Why Do Climate Science Deniers STILL Hate Al Gore So Much?

I can't understand the ongoing hatred of Al Gore by climate science deniers. It made some sense when An Inconvenient Truthcame out, but that was seven years ago. Gore stepped back from a leadership role in the climate action movement around the time of his divorce in 2010 and is now semi-retired, rarely making public appearances.

But far-right conservatives apparently still hate Gore with the fury of a thousand global warming-fueled wildfires. What's weird is they simultaneously try to portray Gore as this big fat pathetic loser AND as this wealthy jet-setting holier-than-thou asshole.

Are they still trying to prove he didn't win that election that he would've won via a full recount if the Republican-controlled Supreme Court hadn't ordered it shut down? Or that while George W. Bush's disastrous presidency destroyed the Republican brand, Gore is in many ways MORE respected than he was in 2000?

Gore went through something that would've left most people angry at the world. Just look at how much John McCain hates Barack Obama and opposes everything they once agreed on from climate action to immigration reform - and McCain lost fair & square.

Yet Gore went on Saturday Night Live to laugh about the experience and never stopped fighting for what he believes in. Is that what grates Fox News types the most - that they haven't been able to break Gore's spirit and make him shut up & go away?

Gore: Climate-Fueled Extreme Weather "Like a Nature Hike Through the Book of Revelation"

Former Vice President Al Gore appeared on NBC's The Today Show this morning talking about how the climate crisis is fueling extreme weather:

Hurricane Sandy and other recent weather-related disasters, like this week’s intense flooding and monstrous sea foam levels in Australia, are a direct result of climate change, former vice president Al Gore said Tuesday.

“These storms – it’s like a nature hike through the Book of Revelation on the news every day now,” he told TODAY’s Matt Lauer. “People are connecting the dots.”

Watch it below and check out a bonus clip of Gore meeting actress Melissa McCarthy.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

More Pollution, Higher Gas Prices: Tell Obama to Say No to Tar Sands

From activist Bill McKibben to actress Daryl Hannah, about 600 people have been arrested so far this week at the White House. They're protesting a planned tar sands pipeline cutting from the Canadian border all the way down to Texas.

Al Gore explains why a bipartisan coalition has come together to ask President Obama to take a stand against the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline:

The leaders of the top environmental groups in the country, the Republican Governor of Nebraska, and millions of people around the country—including hundreds of people who have bravely participated in civil disobedience at the White House—all agree on one thing: President Obama should block a planned pipeline from the tar sands of Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico.

The tar sands are the dirtiest source of fuel on the planet. As I wrote in Our Choice two years ago, gasoline made from the tar sands gives a Toyota Prius the same impact on climate as a Hummer using gasoline made from oil. This pipeline would be an enormous mistake. The answer to our climate, energy and economic challenges does not lie in burning more dirty fossil fuels — instead, we must continue to press for much more rapid development of renewable energy and energy efficient technologies and cuts in the pollution that causes global warming.

Here's what's most ridiculous: The Keystone XL tar sands pipeline wouldn't cut gas prices. The company that wants to build the pipeline admits it would actually raise gas prices 15 cents a gallon in the Midwest, where it's currently forced to dump tar sands oil at a discount. Why would President Obama even consider a pipeline that would put communities, water supplies and wildlife at risk, would lock in our oil dependence, and would raise gas prices?

But with Energy Secretary Steven Chu making approving statements about the pipeline and the White House press secretary refusing to even tell President Obama about the protests, it's fair to wonder if the fix is in for dirty tar sands.

Learn more at TarSandsAction.org, then tell President Obama to say no to dirty tar sands.

Gore: Obama Has Failed So Far on Climate

UPDATE: Here's the link to Al Gore's Rolling Stone essay.

Former Vice President Al Gore is fed up with President Obama's failure to lead on global warming. In a Rolling Stone essay to be published Friday, Gore is calling Obama out:

While Gore credits Obama's political appointees with making hundreds of changes that have helped move the country "forward slightly" on the climate issue, and acknowledges Obama has been dealing with many other problems, he says the president "has simply not made the case for action."

"President Obama has never presented to the American people the magnitude of the climate crisis," Gore says. "He has not defended the science against the ongoing withering and dishonest attacks. Nor has he provided a presidential venue for the scientific community ... to bring the reality of the science before the public."

Gore is certainly not the first person to question whether President Obama is truly willing to take a stand for our public health and America's environment. But he's not just a big name - Gore has been a huge Obama backer.

It's gotten harder and harder to defend President Obama on clean energy & climate issues in recent months. Heck, he couldn't even be bothered to fulfill his promise to put solar panels back on the White House.

President Obama can certainly point to major accomplishments on health insurance reform, Wall Street reform, and making the Supreme Court more reflective of America. But on clean energy & climate ... would we really have accomplished much less if John McCain had been elected? And looking ahead, if Mitt Romney is the GOP nominee, doesn't the composition of Congress make much more of a difference in what we'll accomplish in the years ahead than which backer of tepid action on the climate crisis is in the White House?

Stumblin' & Bumblin' NoVA GOP Strikes Again

In the 8th Congressional district, the Republican Party has a clear pattern:

• Whine about how Democrats always win
• Nominate candidates who run on the national GOP platform & don't even try to pretend to represent the district's values
• Hire staffers more interested in catching the national party's attention for their next job than actually trying to win
• Lose horribly
• Repeat

Which brings us to the story of the Patrick Murray campaign staffer who thinks bashing Al Gore & denying global warming is a winning campaign strategy in one of the greenest Congressional districts in the entire country that Gore won by 15 points in 2000. I think Jim Moran will take "attacks" like that any day. Lowell has the full story at BlueVirginia.us.

Video: Al Gore's Plan To Kick It Up A Notch

Gore Lays the Smackdown on Ignorant Republican

For my day job with the National Wildlife Federation, I live-blogged Friday's House Energy & Commerce Committee hearings on the Waxman-Markey clean energy bill, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009.

This was the quintessential moment of the hearings -- a Republican ignorantly spouting off about something he or she didn't know about, then getting smacked down by Al Gore:

Why Won't McAuliffe Say No to Dirty Coal?

I spent a lot of time thinking about which candidate to support in the Democratic primary for Virginia governor. I was on the fence until Terry McAuliffe pushed me off with his refusal to say no to the proposed massive new $6 billion coal-fired power plant in Surry. Brian Moran may have stayed quiet through the debate about the new coal-fired power plant in Wise County, but on Surry, he's taking a clear stand against it.

Now there's a video that connects the dots on McAuliffe and his continuing support for dirty coal, putting him in stark contrast to climate activists like Al Gore and James Hansen (there's also a special appearance from The Green Miles):



You can watch my full clip on Why "Clean" Coal is Like Dragons & Leprechauns at my YouTube channel.

(Note - I don't know who put together the McAuliffe video and though I certainly don't object to the use of my clip, I wasn't asked whether I wanted to be in it.)

Drudge: Two Inches of Slush Means Global Warming Doesn't Exist

Media Matters details how over on Drudge Report, Mad Matt claimed Al Gore should be embarrassed to testify before a Senate committee about the climate crisis because clearly two inches of snow, slush and ice means there's no global warming.

Yes, this two inches of wintry mix must be a sign of an oncoming ice age. Just look at my front yard! Isn’t it magical? It’s like I’m walkin’ in a winter wonderland.

This storm actually marked the DC area's first measurable snowfall of the winter, so I'm surprised mildly amused Drudge would cite it as evidence of global cooling. In fact, a quick look at DC’s snow records shows startling evidence of a warming trend:

Number of back-to-back DC winters with less than ten inches of snow:
1887-1990: 2
1990-2008: 4

And if we don’t get ten inches of snow this winter, it will mark the first time DC has gone three consecutive winters without ten inches of snow in recorded history.

But the media can’t dwell on that. Depressing news is just terrible for ratings. Much more entertaining to make fun of that buzzkill Al Gore!

Cross-posted from ArticleXI.com

Wednesday: Al Gore Webcast on PowerVote.org

UPDATE: The webcast has been moved to 8:30pm

It's supposed to be freezing on Wednesday night, so you have no excuse not to stay inside and watch this:

Join Al Gore for a Live Webcast: 8:30pm Eastern, Oct 29

Get Out the (Power) Vote Oct 29 - Nov 4!

On October 29, Power Vote is kicking off 6 days of hard core Get Out the (Power) Vote events with a live webcast featuring Nobel Peace Laureate Al Gore!

Plan a Gore-Cast viewing party for the night of the 29th and then strategize with your friends about what other events your campus will do in the days that follow to Get Out the Vote.

Plan a dorm raid, a street canvassing, a phone banking ...anything that can rally the (Power) Votes near you!

Visit Events.PowerVote.org to find a watch party near you.

Al Gore Addresses the Democratic National Convention

Al Gore on Meet the Press

I didn't get to watch Al Gore on Sunday's Meet the Press as I was listening to Van Jones speak at Netroots Nation '08. However, Dave Roberts at Grist watched and it sounds like Tom Brokaw should've stayed retired:

Brokaw had the ... gall? idiocy? ... to ask why the Democratic Congress had not passed any sweeping energy proposals. Gore pointed out that if you can't get 60 votes, you can't overcome a filibuster in the Senate and nothing gets done. Brokaw responded with this: "But you can put it on the agenda and try to move the country."

Could you scream? There were probably a dozen agenda-setting, country-moving bills that floated around Congress this year to establish a carbon cap, removed oil subsidies, fund renewables, increase efficiency standards, etc. etc. etc. Republicans killed them. Does Tom Brokaw really not understand that?

Then he pestered Gore to condemn Hillary Clinton -- who's no longer in the race -- for proposing a gas tax holiday, without so much as mentioning that John McCain -- who's still in the race -- is still supporting one. [Rips hair out.]

Yeesh. Makes me not want to check out the clips/transcript and see how bad it was. I'm back in Arlington and it's bedtime, but maybe I'll review the carnage tomorrow.

Zap That Sunday Morning Hangover with Clean Energy

Tom Brokaw's guest on Sunday's edition of Meet the Press - Al Gore.

Gore Calls for Clean Energy "Moon Shot"

Congress has so far refused to set a mandatory national renewable electricity goal. Al Gore would like to make a suggestion - 100 percent:

To meet his 10-year goal, Gore said nuclear energy output would continue at current levels while the nation dramatically increases its use of solar, wind, geothermal and so-called clean coal energy. Huge investments must also be made in technologies that reduce energy waste and link existing grids, he said.

If the nation fails to act, the cost of oil will continue to rise as fast-growing China and India increase demand, Gore said. Sustained addiction to oil also will place the nation at the mercy of oil-producing regimes, he said, and the globe would suffer irreparable harm.

One weird part of the article - the AP's Ron Fournier oddly references "ozone-killing" coal plants and never mentions carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas pollutant. Does Fournier think ozone depletion is what causes global warming? Strange. Fournier was recently in the news when his sycophantic, pro-war, overtly-religious emails with Karl Rove were revealed.

As The Hill reports, Republican leaders are already responding to Gore's call for bold leadership by ... pandering on gas prices. Way to step up, guys. But who comes to Gore's defense? Virginia's own Rep. Rick Boucher, who says, “Those who oppose a climate control measure will make the argument that it should not be considered at a time of high energy prices, but that is a bogus argument.” Nice job, Rick!

Cross-posted from RK

Watch Gore's New Climate Action Talk

60 Minutes Previews Gore's New Climate Campaign

Learn more about the campaign at the Alliance for Climate Protection.

Al Gore's New Theme Song: Damn It Feels Good to be a Gangsta

People often ask me, "The Green Miles (no, people don't actually call me that, but it's my blog so just go with it), when did global warming go from being a matter of debate to accepted reality? What was the tipping point?"

My answer is that there were two distinct tipping points. The first came on May 24, 2006 when Al Gore's documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, was released in theaters. After that, people stopped debating whether global warming is happening. The debate shifted to why global warming is happening.

The second tipping point came on February 2, 2007, when the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report declaring that "with near certainty — more than 90 percent confidence — that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from human activities have been the main causes of warming in the past half century." That shifted the debate from why global warming is happening to what we can do to avoid its worst effects.

Now today, we have the possibility of the third tipping point. Al Gore and the IPCC have been recognized for their work with the Nobel Peace Prize. Will the debate shift now from what we can do to international agreement on strong action to limit greenhouse gas emissions?

For the environmental movement, the Prize is a watershed event. But for Al Gore, after getting screwed by the political media in 2000, it must be especially satisfying. I'd think he's walking around like this today:

Live Earth Review: Even Better Than Expected

Just got back from Live Earth in New Jersey, and it definitely exceeded expectations. It was worth the price of admission just to able to cross "see Bon Jovi do 'Livin' on a Prayer' at Giants Stadium" off my "things to do before I die" list.

It was a fantastic show, from KT Tunstall at 2:30pm all the way to The Police at 10:30pm. The Dave Matthews Band's performance was probably the best of the show, with Ludacris and The Smashing Pumpkins also impressing. After some great high-energy performances, it was a little awkward to have the last two acts (Roger Waters and The Police) average around 60 years old.

And no, The Police don't rock as hard as they used to, but Andy Summers is 65, how much can you expect? It wasn't until Kanye West and John Mayer came out to join them on "Message in a Bottle" that their set really peaked.

From an environmental perspective, here are three things I liked about the show and three things that could've been better:

WICKED AWESOME
- Concerns about the show's environmental impact were addressed. There were three waste bins behind every section -- recycling (for bottles), compost (for cups, napkins, and anything else biodegradable), and trash (for everything else). Food was served in paper or cardboard containers, and drinks and utensils were Greenware, made from corn. Shuttle buses were provided from New York City to the site.

- Whoever booked and produced the show should be immediately hired by the UN to solve the climate crisis. There wasn't a single weak link in the acts or in the speakers. Thanks to a rotating stage that slashed the time between acts to just a few minutes, well-timed speakers, and highlights from other shows on other continents, there were only a couple of very brief breaks in the action for the entire eight hour show.

- This was not preaching to the choir. I heard criticism on NPR on the drive up that An Inconvenient Truth only reached those who were already true believers. The crowd certainly contained its share of damn dirty hippies, but it was mostly just pop music fans. When the Garden State's own Bon Jovi hit the stage to one of the loudest ovation's I've ever heard anywhere, I turned to The Green Girlfriend and said, "If you're from Jersey, this isn't Live Earth, this is a Bon Jovi concert." Impossible to say how many (if any) converts were won, but a new audience was definitely reached.

NOT SO HOT (BUT STILL HOTTER THAN I SHOULD BE)
- Muddy messaging. The seven point pledge Al Gore outlined from the stage wasn't mentioned until halfway through the show, and I didn't see it in writing anywhere in the arena. I managed to find the pledge on the Live Earth website, but I had to click three links to get it. There were green tips posted on banners hung on the concourses around Giants Stadium, but they were hung so high, The Green Girlfriend didn't know they'd been there until I mentioned them on the drive home.

- Organic useless crap is still useless crap. Like at any music festival, there were tons of companies giving away free junk, but they tried to pass it off as OK because it was organic or made from recycled materials or whatever. We turned down most of it, but at least the Phillips necklace/ticket-holder had a card inside touting the virtues of compact fluorescent light bulbs.

- Big Oil loudly buzzing the stadium. Want to piss off 50,000 music fans? Fly a small plane over the stadium during the live acts trailing a banner to promote your front website attacking Al Gore. I won't give the link here because it doesn't deserve any accidental clicks, but I will tell you an enterprising blogger has found who it's registered to, and I know you'll be shocked to hear the owner has Fox News ties and has relied heavily on Big Oil for funding.

On Eve of Live Earth, Big Oil and GM Still Attacking Gore

The Green Miles will be packing up the Purple Car tomorrow and driving up to New Jersey for the Live Earth climate change awareness concert. I'll get a review posted here next week!

Amazingly, just days before the concert, a front group with ties to General Motors and major funding from Big Oil was still attacking Gore and his beliefs.

James M. Taylor's op-ed appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times, primary employer of that paragon of journalism, Robert Novak. It accuses Gore of citing disproven theories in his recent book, "The Assault on Reason."

Taylor is listed as "a senior fellow for environment policy at the Heartland Institute." It's immediately apparent that Taylor brings no substance to the table -- only a prodigal talent in a favorite conservative tactic, trying to establish a flaw in one of Gore's supporting anecdotes and claiming that one flaw invalidates the entire book. The column is a 681-word "yeah, but ...."

One of Taylor's claims in particular set of my BS alarm:

Gore claims global warming is causing an expansion of African deserts. However, the Sept. 16, 2002, issue of New Scientist reports, "Africa's deserts are in 'spectacular' retreat . . . making farming viable again in what were some of the most arid parts of Africa."

A quick Google search revealed "New Scientist" magazine is not a peer-reviewed scientific journal. Even its own editor admits "New Scientist" is "an ideas magazine - that means writing about hypotheses as well as theories." Not exactly dripping with credibility.

On the other hand, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon says climate change is drying up Africa's farmland, triggering war as groups compete for disappearing resources. And a blue-ribbon panel of 11 of the most senior retired U.S. admirals and generals, not exactly bleeding-heart liberals, says climate change threatens our own national security.

Now to the Heartland Institute. Its SourceWatch page is a veritable who's who of people and companies who profit by denying climate change and trying to keep America addicted to oil.

Just to name a few:

- Walter F. Buchholtz, an ExxonMobil executive, serves as Heartland's Government Relations Advisor
- James L. Johnston, Amoco Corporation (retired), member of Heartland's board of directors
- Thomas Walton, an executive of General Motors Corporation, member of Heartland's board of directors

It's not just leadership that Big Oil contributes to Heartland. According to ExxonSecrets.org, the Heartland Institute has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from ExxonMobil corporate and the ExxonMobil Foundation in just the last decade.

The science behind global warming is sound and solid. The planet is warming, greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels are to blame, and we must cut carbon emissions at least 80% by 2050 at the latest to curb warming's worst effects.

To get the truth, read RealClimate.org. And to learn how to refute climate change deniers like Taylor, read Grist's "How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic."

This Fall, Vote Biscuit Barrel

It's Friday, so let's keep it light today.

I'm reading Rolling Stone's Climate Crisis issue, which features an interview with Al Gore. My favorite Q&A:

Are you at least glad that Bush now refers to our "addiction to foreign oil"?
I don't like the addiction metaphor, because it carries with it a sense of powerlessness. But there are some aspects of the metaphor that are accurate in ways that Bush doesn't intend. The spiral of increasingly self-destructive behavior - spending more and more for supplies of a substance that is harder and harder to get - is just bizarre. I caused a stir in Alberta, Canada, recently when someone asked me about the advisability of trying to extract oil by processing the tar sands they have up there. I said, "Well, junkies find veins in their toes" [laughs]. The then-premier of Alberta lost it - and hasn't recovered since.

As for my personal politics, I was recently inspired to make a switch by a commenter who accused me of writing a "silly blog." And since New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently announced his switch to being an independent, following his switch to being a Republican, before which he was a Democrat, I'm following in his footsteps.

That's right I'm switching my affiliation from independent who wishes the Democrats would make global warming a top priority and hopes the Greens will get their act together ... to the Silly Party:



I'll be voting Tarquin Fin Tim Lim Bim Lim Bim Whin Bim Lin Bus Stop Ftang Ftang Olay Biscuit Barrel for General Assembly this fall. Maybe doing some campaigning for him in an orange wig with my arms tucked inside my pants.