As you may know former Vice President turned eco-activist Al Gore attended the Society of Environmental Journalists annual conference last week.  Gore said that “we’re very close to that political tipping point,” and that “never before in human history has a single generation been asked to make such difficult and consequential decisions.” The urban environmentalist expects that the United States Senate will pass a carbon emissions reduction bill, as their counterparts in the House of Representatives already have, before the end of the year.

“I am optimistic,” Gore said. “I think there has been a very powerful recognition, not only in this country, but in many countries, that there is a linkage between the climate crisis and the economic crisis and the national security crisis that is in part derivative of the world’s ridiculous over-dependence on carbon-based fuels.” After summarizing the current crisis that Americans find themselves in, Gore did something out of character. This unprecedented move was that the urban environmentalist took questions, something Gore very rarely does.

The former Vice President was asked about nine inaccuracies in his Academy Award winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth. Phelim McAleer, an Irish filmmaker was the one who posed the question.  He said to Gore “A judge in the British High Court, after a lengthy hearing, found there were 9 significant errors. This has been shown to children. Do you accept those findings and have you done anything to correct those errors?” Gore responded by saying that “The ruling was in favor of showing the movie in schools.” McAleer pressed Gore further on the point and the mediators cut his microphone as the command “Kill the mic” was heard throughout the conference and some report that he even was escorted out. This is causing quite the controversy because Gore dismissed the claims instead of giving a thoughtful answer and addressing the inaccuracies. There are ways to evade answering a question and not come off as being glib and, as a former politician, Gore should have those skills. Given his position of leading the eco-charge he should stand behind every fact contained his Oscar winning documentary.  Perhaps he didn’t want the focus to shift from the matters at hand.  We don’t know.  Gore doesn’t usually take questions.

On a lighter note, Gore made locals happy by acknowledging a true urban environmentalist “former UW-Madison professor Henry Hart, who attended the speech and at 93 is the oldest person to have been trained to present the climate change slide show featured in Gore’s film.” according to the Wisconsin State Journal. In closing it is surprising that such controversy would come from this seemingly staid conference. Since Fox News, ran with the story about the Society of Environmental Journalists annual conference and Gore’s response, it has cased quite a stir. Stirring it up is something that Fox News does rather well and they love when they get a whiff of potential inaccuracies related to someone like Gore or his integrity.  Perhaps he should have responded but at the end of the day, Gore has done far too much to advance the eco-movement to cast a pale over his urban environmentalist image.

Tags: Academy Award, Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth, carbon emissions, carbon emissions reduction bill, Climate Change, climate crisis, eco-activist, economic crisis, Fossil Fuels, Fox News, Global Warming, Henry Hart, Phelim McAleer, planet forward, Society of Environmental Journalists, United States Senate, urban environmentalist, Vice President Al Gore, Wisconsin State Journal

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