Speaking at a major conference in Texas, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore has suggested that climate change deniers should be punished. The environmental activist also proposed that politicians who reject climate change science should also pay a price.

Gore spoke at Austin, Texas’ South by Southwest (SXSW) group of conferences and festivals, pointing out that investors are now directing money to alternative energy companies, as opposed to those that invest in the still-dominant but increasingly old-school fossil fuel / carbon emitting industry. Such market trends, he said, need to be accelerated by attaching a price to what is not desired.

Gore said that the “denial industry” continues to ignore reality. Specifically, in addition to “99 percent of the scientists” he said that Mother Nature is now weighing in.

Gore is the chair the of the Climate Reality Project, a non-profit he founded in 2006 focused on education around climate change. His presentation pointed out past weather events that may have been triggered by human causes or negligence.

Showing an image of Pope Francis, the sovereign of the Vatican City State, who has pushed a climate change “call to arms” amongst his fellow Catholic Christians. Francis hopes to influence the important December 2015 UN climate conference in Paris. That get-together will be the climax of decades of negotiations and could potentially have a massive impact on global policies.

Initiatives are launching around the globe even before the Paris conference, however. For example, Gore pointed to the state utility of Dubai that is looking to build a solar power plant. Also, Bangladesh is aggressively installing solar panels on rooftops.

Al Gore starred in 2006’s “An Inconvenient Truth,” Academy Award winning documentary film that concentrated on the effects of climate change. The film grossed almost $53 million in box office receipts. The former vice president’s appearance at SXSW is part of his continuing campaign to discredit those who claim that the climate change issue is not one humans can control.