JOHN STOSSEM: Al Gore's movie An Inconvenient Truth
won him an Oscar, and yet,
much of the movie is nonsense.
"Sea levels may rise 20 feet" is absurd!
MONICA CROWLEY: But this is Al Gore.
He always goes down the road of hyperbole.
Not only is he losing the argument
on climate change,
but he's losing the science as well.
STERLING BURNETT: You don't go see Joseph Goebbels' films
to see the truth about Nazi Germany.
You don't want to go see Al Gore's film
to see the truth about global warming.
SEAN HANNITY: And it's the most severe
winter storm in years, which would seem to contradict
Al Gore's hysterical global warming theories.
STEVE DOOCY: Donald Trump says
he's had it up to here with Al Gore
and is calling for the Nobel Peace Prize committee
to take the prize away.
JIM INHOFE: Yes or no, do you believe
that human-caused global warming
is a moral, ethical, and spiritual issue
affecting our survival?
GORE: Yes, I do.
INHOFE: Yes or no, do you believe that reducing
fossil fuel-based energy usage
will lead to lower greenhouse gas emissions?
GORE: Basically, yes. I don't think we...
INHOFE: That's... That's good. Senator Gore...
GORE: If I could just, uh, continue...
INHOFE: Well, you can't.
Now, it seems that everything is blamed
on global warming.
Last summer, we had a heat wave, and everyone said,
"Oh, that's proof it's global warming."
Then we had a mild December. "Oh, that's proof"
"it's global warming that's taking place."
Now, I wonder how come you guys
never seem to notice it when it gets cold?
The National Academy of Sciences
here in this country
and in the 16
largest or most-developed countries in the world
agrees with the consensus that I've stated.
INHOFE: Senator Gore, my time is almost expired completely.
Are you aware of that? It seems that everybody...
I would like to respond. May I respond?
INHOFE: ... global warming in the media joined the chorus...
BOXER: Excuse me, Senator Inhofe.
How can you ask a question
and not give the man a minute to answer?
- (CHUCKLES AWKWARDLY) - Please.
Senator, thank you. Um...
I've been sitting here trying to think
what I could do or say
that, uh...
That might make it possible to reach out to you.
And I'm serious about this.
(SIGHS) I'd love to, um,
talk with you without the cameras
and without the lights and...
And tell you, uh,
why I feel so strongly about this.
GEER: And we've got to call the other,
I think, three or four speakers
for the Generation Client Conference, too.
All right, so now back to the Paris conference.
I'd like a briefing on the must-do meetings in Paris.
And I'll circle back to Christiana
well before then on how I can best help her.
I need to talk to Secretary Kerry
- about the long-term goal. - WOMAN: Mmm-hmm.
I want to schedule the China climate training
during the first three months of the year.
I think it would be good to lock that down.
Yeah, definitely.
GORE: Morning. Morning. Thank you for your help.
Since An Inconvenient Truth came out ten years ago,
climate-related extreme weather events
have gotten so much worse.
And so I've continued to give my slide-show
all around the world.
Now, I want to add the latest images
of the flooding going on right now in Louisiana.
Okay, I think both of those'll fit really well there.
I mean, every week now this stuff
just keeps getting worse and more of it.
But...
Actually, there were times when
it really looked bleak and dark
because the forces trying to stop the change regrouped
and poured tons of money
in trying to paralyze the political system
in the U.S. and in other countries.
I got really discouraged.
And there came a time for me when I felt, wow, we could
lose this struggle.
We need to recruit more people.
(AUDIENCE CHEERING)
Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you.
I hope you're having a productive
and enjoyable, wonderful time at this training session.
I've been doing this a long time.
And I was reminded recently
of how long it's been since I started this.
I was sitting in a restaurant.
A woman came walking by in front of my table,
just staring at me.
And I didn't think anything of it until,
a few moments later, I saw the same woman
coming from the opposite direction,
- just staring at me. - (AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
So I looked up and I said, "How do you do?"
And she took one step forward and she said,
"You know, if you dyed your hair black,"
"you would look just like Al Gore."
(ALL LAUGHING)
- And so I said, "Thank you." - (ALL LAUGHING)
And she said, "You sound like him, too."
(ALL LAUGHING)
But anyway...
One of the comedians on TV said recently,
"The way you know global warming is real"
"is if the hottest year ever"
"is the year you're currently in."
Fourteen of the 15 hottest years ever measured
have been since 2001.
The hottest of all was 2016.
This graph shows average temperatures
from 1951 through 1980.
The white are the normal days,
the blue are the cooler-than-average days,
and the red are warmer-than-average days.
And in the 1980s, the entire curve
shifted to the warm side.
And we saw, for the first time,
the appearance of a statistically significant
number of extremely hot days in the lower right.
In the 1990s, the curve shifted further.
And in the last ten years,
the extremely hot days have become more numerous
than the cooler-than-average days.
We still have cool days. We still have cold days.
But these extremely hot days
are becoming much more numerous.
In April of this year, the temperature over Greenland
was much higher than normal.
An engineer on one of the helicopters took a video
during this temperature spike.
Those are parts of the glacier
just exploding with the high temperatures.
(INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS OVER RADIO)
Hey, Eric. How you doing?
RIGNOT: Good to see you again.
So, you see the line on the ridge here?
Yes.
That Grey line is where the ice surface was
back in the '80s.
- Not so long ago. - Not long ago at all.
It's amazing to think that just 30 years ago,
where we are right now,
it was all covered by the big ice sheet.
(RIGNOT SPEAKING)
- GORE: You ready for me? - PERREN: Yeah.
Yeah, I'll hold the ladder.
- Thank you, Bianca. - Yeah, no problem, Al.
STEFFEN: Welcome to Swiss Camp!
(ALL LAUGH)
We have 20 automatic weather stations
measuring the climate.
Swiss Camp is just one of them.
This is the cumulative height change of melt.
GORE: Yes. I see.
STEFFEN: Since 2000 to now, we lost 12 meters
- of ice at that elevation. - GORE: Wow.
That was our former station, level with the surface.
- Yes. - Very deep pillars.
We came back next season.
That's where we are now.
(STEFFEN SPEAKING)
GORE: This is okay here?
- GORE: Around there? - Yes. Yeah.
(STEFFEN SPEAKING)
GORE: That would be a hole you don't
- want to step in, right? - STEFFEN: Yes.
GORE: So, it's going straight down there?
STEFFEN: So the water rushes down.
And since it's heavier than ice,
it pushes its way underneath the ice sheet.
And we can measure how the ice is lifted up
a few millimeters to a centimeter.
And then the ice moves fast and you reduce the friction.
And, in effect, the ice sheet starts speeding up
in its flow toward the ocean.
That's correct.
GORE: So this makes the ice mass
like Swiss cheese.
(LAUGHING)
GORE: It is frustrating that for many years,
I've tried to communicate
that we've got to act on the climate crisis.
But it's not happening fast enough.
If I said there weren't times when
I felt this was
a personal failure on my part, I'd be lying.
So where is all that water going?
I'll tell you where some of it's going.
It's going into the streets of Miami Beach, Florida.
DANIELLE KNOX: High tides continue
to bring a flood of frustration.
SHELDON FOX: Fort Lauderdale gets the award
for the "something you don't see every day" video.
Fish swimming on Cordova Road.
GARY NELSON: Experts say in 30 years or so,
a drive along Ocean Drive could be a drive in the ocean.
Downtown Miami could be awash.
- (GORE SPEAKS) - (MAYOR LEVINE SPEAKS)
(GORE SPEAKING)
LEVINE: We're showing you an area that hasn't been
actually fixed at all, as you can tell.
And then, on Wednesday, we're gonna show you
some of the areas that used to be like this,
but now we raised the road and put in pumps.
We've seen dramatic results. It's so much better.
GORE: So you raised the road with
saltwater-resistant materials?
LEVINE: Yes.
GORE: And what level of sea level rise
is this designed to protect against?
We are building in about a foot of sea level rise.
And I'm sure the projections are gonna continue to move.
Kinda hard to pump the ocean.
CARPENTER: That's why we've got to raise above it.
- Yeah. - LEVINE: Yeah.
Yeah, it's not easy.
It's not easy. This is not a simple fix.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
You can only raise so much
before you change everybody's lives around here.
GORE: Yeah.
MORALES: Scott and I grew up here.
This wasn't the case 40 years ago.
So if anyone wants to argue that it's not happening...
(LAUGHS) It's happening.
It's happening.
GORE: It's coming out of the manholes,
coming out of the drains.
And this is while the pumps
are operating at full capacity.
This is a stopgap measure at best.
Look, it's coming out into the street there.
Well, I've got to go onstage in about 15 minutes.
- So... - MARTIN: Right.
Show me where the new slides are,
and then try to fix these videos.
Put them on a stick, and I'll try
to download them to my computer.
- MARTIN: Okay. - (EXHALES DEEPLY)
I thought those boots were gonna be high enough,
but they weren't.
(SIGHING) All right.
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much.
I am so excited to be here and so excited
that you are here for this training.
I'm a little bit late getting here
because I got up early
and put on some wading boots
and went over to a couple of the streets
that are filled up with water this morning.
Miami, in terms of assets at risk,
is the number one city at risk
in the entire world for sea level rise.
This is a major crisis.
Projected sea level rise in South Florida,
possibly seven feet or more in this century.
By population, the top ten cities at risk:
Kolkata, Mumbai, Dhaka, Guangzhou, China, et cetera.
West Africa. A lot of people at risk there.
And, of course, the low-lying islands,
the Maldives have an enormous amount at risk.
Kiribati has already purchased land
to move its entire population.
And again, this is from the city we're in right now.
I mean, I just wonder how the governor
sloshes through this and says,
"I don't notice anything. Do you notice anything?"
JENNY STALETOVICH: So, Florida... (LAUGHS)
- GORE: Florida. - ... is a challenge, and so...
- GORE: I can confirm that. - Okay. (LAUGHS)
So, that's the big question we have.
I cover the climate,
environmental stuff all the time,
and you have a state with a governor
who wouldn't even meet with scientists
- to talk about climate change. - Yeah.
How do you move forward on it?
In order to address the environmental crisis,
we are gonna have to spend some time
fixing the democracy crisis. (CHUCKLES)
Because big money has so much influence now,
our democracy has been hacked.
Large contributors call the shots.
Have you ever thought about running for office again?
I've used this line before, so forgive me,
but I am a recovering politician.
And the longer I go without a relapse,
the less likely one becomes.
(BOTH CHUCKLE)
HAYES: So, I just wanted to say,
we'll probably do, sort of, three buckets of stuff.
- All right. - So, there's...
- Is one of them climate? - Yes, climate.
- (LAUGHS) - Yes. One of them is climate,
one of them is sort of broadly like how politics
are different now than they were,
- say, 15 years ago. - Sure.
Citizens United...
I'm interested to hear your thoughts on that.
- Okay, yeah. - And then some 2016 stuff.
(CHUCKLES) Okay. But I'm not gonna...
You can decline. I know you're not gonna...
I'm not gonna commit news.
Yes, I know. But I'll try to get you to.
- Okay. - (LAUGHING)
But we will talk about climate?
Yeah, yeah, yeah!
I got to feed the beast, Mr. Vice President.
GORE: Sometimes it seems to me that
the climate crisis is simply not getting the kind of
coverage in the media that it should.
HAYES: You have a Republican Party right now...
Historically large field, right?
There's no one on climate...
GORE: Yeah, it's odd, isn't it?
HAYES: ... in the entire lineup.
Since when did the United States
abandon its traditional world leadership role?
Especially at a time when, just this past week,
the President of China says,
"Okay, we're going to adopt a cap and trade program,"
"and we're reducing our CO2 emissions,"
"and we want to create jobs"
"in solar and wind and efficiency."
This is the most serious
global challenge we've ever faced.
No other country can play the role
that the U.S. can play.
VANESSA HAUC: Do you think that we're reaching
that tipping point to the point that
it's not going to be any more denial?
We are at a turning point.
And we can successfully reach an agreement
in this big global negotiation in Paris
at the end of November
to have a real meaningful turn in the right direction.
At what moment did you decide that you wanted to leave
politics aside and actually move into this, uh,
new career that you have? (CHUCKLES)
Well, to be honest, that decision was one made
by the Supreme Court of the United States.
(BOTH LAUGH)
I enjoyed politics, but this is a mission
that I have dedicated myself to.
And there's a hunger for information
about what's happening, why it's happening,
and how we can fix it.
GORE: I usually start with a black screen.
And, trust me,
after only two or three times through,
you will associate your own way of telling each story
with the picture, and it'll come so easily.
The way the memory works...
GORE: Ten years ago, I made the decision
to launch a training program,
so that anyone who wanted to learn
the skills to communicate to thousands of others
could come and get trained.
... 'Cause really, all we're trying to do
is get the first stage going,
which is just waking people up.
GORE: There were only 50 of them in the beginning.
But I look back on that first training
and it makes me smile,
because they were real pioneers,
in my way of thinking about it.
This is the first picture that any of us ever saw
of the Earth from space.
It was taken on Christmas Eve, 1968,
during the Apollo 8 mission.
And this was the first time that human beings
left near-Earth orbit and went far enough into space
to see the planet whole, floating in the void.
GORE: And I've always started my slide-shows
with those pictures.
When people can see the Earth from space,
they naturally find it easier to feel a connection
to our shared home.
And the last image from the Apollo program,
The Blue Marble,
the one picture of the entire Earth fully illuminated,
completely changed the way people think about the planet.
It energized the modern environmental movement.
I put that picture on my office wall
in the West Wing of the White House,
and I looked at it every day.
I called up NASA and I said,
"Hey, I've been looking at this same picture here,"
"and I'm just wondering if there's another one."
I thought, what if we could have images on a daily basis?
Might that help to build the commitment people have
for saving the climate balance?
And that's when I learned
there's really not another one.
That's what led to the idea of the DSCOVR satellite.
Not only for these pictures, but because of
the amazing scientific data gathering that you can do
from that special point in space.
There was opposition in the Congress.
I was about to run for president,
and that may have had something to do with it.
But once I finally got it approved,
other instruments started being added to it.
And one was the crucial
early-warning device for solar storms
that threaten electric utility grids and pipelines.
And NASA built the satellite, gave it a launch date.
And then after the Supreme Court decision
and the inauguration of Bush and Cheney,
they canceled the satellite launch.
SENATOR MCCONNELM: Please stand for the invocation.
Reverend Graham.
GORE: The new administration,
they didn't really realize they were also canceling
this solar storm early-warning system.
And the businesses that depend on it
started making a lot of noise.
And they proposed to resolve that quandary
by taking all of the climate instruments
and the camera off of the satellite,
replacing them with the equivalent of sandbags
and only leaving the one instrument
that these powerful industries wanted to be put into orbit.
I thought, "Wow, that is extremism."
By the end of it,
this satellite was put in storage.
We had a real opportunity
to start building enough public support
to really get on track to solving the climate crisis.
But we lost that opportunity.
And now, we cannot afford to lose it again.
(CAR DOOR CLOSES)
Okay, Bo.
(BO BARKS)
GORE: This house was my home
when I was growing up as a boy.
My mother and father built it.
LBJ came to this farm.
He fell out with my dad when my dad became one of
the leading opponents of the Vietnam War,
but they served in the Senate together a long time.
Here's a picture of my dad doing Meet the Press, and...
Then, many years later, me doing Meet the Press.
Here's a, uh,
handwritten note that my second-oldest daughter,
Kristin, wrote back in 1987,
when we had a family meeting to go over
whether or not I should run for President.
It's divided into good parts and bad parts. (CHUCKLES)
"Number 1: Wants to do it."
"Number 2: Has a good chance."
"Number 3: A lot of people"
"who know the other candidates don't like them."
Um...
"He might get elected."
"It would be a good time to run things."
"He thinks he could solve problems."
"The bad points. Number 1: He would not be here a lot."
"Number 2: Uh... "
"It would be hard to get more publicity"
"than some of the others."
"Number 3:"
"Would not like to have Social Security around all the time."
(CHUCKLING)
Meaning the Secret Service, of course.
GORE: Just moments ago, I spoke with George W. Bush
and congratulated him on becoming
the 43rd President of the United States.
Neither he nor I anticipated this long and difficult road.
Let there be no doubt
while I strongly disagree with the court's decision,
I accept it.
I accept the finality of this outcome,
which will be ratified next Monday
in the Electoral College.
And tonight, for the sake of our unity as a people
and the strength of our democracy,
I offer my concession.
(CAMERA CLICKING)
GORE: I had a detailed plan for my life.
But it turned out that life had a different plan for me.
You know, anybody who decides to be a part of
helping to solve the climate crisis has
a constant struggle between hope and despair.
Uh, and so when you see these slides about
all the damage that's being done, hang on,
because hope is coming. Don't sink too low!
Despair can be paralyzing.
But we're building up speed and we're seeing
a tremendous amount of positive change
that gives me the optimism that I feel about this.
Let me give you some exciting examples. Look at wind.
One day this month,
Scotland got 100% of its electricity from wind.
In Portugal, they had four days straight
last May on renewable energy alone.
And on a global basis, wind alone can supply
40 times the entire global demand for energy.
But let's look at solar.
This, to me, is the most exciting new development.
Fourteen years ago the best projections available
were that we would be able to install worldwide
one gigawatt of solar electricity per year.
Well, when 2010 arrived,
we beat that goal by 17 times over.
Last year, we beat that goal 58 times over.
This year, we're on track to beat that goal 73 times over.
This is an exponential curve, and it is astonishing!
And it continues to go up at a steeper rate
because the cost of silicon solar cells
continues to go down.
I wish that every state would encourage solar.
Including Florida.
You know, Florida's called the Sunshine State?
The head of the second-biggest fossil fuel utility there
was actually quoted as saying,
"Yes, we're the Sunshine State,"
"but, remember, we're also the partly cloudy state."
And they have lobbied the state legislature
to basically make it illegal
to lease a solar panel for your rooftop from anybody
but the fossil fuel-burning utility!
And they're trying to use their legacy political power
to bend the politicians to their will.
What the public wants doesn't seem to matter.
It's pathetic!
BILL O'REILLY: In Campaign 2016 segment tonight,
an interview with Donald Trump.
TRUMP: Not a believer in global warming.
Obama thinks it's the number one problem
of the world today,
and I think it's very low on the list.
O'REILLY: If you were President,
would you invest a lot of money in
alternative energy to get away from fossil fuels?
TRUMP: Now solar always sounds better than it is.
You know, you get your money back in 36 years.
The problem is the panels
destroy themselves after ten years.
... you know, one of the top, top professors at MIT.
- (KNOCK AT DOOR) - GORE: Hey!
Hey, Mr. Vice President, thank you so much for coming.
GORE: Thank you.
ERIC SCHNEIDERMAN: So, we're in relatively early stages
of the investigation, but
some of these companies and the denial organizations
and groups like the American Petroleum Institute
have been actively seeking to distort the market,
to suppress investment in renewables
through this relatively new line of propaganda,
which is,
"Even if everything"
"Al Gore's been saying since the '80s is true,"
"it's gonna cost so much money,"
"it's gonna cripple the economy."
It's an insidious theme that we've seen before,
but it's coming back with a new force.
And I think that
this is something we're focusing on very intently.
We want to know who the groups are who are doing this,
what is their analysis, what's the science,
and what are the government actions that are being taken?
Assuming for the moment
that the facts prove that's what they did,
that's a violation of the law, isn't it?
That's consumer and securities fraud.
But it's clear that what they've done is
essentially tried to cripple
our ability, mankind's ability,
to respond to this existential threat.
(WHIRRING)
GORE: A few days ago,
the Attorney General of the State of New York
launched an investigation of Exxon-Mobil
for fraud and funneling money to this new form of denial
where people are out there minimizing solar, saying,
"It's not going anywhere.
"Why are you wasting your time on this?" Et cetera.
Utility monopolies really, really fear disruption,
and have woken up and said,
"Wow, this solar thing,"
"I need to crush it before it kills me."
The last two weeks, we had 55,000 people
sign up in Nevada to say, you know,
"I want choice, I want energy freedom."
RIVE: What happened in Nevada
will send a massive message to the rest of the country.
GORE: Yeah, I think so. Yeah.
(PEOPLE CHEERING)
GORE: Thank you. Will there be bumps in the road?
You bet there will be.
But, at the end of the day,
you really are on the front lines.
On the rooftops, if you will.
And we're seeing this play out in every part of the world.
We've had 150 years of burning fossil fuels
with the many blessings, poverty's gone down,
living standards have increased.
So naturally, there still are some people that say,
"Well, we just have to keep relying on oil and gas"
"and even coal."
But it is worth pointing out that in northern China,
life expectancy has gone down five and a half years
because of air pollution.
And in Beijing, the mayor said,
"My city is not livable."
But in many parts of China
it is already cheaper to get electricity
from solar and wind.
So this is the time when your presentations
can provide support for your government's determination
to do even better with renewable energy.
Fine. How are you?
GORE: There are so many commitments
that governments are thinking about making right now
for hundreds of new coal plants.
Even as the revolutionary drop in cost from renewables
is picking up speed.
China's one of these countries.
And there are numbers of others. India, others.
Unfortunately, they've looked at the price of coal.
They see the price low,
and they feel they're compelled
therefore to try to provide for their people.
So if India proceeds to build the number of plants
it is currently planning, and they are coal fired,
it can erase everything everybody else
is trying to do in terms of reductions.
We've got to figure out a way to crack that nut.
KERRY: Absolutely.
MAIREAD DUNAS: Now, climate change is high
on world leaders' agendas.
And that's because the crucial U.N. talks in Paris
start in less than two months,
when the world gets together to try to agree
on a global deal.
One of the sticking points remains financing.
GORE: My agenda is dominated right now
by the preparations for the climate conference in Paris.
The world's been preparing for it a long time.
And the main objective is to speed up
the transition to renewable energy,
so that the entire world
can bring down the pollution levels
while continuing to reduce poverty.
But there is still a big divide
between rich countries and poor countries.
GORE: So, thank you for arranging this,
and for the privilege of talking with you.
As you know, I have this passion for
solving the climate crisis that goes back 40 years. And...
Because I have studied it so closely, I'm hoping that
the United States and India will accelerate
our transitions to renewable energy together.
India has always looked at the United States
as a valuable partner.
But sadly, the Western world, the developed world
does not seem to be coming forth with
significant amounts of support.
And seems to be creating more impediments.
All this talk about supporting climate change
seems to be only talk,
and there's hardly any action on that.
- GORE: In the U.S.? - Yeah, from the U.S.
GORE: (STAMMERS) I don't think it's fair,
with all due respect, if you may?
- GOYAM: Sure, please. - Well, in the U.S.
in calendar year, uh, 2015,
if you look at the investments in the U.S.
in the building of new, uh, electric generating capacity,
three-quarters is from solar and wind.
- May I respond to that? - Yes. Please.
I'll do the same thing after 150 years.
After I've used my coal.
After I've got my people jobs.
After I've created my infrastructure
and highways and roads.
When I have technology.
When my people earn
$50,000 -$70,000 per capita income,
using low-cost fossil fuels-based energy.
The way the United States did for 150 years.
It's very easy to say now that,
"Oh, we are not using coal!"
What about in the past?
So I'm only asking for that carbon space
which you utilized for 150 years.
GORE: My point is not to deny your right
to make your own choices as to what kind of energy you want.
Obviously you have that right.
But what I am saying,
when is the sun coming up today?
I don't see it anywhere.
I don't see the blue sky.
GORE: When any of us walk outside
and look up at the sky,
our natural impression is
that the sky looks like it's a vast and limitless expanse.
Goes on forever.
Actually, the atmosphere of the Earth
is a very thin shell surrounding the planet.
And, of course, right now
we are putting 110 million tons
of heat-trapping global-warming pollution
into that space every single day.
We're using this as an open sewer
for all of the gaseous waste in our global civilization.
Agriculture is a big cause of it.
Burning of forests and burning of cropland.
But still, the main part of the problem
is the emission of carbon dioxide
from the burning of coal, oil, and gas.
And that builds up heat energy and raises temperatures.
India just set their all-time high temperature
record in May. 123.8 degrees Fahrenheit.
The streets are melting.
We have built a civilization for conditions
that we are now in the process of radically changing.
All-time records have been broken this year
in Thailand and Cambodia and Laos.
In Pakistan, over 1,200 people died in the heat wave there.
This year, they have dug anticipatory mass graves
for the people they fear will die
in this year's heat waves.
And we're seeing that the higher temperatures
are shifting the balance between microbes
and human beings.
The transportation revolution has a lot to do with this.
Air travel.
But the climate conditions have a big impact on that.
Let's look at Zika.
Here is the range of the one mosquito
that they're most worried about.
And warmer conditions
increase that range considerably.
But here is the kicker on this.
It's not just the mosquito, it's the virus.
And the warmer temperatures speed up
the incubation rate inside the mosquito.
So we get an explosion in the number of cases.
And now it's spread to Miami, Florida.
And for the first time in history,
pregnant women have been advised
not to go to part of the United States of America.
In many areas of
Central America and South America,
the doctors are delivering a message
that I've never heard in my life.
They're telling women, "Don't get pregnant"
"for two years, while we try to get a handle on this."
That's something new in the history of the human race.
How long can we just sit back and say,
"Oh, well, maybe some genius will think up some miracle"?
I'm sorry, I'm getting all, um,
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
fired up here.
(AUDIENCE CHEERING)
But let's step back and take a global view
of the increasing temperatures and the extra heat energy.
93% of all this heat energy is going into the oceans.
And it has several consequences.
A direct consequence is
that when ocean-based storms cross much warmer ocean waters
the storms get stronger and more destructive.
Just a few years ago
Super-storm Sandy in the Atlantic
crossed areas of the ocean 9 degrees Fahrenheit
warmer than normal.
And it caused tremendous destruction
in New Jersey and in New York.
And, by the way, ten years ago,
when the movie An Inconvenient Truth
came out, the single most criticized scene in that movie
was an animated scene showing
that the combination of sea level rise and storm surge
would put the ocean water into the 9/11 memorial site,
which was then under construction.
And people said,
"That's ridiculous. What a terrible exaggeration!"
DIANE SAWYER: Something happened last night
at one of the most iconic locations in New York
the World Trade Center, Ground Zero.
A flood of water with a current so strong
it flooded the reconstruction.
ANDREW CUOMO: There is a wake-up call here,
and that is climate change and our vulnerability to it.
It was true ten years ago, it was true five years ago.
It is undeniable today.
Years before,
the scientists predicted that this would happen.
One year later,
in the Philippines, Super Typhoon Haiyan
crossed areas of the Pacific
three degrees Celsius warmer than normal.
And it became
the strongest and most destructive ocean-based storm
ever to make landfall.
Uh, in the city of Tacloban and nearby areas
there were 4.1 million climate refugees.
Thousands of people were killed.
CRISTINA ROMUALDEZ: Even just remembering it now,
after more than two years,
just remembering the sound of the wind.
(WIND HOWLING)
ALFRED ROMUALDEZ: And then the water came after.
Like a wall of water just rushing in.
That's why we had to climb to the roof.
In fact, I was shouting, giving them orders
"Break that ceiling, we've gotta"
"get out of here and we've gotta climb up."
(PEOPLE WHIMPERING)
If we went to any other place, we would have died.
Because that had a concrete structure,
and that's where we were able to climb up.
JOHN LEONARD CHAN: People are running, are crying
because they don't know what happened to their family.
We see a lot of dead people.
I saw Sir Alfred helping...
Helping, uh, the other people to, to...
What do you call this? To...
- GORE: Recover the bodies? - To recover the bodies.
Then...
Sorry. (SOBBING)
GORE: No, that's okay. It's okay.
Thank God you're safe.
Actually, sir, I am so scared
when I'm telling this to my friend...
It brings it back, doesn't it?
Yes, sir. I felt so, so scared.
GORE: When Tacloban was hit,
I knew that I wanted to organize a training here
in the Philippines
to meet face-to-face with the people
who were on the front lines of this and empower them
to translate an excruciatingly painful experience
into a focus on changing policy,
confronting public officials.
I don't know any other way to do it.
GORE: The loss of life was very tragic.
What a blessing it was that Pope Francis came to Tacloban
to the ground zero of that tragedy,
and delivered a very powerful message that
"the gravest effects of the climate crisis"
"are visited upon the poorest people."
This is true everywhere in the world.
Now, the second order consequences
of the warming oceans
include some that we're all experiencing
on a regular basis now.
When the temperature goes up,
the water vapor coming off the oceans
into the sky is increasing significantly.
This means that every storm is different now
because it takes place in a warmer and wetter world.
Water vapor is often funneled
thousands of kilometers from the oceans over the land,
and then much more of it falls at the same time.
Look at this downpour that hit Tucson, Arizona,
and watch the water splash off the city.
They're now calling these things "rain bombs."
Houston's been hit between May of last year
and May of this year.
Two 1-in-500-year floods and one 1-in-1,000-year downpour.
Now, that's unusual. Almost Noah-like.
This was in Spain last fall.
In Chile, last year. Epic event.
And now, today,
there are water rescues underway
in southeast Louisiana.
RESCUER: Give me a knife, give me a knife.
Now, the same heat
that is bringing all that water vapor off the oceans
is sucking the soil moisture out of the ground.
And it's making the droughts deeper and longer.
In China, in Vietnam, in Thailand,
and all around the world.
And where there is drought,
the vegetation dries out
and the fires increase.
Every night on the evening news is like a nature hike
through the Book of Revelations.
But the dots are very seldom connected in the media.
This is global warming.
When we have scientists tell us the dots connect,
we need to have in our democracy a conversation
about cause and effect.
Let's look, for example,
at the story of what has happened in Syria.
From 2006 to 2010,
they had a record-breaking drought.
This farmer is one of many who lost his farm.
60% of all the farms in Syria were destroyed.
80% of all their livestock were killed.
FRANCESCO FEMIA: A climate-exacerbated drought
during that period contributed
to the displacement of about 2 million people
before the conflict broke out.
GORE: Yes, many other causes.
The dictator there is a bad guy,
it's a multi-sided civil war, and all of the rest.
But this drought is the worst in at least 900 years.
As far back as the records go.
It is unprecedented!
- (GUNFIRE) - FEMIA: And, of course,
since then the country has been plunged
into horrific civil war.
GORE: The next generation,
if they live in a world
of floods and storms and rising seas
and droughts and refugees by the millions
escaping unlivable conditions,
destabilizing countries around the world,
they would be well-justified
in looking back at us and asking,
"What were you thinking?"
"Couldn't you hear what the scientists were saying?"
"Couldn't you hear what Mother Nature was screaming at you?"
AFP REPORTER: Um, so, first off, Mr. Gore...
Tell us why you're here. What's going on today?
GORE: This is a 24-hour global broadcast
that is covered live in every nation
around the world.
And we are attempting to further mobilize
people in every nation
to support even more ambitious outcomes
in the negotiation that will take place here in Paris
just two weeks from now.
We are on air in four minutes, please!
Rio, are you there?
CHAMPION: Mr. Vice President, welcome to the stage.
GORE: Thank you very much
and welcome, everyone, to this global broadcast.
So, as I stand here today,
now just two weeks from the opening of
the United Nations Conference
on Climate Change here in Paris,
what we need now is for people
all over the world to speak out.
And that's what the next 24 hours are all about.
(SAMAH SOULA SPEAKING FRENCH)
(ANNE HIDALGO SPEAKING FRENCH)
Stand by. We're gonna come to the toss.
We're on you. Go.
GREEN: We've got to say to Mr. Gore
we'll cut this short to get to Pharrell.
I'll get it settled. Just don't do anything rash.
Can we cut it down? Can we take it out early?
(SIREN WAILING)
GREEN: They've asked us to bring your car over
by the trailer just in case
we need to get you out of here.
Okay. Is it terrorist related?
They don't know yet.
Probably, because there's several shootings
around Paris.
There's several dead people.
And, uh, so it's pretty sure it's terrorism.
GORE: "Police officials in France say"
"there's been an explosion in a bar"
"near a Paris stadium"
"and a shootout in a Paris restaurant."
"President Hollande evacuated from Stade de France."
MCMANUS: And there are apparently
18 dead, and AFP is reporting hostages at the concert hall.
- GORE: Hostages? - Yes.
That's all coming from police.
Wow.
(SIRENS WAILING)
(GUNS FIRING)
WOLF BLITZER: Paris terror fear.
Multiple people are reported killed in a shooting.
There's also word of possible explosions...
MEGYN KELLY: Paris is under an effective police state.
A curfew is in effect.
BRIAN ROSS: Police don't seem to have a full handle
- exactly what's going on. - (MCMANUS SIGHS)
But this is exactly the kind of terror scenario
that the U.S. has long feared.
GORE: Okay.
Before I go on to make my statement,
I just want to say something.
Those of us who are Americans stand with you.
We express our heartfelt condolences
for the tragedy here in the city and in your country.
This scourge of terrorism in our world...
Um...
(SIGHS HEAVILY)
We have to defeat this.
But we have to defeat it not only with force of arms,
but with the force of our values.
Caring about the future
and doing what the world needs to do.
But, for now, I just wanted to
say to all of you,
especially those of you from France,
what's in my heart is in the hearts
of all the Americans here who
love you and care about you and stand with you.
Ladies and gentlemen,
we are suspending our broadcast
because of the tragedies that have unfolded here.
(MELANCHOLY MUSIC PLAYING)
GORE: The fact that those
terrible attacks took place in the city
where the climate conference was about to begin
caused many to connect these two events
at a deep level that is difficult
to articulate in words.
There have been
so many times when big setbacks have tempted me
to deep despair.
But if I can draw upon my faith tradition,
God said, "I lay before you"
"a choice between life and death."
"Therefore, choose life."
(CROWD CHANTING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
BARACK OBAMA: We have come to Paris
to show our resolve.
We offer our condolences, and we salute
the people of Paris for insisting
this crucial conference go on.
REMENGESAU: To show the world
we are a global family
in solidarity with the French people.
IOHANNIS: On behalf of the Romanian people,
our deepest sympathies.
EBTEKAR: We show our sympathy
and solidarity with the government
and people of France.
(CARS HONKING)
GORE: Is there a subway stop near here
where we could take the subway?
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
GAUDET: All right, so...
AIDE: Okay. And I'll meet you at Le Bourget?
Yeah, we'll meet you at Le Bourget. Let's go.
- (SPEAKS FRENCH) - (YOUNG MAN SPEAKING)
HALM: Great. Welcome.
YOUNG MAN: Yeah, yeah.
No. Not anymore.
(SECURITY GUARD SPEAKING FRENCH)
I wish you were elected president.
I wish I could call you Mr. President.
(CAMERA CLICKS)
- Thank you. All right. - Thank you, thank you.
Thank you.
Okay. All right, nice to meet you.
Oh, thank you!
TRUDEAU: Mr. Vice President.
- Good to see you again. - Congratulations in person.
Thank you very much, sir.
And thanks for the change you're bringing about.
- Good luck to you. - I appreciate that.
It's Canadians, not me, but thank you.
(LAUGHS) All right.
TRUDEAU: To the development of a low-carbon economy,
our government is making climate change a top priority.
(VLADIMIR PUTIN SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
(ANGELA MERKEL SPEAKING GERMAN)
(XI JINPING SPEAKING MANDARIN)
Never before has a responsibility so great
been in the hands of so few.
GORE: One of the secrets of the human condition
is that suffering binds us together.
Those 150 heads of state
were moved to speak
in ways I don't think they otherwise would have.
Every one of them began
with, first, condolences, and then solidarity.
And when they turned, in the next paragraph,
to their hopes for the conference,
they could not help but say
this is an opportunity
for us to make that solidarity tangible and real.
PRESIDENT: I now give the floor to
Mr. Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India.
Democratic India
must grow rapidly
to meet the aspirations
of 1.25 billion people, 300 million of whom
are without access to energy.
Energy is a basic human need.
And there should be no place
for unilateral steps
that become economic barriers for others.
So, we still need conventional energy,
fossil fuel.
And anything else
will be morally wrong.
Thank you.
(APPLAUSE ON VIDEO)
GORE: Hmm.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER ON VIDEO)
GORE: You know, I've been to all of these different
climate conferences since 1992.
GORE: We parliamentarians have an obligation
to accelerate the movement
toward meaningful changes in policies
in every nation on the face of this Earth
to stop the destruction of the global ecological system.
(APPLAUSE)
It began with a great deal of optimism in Rio...
Hello, Mr. Prime Minister.
GORE: ... but it soon bogged down.
GEORGE W. BUSH: The process used to bring nations together
to discuss our joint response to climate change
is an important one.
But a growing population requires more energy
to heat and cool our homes.
More gas to drive our cars.
GORE: For all that time, the world has struggled
- to get its act together... - MAN: Oh! Hey!
... and connect the science to the policy.
There's no deal. It's closed down.
Good morning.
GORE: But, for me, the last 20 years
was a very painful experience.
SALERNO: We're not going to recognize it.
We don't want to discuss it.
(CAMERAS CLICKING)
GORE: Painful not only because
of the lack of a favorable outcome,
but also because there was
no way in to really
take hold of the process and say,
"Okay, let me help you here."
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
GORE: I was relieved when I got to Paris because
there were influential men and women
from countries around the world,
some who'd been through my training program...
... and who asked me to help in the process.
Thank you.
- There's the boss. - Hey!
How are you, dear?
- Good to see you. - Good to see you.
You ready for me?
I was in India earlier this year, and...
I think that the emergence of solar electricity
as a competitive viable option,
it opens up a pathway
that justifies realistic hope.
But, you know, I do think that India,
well, Prime Minister Modi,
has been very, very clear that their concern is
not just the existence of technology,
but their access to that technology.
So... With what trust do they let go
of the whole fossil fuel development model
that has been paraded in front of them for 150 years,
and now we're saying,
"Excuse me, this parade, it's done."
"Now we have to build a different parade for you."
It would be most helpful if that focus on renewables
can be seen from the developing
- country's perspective. - Yeah.
But is that something that you could
devote some time to while you're here?
GORE: Of course.
I'm trying to solve
an Indian problem, first and foremost.
Their plan is to build 400
new dirty coal plants.
Uh, and that's a disaster.
When India goes to borrow money
to build solar farms or wind farms,
they have to pay 13% plus an FX uncertainty.
And that is manifestly absurd.
Hey, Ben.
- Hey, Cory. - Very good to see you.
Hey, Ed. How are you?
SEN. MERKLEY: The challenge for us
is to find a way to make renewables as cheap as coal,
and then partner with them
so that we don't build this huge infrastructure
that will continue to provide
more carbon dioxide decades in the future.
GORE: India has this plan, 200 gigawatts of coal.
I met with their energy
and power minister, Piyush Goyal, in Delhi.
I asked, what would it take to shift
another 100 gigawatts
from coal to renewables?
His answer was incredibly specific.
Access to credit.
And, of course, with the future of human civilization
in the balance, we should probably
- ratchet that up a little bit. - Wow.
JOHN KERRY: More than 65%
of the world's carbon pollution
comes from the developing world.
Now, we're not pointing fingers.
This isn't a question of blame.
But we're here to change it.
(CROWD CHANTING IN FRENCH)
NARAIN: The reason that talks are stalled?
Because the U.S. government
put countries like India as culprits,
as criminals, climate criminals.
And I don't think the U.S.
should be allowed to get away with that.
GORE: Fabius has asked for an urgent meeting, one on one.
They're getting frustrated
at the pace of the negotiations.
The long-term goal?
GORE: You spend a lot of time each year in India.
So my narrow interest is a way around
these high interest rates that
the Indians are so concerned about
in deploying solar and wind.
But we're not gonna sort that out
in the next couple of days.
Yeah.
(THUNDER RUMBLING)
SUMNIMA UDAS: The overnight deluge
of some 300 millimeters of rain
in a span of 18 hours has wreaked havoc.
MALE REPORTER: The news is that it's only gonna get worse
and the flood waters are rising.
UDAS: India's fourth-largest city
was paralyzed by the heaviest rains
in more than a hundred years,
which cut off more than three million people
from basic services for days.
(INDISTINCT SHOUTING)
GORE: It's amazing that while we're here
and India is a holdout, they're having this.
KARENNA: Part of their thing is that they need more money
to deal with it, right?
So the sticking point is also on that side in terms of
developed countries not wanting to give that money.
- Yeah, yeah. - Yes.
GORE: During the days that we are here
in this conference,
we have seen a repeat of the pattern of more floods
and landslides.
Indeed today, in Chennai, these events continue.
They have had 1,500 millimeters of rain
in the last several weeks alone.
Five feet of rain.
The number of people who have been killed
is in the hundreds.
Tens of thousands have been relocated.
This is not the first time this has happened.
Every storm is different now
because of the climate crisis.
Prime Minister Modi went from Paris back to Tamil Nadu
and said, "We are feeling climate change's"
"fast-growing impact now."
No, no, it's all right.
I'm sorry to call you on a Saturday evening.
So, the other sticking point
is, um, you know, credit
at a sufficiently low interest rate
to allow India to borrow.
Uh, and...
But that's a separate issue.
So, here is the idea that I had.
Elon has a record of giving up IP
on some of the core aspects in Tesla.
You know, you take it and do what you can with it.
I talked to President Hollande about it also.
I didn't mention the company,
uh, but I mentioned the general idea.
Hollande and Ban Ki-moon,
and I'm sure, at least
at the ministerial level, with India,
we could have, uh, you know,
halo equity for SolarCity that would be incredible.
But before I call Lyndon or Elon,
I wanted to run it by you.
Yeah, would you, please?
And also send me Lyndon's cell phone if you have it.
(LINE RINGING)
Lyndon?
Hi, it's Al Gore.
I have a big idea for you.
SolarCity could be
the corporate hero of Paris
by announcing that it will give
the technology to the new world-champion
solar cell
to India.
(INDISTINCT)
Well, here's the logic for it, Lyndon.
The big holdout here in the negotiations is India.
Yeah, but that's up to them, okay?
That's up to them.
I'm talking about breaking the impasse
and getting them over the hump.
Give it some thought, my friend.
Bye.
So he swallowed hard and said,
"Ugh, I might have to think about that."
(CHUCKLES)
We'll see.
LUCY AHARISH: It's crunch time
at the climate change conference in Paris.
With a deadline
for a deal fast approaching, it's clear that...
NAHLAH AYED: There's still some really tough
negotiations going on
among developed and developing nations.
There is an argument about who's responsible
for climate change,
who should pay for the consequences.
O'REILLY: What do you think of the global warming summit
in Paris this week?
TRUMP: I think it's ridiculous.
We have bigger problems right now.
To have the President be there for an extended
period of time talking about
global warming being the biggest problem
facing this country is insane.
He ought to get back to work and solve the ISIS problem.
(LINE RINGING)
GORE: So, Mr. Minister,
John Kerry asked me to talk with you
and explain some of the details
on this extraordinary gift
being proposed by, uh,
the premier solar energy company
in the United States.
Give me the, uh, material.
"It's a hybrid poly-silicon... "
And this is, uh...
It is a "silicon-based bi-facial PV cell"
"that combines n-type substrates,"
"copper electrodes,"
"thin-film passivation layers"
"and a tunneling oxide layer"
"that yields high conversion efficiencies."
And if, in return for this,
India remove its potential
objections to the climate treaty,
then he said SolarCity would be willing to do this.
GORE: Is there any precedent for a technology
transfer to happen so quickly?
Well, you all know about computer chips,
but let's take a more mundane example.
Uh, cell phones.
Back around 1980,
I was in the House of Representatives,
and I was so excited to buy
one of the very first mobile phones.
Honestly, I felt that thing was so cool.
(AUDIENCE LAUGHS)
And now there are more mobile phones
than there are people in the world.
Most of it in developing countries
that had no landline telephone grid.
And so they could leapfrog
and get telephone service for the first time.
Well, guess what?
There are a lot of countries
where the landline electricity grids
are not so great.
In Africa. In the Indian subcontinent.
Now we're seeing this instead:
Solar panels.
This one in Africa's on the roof of a grass hut.
Parents want their children to have access
to the universe of information.
Chile. A developing country, but it has great policy.
You talk about excitement, this story gets me excited.
At the end of 2013, they had 11 megawatts of solar.
By the end of 2014, more than 400 megawatts.
By the end of last year, more than 800 megawatts.
So look at what they have under construction this year
and under contract to soon begin construction.
(AUDIENCE CHEERING)
Isn't that great? I love this.
13.3 gigawatts!
And there are other countries and many regions in the world
that are poised for this kind of breakout.
We are seeing a real turning here.
On a global basis,
the world gets more energy from the sun each hour
than the entire global economy
uses for an entire year.
If we increase the fraction of that
that we harvest and use productively,
then we can solve that part of the climate crisis.
BAHAR DUTT: There's been a lot of discussion
between India and U.S.
We know that President Obama
did make a call to Prime Minister Modi.
What the outcomes were of those talks,
we don't know yet.
What we do know is John Kerry
has been having repeated discussion.
There was a one-hour meeting today
with the environment minister.
How all this translates into India's concerns
being met still remains to be seen.
REPORTER: Do we have a deal, Mr. President?
Do we have a deal?
(INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS)
JAVADEKAR: Today is a historic day.
We have, in the spirit of compromise,
agreed on a number of phrases.
And we have not only
an agreement, but we have written
a new chapter of hope
in the lives of seven billion people on the planet.
We hope
that Paris will reassure this future generation
that we all together will mitigate
the challenge posed by climate change,
and we will give them a better Earth.
Thank you. Merci beaucoup.
L'accord de Paris pour Le climat est accept�.
(AUDIENCE CHEERING)
(ALL CHEERING)
FIGUERES: We started this COP commemorating
those fallen in tragic deaths.
We end this COP celebrating
a new chapter of hope for the world.
(ALL CHEERING)
This is exciting. It's very exciting.
GORE: Yes, thank you, sir.
GORE: Thank you. I'm glad it helped.
GORE: The Paris Agreement would not have happened
without President Obama,
Secretary of State John Kerry,
President Hollande of France.
Without a lot of people who worked hard on that.
Virtually every nation in the entire world agreed
to get to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions
as early in the second half of this century as possible.
This sends a signal to markets,
sends a signal to investors.
And it resulted
in the largest solar loan in the history of the world
to help India move forward more quickly
in its installation of solar.
It needs continuing work.
And one of the reasons your role is so important
is to hold them to what they've agreed to
and to keep the pressure on.
Because even with all the agreements
put together, it's still not enough.
But the basis is there to ramp up
and make more progress.
There are cities in the U.S. that have already
reached the goal of 100% renewable energy.
Rock Port, Missouri. Greensburg, Kansas.
They were destroyed by an F5 tornado,
and when they built back, they say, "Hey",
"let's go 100% renewable," and they have.
Right here in Houston,
the home of the global oil and gas industry,
you'll hear a lot of people say,
"Wind and solar's nice,"
"but it won't really lead anywhere."
And a lot of people are now saying
that is a strange new form of denial.
But look at what's happening in Georgetown, Texas.
Howdy!
MAYOR ROSS: Howdy, Mr. Vice President Gore.
How are you, Mr. Mayor?
Welcome to the greatest city on Planet Earth.
Spoken like a good mayor.
(ALL LAUGHING)
- Can I have one? - Oh, sure.
I know they're for kids.
So, how long have you been mayor?
ROSS: I have been mayor for two years.
This green energy initiative started
when I was on council in 2008.
I remember that. Mmm-hmm.
And the direction that we gave to Chris
and crew was, in 2008, we said
by 2030 we want our energy portfolio
- to be 30% renewable energy. - Yeah.
Well, they've sort of blown by that.
That was ambitious at that time, anyway.
It was! Absolutely.
Currently we're 90% renewable energy.
We're getting our wind out of Amarillo.
Our solar farm's being built out in west Texas.
It should be up and running next spring.
GORE: Oh.
And currently, we will be the first city in Texas
to be 100% renewable.
And when we go 100% renewable,
we will be the largest city in the country
that's renewable energy at 100%.
So, I assume that the reason you did this
is that the two of you are just rabid environmentalists.
Well, not exactly, because,
um, you're in Georgetown,
which is the reddest city
in the reddest county in Texas,
and I'm a conservative Republican.
- (LAUGHS) Yeah. - Okay.
But our duty to our ratepayers is to provide them
with the lowest possible utility cost.
And money talks.
But then, wouldn't it just make sense
from a common-sense standpoint,
the less stuff you put in the air, the better it is?
- Yeah. - I mean, common sense.
You don't need scientists to debate that.
- Can I use that line? - You absolutely can.
(GORE LAUGHS)
ROSS: Hey, let me tell you what.
You would be the sport of all sports
if somebody could get a picture of me
and Mr. Vice President?
That's just for personal use, right?
Oh, yeah.
- All right, here we go. - Come on.
Here's your camera right there.
Now, this is not an endorsement,
as you can well imagine.
GORE: Hi, how are you?
Hi, Beth Wade, Community Impact newspaper.
Pleasure. Pleasure.
You think this city can be a trailblazer
for other cities of like size?
GORE: Definitely.
Now, not every city has a CPA as a mayor,
so that's another advantage for you.
(ALL LAUGHING)
But when other cities really look at the facts,
I think you're gonna see a massive wave
switching over to
pollution-free renewable energy.
Well, what we always say is,
don't we have a moral and ethical obligation
to leave the planet better than we found it?
You better be careful talking like that.
(ALL LAUGHING)
LAUNCH TECH: T-minus 10, 9, 8,
7, 6, 5,
4, 3, 2, 1,
0.
- Liftoff of the Falcon 9. - (ROCKET RUMBLING)
Falcon 9 has cleared the towers.
(LAUNCH TECH SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)
LAUNCH REPORTER: The Falcon takes flight,
propelling the Deep Space Climate Observatory DSCOVR
on a million-mile journey to protect our Planet Earth.
GORE: When President Obama was elected,
I went to see him and
told him the story of the DSCOVR satellite and
how it was canceled.
And he allocated the money, and it finally got launched.
LAUNCH REPORTER: Second stage engine
ignition
- has occurred on time. - (ALL CHEERING)
GORE: Remember, when I mentioned the Blue Marble,
it was the only photograph of its kind.
But here's one from the first week
of last December.
(AUDIENCE GASPING)
This was taken by a brand-new
NASA and NOAA satellite called DSCOVR
that orbits the sun along with the Earth
and the scientists are learning so much.
For example, for the first time
they're learning about
the real energy balance of the Earth.
Energy in and energy out.
Don't let anybody tell you
that we're gonna get on rocket ships and go to
Mars and live in hermetically sealed buildings.
We couldn't even evacuate the city of New Orleans
when the hurricane hit there.
This is our home.
(SHIP HORN BLOWING)
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Delegates at the United Nations
Climate Summit are expressing panic
over Tuesday's election results,
saying President-elect Donald Trump
may threaten the future of any international agreement
to slow catastrophic climate change.
Trump has said he will "cancel the Paris Climate Agreement"
and also promised to promote coal power and fracking,
and says he will allow
for oil and gas drilling on federal land.
GORE: A famous boxer once said,
"Everybody has a plan"
"until he gets punched in the face."
RENE MARSH: Days into his presidency,
Donald Trump is sending chills down the spines
of environmentalists and some EPA employees.
This trifecta of cabinet appointments,
all staunch fossil fuel supporters
who've expressed doubts
about the urgency of climate change.
GORE: For all the years I've been involved
in this struggle, there have been lots of setbacks.
So now we have another one.
(CAMERAS CLICKING)
With all these new threats,
there's never been a more important time
to speak truth to power.
(INHALES DEEPLY)
I do my best
to speak for
the public interest in solving the climate crisis.
Even though it sounds a little highfalutin,
I try to answer to the truth of what needs to be done.
And each of us, in our own ways,
has the obligation and some ability
to feel what is more likely to be true than not.
And if you work hard enough
to get the best available evidence,
you can feel if you're onto what the right thing is.
And that's not arrogance, that's just a feeling that
I think everybody is familiar with.
And I've been working on this issue
long enough that I feel very,
very deeply about what the right thing is.
I'm not confused about it.
GORE: I remember vividly
when the Civil Rights Movement first began to
pick up steam.
We saw Bull Connor turning fire hoses
on young African-American kids,
and we asked the older generation
why it's just and fair to have laws
that discriminate on the basis of skin color.
And when they couldn't answer that question,
the laws began to change.
This movement to solve the climate crisis
is in the tradition of every great moral movement
that has advanced the cause of humankind.
And every single one of them
has met with resistance to the point
where many of the advocates felt despair
and wondered, "How long is this gonna take?"
Martin Luther King famously answered a question during
some of the bleakest hours of the Civil Rights Movement,
when someone asked, "How long is this gonna take?"
He said, "How long? Not long."
"Because no lie can live forever."
"How long? Not long."
"Because the moral arc of the universe is long,"
"but it bends toward justice."
"How long? Not long."
We are close in this movement.
We are very close to the tipping point
beyond which this movement, like the abolition movement,
like the women's suffrage movement,
like the Civil Rights Movement,
like the anti-apartheid movement,
like the movement for gay rights,
is resolved into a choice between right and wrong.
And because of who we are as human beings,
the outcome is foreordained.
And it is right to save the future for humanity!
It is wrong to pollute this Earth
and destroy the climate balance!
It is right to give hope to the future generation!
(ALL CHEERING)
It will not be easy.
And we, too, in this movement
will encounter a series of no's.
The great American poet Wallace Stevens,
in the last century,
one of his lines was this,
"After the last no comes a yes."
"And on that yes the future world depends."
Bye-bye, guys. Thank you!
(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
(CROWD CHEERING)
(PEOPLE CHANTING INDISTINCTLY)