Since losing the 2000 presidential election, Al Gore has focused on environmental issues, giving more than a thousand lectures on global warming. That doesn't sound like the premise of a blockbuster movie. However, An Inconvenient Truth has generated a lot of buzz and catapulted Gore back into the media spotlight.
Sitting down with him proved a revelation. When I asked whether An Inconvenient Truth might describe his setback in the presidential sweepstakes, Gore's self-assured manner dissolved into a series of ersatz sobs. I was flabbergasted by his willingness to poke fun at himself. Was this the same Al Gore who was routinely disparaged for his stiffness?
But he's serious about global warming. "More and more people are now willing to hear the message and recognize that the problem is here and now," Gore said. "There are still a lot of people who don't yet feel the sense of urgency that the scientific community is telling us that we should feel. That's the reason that I've been trying to tell this story. It's something that I care passionately about."
Gore sounded frustrated when he cited the disconnect between scientists and the Bush administration. "The debate is over in the scientific community," he said. "There's a consensus. There's a big contrast between the scientific community and the decision-makers in our country. Some people are now conceding that global warming is real, but won't recognize that we're the principal cause of it. That's where President Bush is."
Gore was quick to debunk the notion of a liberal bias in the media. "Fifty-three percent of the articles in the lay press expressed significant doubt that global warming is real. [But] in the past 10 years, there have been no articles in peer-reviewed scientific publications that challenge it. There's an organized effort, lavishly funded by oil companies, designed to purposely confuse people. They hire hyperactive spokespersons to offer counter points of view. A lot of papers fall for it. It's a vulnerability in modern journalism"
Discussing our values, he had pointed words about our priorities. "If the only thing that we use to measure what's valuable is a price tag, then things with no price tag look like they have no value. When policy-makers sit around the table and make decisions about what's valuable, the oil in the protected refuge in Northern Alaska has a price tag on it. The wilderness and the sunset do not."
Gore didn't set out to make a film, but the project is intensely personal for him. "It wasn't my idea," Gore said. "I wouldn't have thought of it. I gave the slide show in Los Angeles, which was attended by some people in the entertainment industry. They came up afterwards and asked whether I'd consider making it a movie."
Gore admitted that he was skeptical because he couldn't see how a slide show could be made into a movie. "I was concerned that the science would be compromised to entertainment values." Not after he met with the filmmakers. "They convinced me that their values were the same as mine and that they would make the science front and center."
While the movie can make filmgoers feel overwhelmed by the enormity of the problem, the accompanying website (climatecrisis.net) inspires action. "It has a calculator that allows you to see the contours of your own life and see exactly what impact it has on global warming and see how you can reduce it."
The website promotes the notion of trying to achieve a carbon-neutral modus vivendi. In post-industrial countries, virtually everyone emits significant amounts of carbon. This exacerbates global warming. Of course, gas-guzzling automobiles are a big source of carbon emissions. Even if you eschew the use of cars, every time you purchase a product that was shipped by a truck, train or plane, you indirectly contribute to global warming. You can offset your personal carbon emissions by investing in anything that reduces the production of carbon—projects that involve alternative sources of energy or the planting of trees, which consume and sequester carbon during photosynthesis.
Gore explained that he and his family now live carbon-neutral lives. "We use offsets. I bought a hybrid car and we've reduced our use of energy. We give money to a project in India. It replaces dirty kerosene burners with solar units. We also give money to a hydroelectric unit in Europe, which replaces dirty coal burners."
Although Gore had built a life around politics, he doesn't seem to have many regrets. "The only thing that I miss is the opportunity to shape policy," he said. "When I see decisions made that are horrible, I miss the opportunity to set it right. There's much more that I don't miss."