has suddenly gotten, but isn’t optimistic that a solution will be struck.

‘‘Given the paralysis in U.S. politics, I really wonder if we’re up to the challenge,’’ Oppenheimer said. ‘‘And regrettably, it might take more than one Sandy to get people awake.’’

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Associated Press writers Deepti Hajela in New York and Jim Abrams in Washington contributed to this report.

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Online:

The Brookings Institution’s proposal for a carbon tax: http://bit.ly/QELU5s

The American Enterprise Institute on the economics of carbon taxes:

http://bit.ly/SZGEaZ

Bob Inglis’ Energy and Enterprise Initiative: http://energyandenterprise.com/

Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project: http://climaterealityproject.org/

The Congressional Budget Office report: http://1.usa.gov/SKrvrq

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