Al Gore and Newt Gingrich are very different figures, but they are both going through a similar process: They are becoming elder statesmen.

And how does one become an elder statesman, anyway? It's an easy, two-step process: First, have something important to say and be tireless in saying it. Second, stop running for president, because then people will let their guard down; they will listen to the substance of your message, not worry about tracking your upward political mobility.

Oh, and a third thing: Optimism sells better than pessimism. So while the former Democratic vice president is getting most of the glory, worldwide, with his message of profound eco-repentance, it's the former Republican House speaker's message of practical problem-solving that is ultimately going to play better in America.

Everybody knows about Gore, of course. But most didn't know of his interest in global warming until relatively recently. Yes, he has been thinking about the issue for decades, but when he got to the White House in 1993, he was relatively quiet; maybe his quietude had something to do with future political ambitions.

And so, for example, in 1997, when the U.S. Senate, including Barbara Boxer and Teddy Kennedy, voted 95-0 to reject the Kyoto international global warming treaty, Vice President Gore didn't say much. With public opinion lopsided against the treaty, how could he speak up in protest — and still preserve his political viability for 2000?

In fact, Gore didn't become his own emancipated man until he left the White House in 2001, finally free to argue for drastic action against greenhouse gases.

Yet, while Gore does a great job of telling us what we've done wrong, he's less effective at outlining a plausible action plan that would solve the problem: reduce the world's carbon dioxide, as opposed to just America's CO2. The dilemma is that if we reduce and they increase, nothing is gained.

But, of course, Gore is out of office now, with no plans to run again. He can say what he wants, leaving others to admire him without having to worry about voting for him.

Meanwhile, Gingrich, who retired from Congress in 1998, has trod his own path toward greater environmental awareness. His latest book, "A Contract With the Earth," co-authored with Terry Maple, former chief of the Atlanta Zoo, carries a friendly foreword from Harvard's E.O. Wilson, one of the most important and influential biologists of the 20th century.

Yet, Gingrich is not Gore. He does not reach a final conclusion as to whether human beings are causing climate change — and thus many environmentalists will dismiss him. Yet at the same time, Gingrich wants to implement a green agenda, his way. He and Maples write, "We favor reducing carbon loading in the atmosphere as a bold forward step and positive public value."

So what's Gingrich's alternative solution? First, nuclear power. And second, big prizes for inventors who come up with, for example, a workable hydrogen engine. As he points out, there's a long history of offering prizes. Past awards have fostered advances in construction, navigation and aviation. So why not the environment?

More technology, more incentives — that's Gingrich's approach. And interestingly, in his post-presidential run mode, the Georgian is being well received, because people hunger for real solutions, not just feel-good or feel-bad rhetoric.

On Monday, Gingrich spoke at Johns Hopkins University, receiving an overwhelmingly friendly response.

Gore and Gingrich, enjoying their "elder" status, now must watch as their White House-hopeful juniors wrestle with their enviro-ideas. But here's a prediction: Those who follow Gingrich's techno-optimism will have an easier time than those who put on Gore's hair shirt.

James Pinkerton is a columnist for Newsday.