Al Gore: The Inconvenient Truth

As an entertainment writer, its pretty shocking when you find out youre about to interview the former Vice President of the United States. Particularly when you believe that said former VP shouldve been the rightful President of our nation after winning the popular vote (rather than the ineffective monkey puppet currently dancing at the end of strings being pulled by corporate America). What, you thought someone who makes a living as a critic would approach an interview with Al Gore impartially?

Gore was in town to promote his new documentary film, An Inconvenient Truth, in which he spells out in laymans terms the specific details of a global climate crisis that could prove far more devastating to the planets future than any terrorist ever could. Shot on a slideshow tour that found him taking his message from city to city like a modern-day Johnny Appleseed, the film reveals a side of Al Gore rarely seen during the historic, controversial 2000 Presidential campaign. Relaxed, animated, downright passionate, Gore seems rejuvenated by his belief in his mission to save the world, exhibiting the same sort of affable accessibility that made Bill Clinton so damn popular.

Though he ultimately denied any interest in running for office again, Gore seemed downright Presidential during our 30-minute one-on-one at the Four Seasons Hotel in midtown Atlanta, discussing everything from his professional failures to his personal passions with a refreshing humor and easygoing charm.

The origins of An Inconvenient Truth obviously began with the loss of the 2000 election, since you wouldnt have time for your slideshow tour if you were President. How did that loss affect you, not just in your political career but also personally?

Well, the deeper roots of it began back when I was in college in the 1960s and was given some if the first information ever gathered about this problem that has become a planetary emergency. Since that time, at every stage of my life when I have reassessed my priorities, this has come to the surface. After the election of 2000, when I once again made a fresh start and reassessed my own personal and professional priorities, this became my top priority. Since I didnt have a job (laughs), I focused even more on it. Im sorta jokingI had a job teaching and started a couple of businessesbut I did have an opportunity to start with a blank slate, which didnt seem like a great thing under the circumstances. But it had some good things about it because I was able to dig in and start delivering the message about the climate crisis in a new and ultimately more effective way. I started giving my slideshow all over the country and all over the world, and that led to some movie producers seeing a showing in L.A. and having the idea of making a movie out of it. Im glad I listened, because theyve done a great job.

At what point did you realize that global warming and its environmental effects were something America drastically needed to address? Were there certain cataclysmic events that really caught your attention?

Yeah, but it came in several waves. The first event was being shown the first evidence of what was happening with CO2 in the atmosphere and having it interpreted by a scientist who was such a hero to me, then watching all of his predictions come true over the years. When I had the opportunity in the 70s to be a member of Congress and have hearings on whatever issues I wanted, this bubbled to the surface as one of the most important issues, and I started attacking it as a public official. When I went to the Senate I dug in more deeply, and after my son had his accidentwhich shook me up and caused me to reevaluate all my personal and professional prioritiesthis was the professional priority that rose to the top. I started giving my slideshow and wrote my first book, Earth in the Balance. But it was after the 2000 election that I decided I had to go on the road with this and take it everywhere, and go door to door if I have to and try to convince people to take action. Its like if you were on the beach and found a message in a bottle sent to a specific address, and the message said, Whoever finds this, please deliver it because its a matter of life and death, youd feel obligated to do what you could to deliver that message! Its the same thing with me in this situation: The message is a matter of life and death for our civilization, and the address is the American people.

Its interesting, because there was so much criticism of you as wooden during the 2000 election, but this film reveals you to be quite passionate. Do you think our political system makes it difficult for a candidate to get a message like this across over the course of a campaign?

Yeah, I think it does. Ive learned more about a lot of things, and the old clich is that whatever doesnt kill ya makes ya stronger. But I do think that the modern-day American political process discourages the passionate discussion of large ideas that embody inconvenient truths that people dont necessarily want to hear about. The political process instead rewards homogeneity and messages that can be boiled down to 27-second TV commercials. I sometimes wonder what the founding fathers wouldve done if they had to discuss their ideas back in 1789 in 27-second soundbytes. I doubt wed have a country.

A lot of people in politics talk about spirituality, but youve always seemed to embody it in the way you present yourself. Do you feel like taking this message about global warming to the people is your destiny?

Well, thats a deep question, and I appreciate the way you framed it. My own beliefs include a teaching that others also follow, which is that we are not able to know Gods intentions for us. However, I do think its possible for us to feel when were living our lives and pursuing useful work in ways that feel as if they are pleasing in Gods sight. The film Chariots of Fire has an undercurrent of spirituality, and one of the Olympic athletes in the movie says, When I run, I feel Gods pleasure. I wouldnt choose those words, but when I am delivering this message and connecting with audiences and recreating for them the long series of A-ha! moments Ive had in 30-40 years of studying this, I feel like Im doing useful and fulfilling work that resonates in a way that makes me feel like its right and good that Im doing it.

How hard has it been to sit on the sidelines and watch as the Bush administration tries to encourage things such as drilling for oil as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge?

At times thats been very difficult. Even though Im a recovering politician (laughs), I get to the point every now and again where I just cant take it anymore, so I give a stem-winder of a speech and just unburden myself. I do that as a private citizen in what I think is one of the best traditions of our country. I do believe, along with James Madison, that a well-informed citizenry is the bedrock of our American system. But one of the main reasons I do that is because I get to the point where I just cant stand it anymore! (Laughs) And that feeling comes much more frequently than I give a speech, by the way.

The company behind your film (eBay magnate Jeff Skolls Participant Productions, which was also behind Good Night, and Good Luck) also co-financed Syriana, which dealt with the ways our continued reliance on fossil fuels is tied into Americas political presence in the Middle East. Can you talk in laymans terms about how our nations unquenchable thirst for oil feeds into the devastating effects on the environment you discuss in An Inconvenient Truth?

Well, look at the pattern. We go deeply into debt to China and borrow money that we use to buy enormous sums of oil from countries in the most unstable part of the world, where we have to send troops, partly to secure the supply lines. Then we bring all that oil back here and burn it in ways that destroy the livability of the planet. This is not a good pattern, and we need to break it. We have a debt crisis, and energy crisis and a planetary emergency that are all linked together. We need to grow cellulosic ethanol. We need conservation. We need hybrids. We need a new generation of technology that allows us to use energy FAR more efficiently. We need to shift our whole economy to a more granular approach to energy and natural materials so that we dont waste more than 90% of what we think were using so that we save money and improve the quality of life and protect the environment all at the same time.

Why do you think the government and American auto manufacturers are so resistant to the idea of renewable resources? Why do they fail to see the logic in this math?

Well, sometimes the old saying is true that our strength can become our weakness. We built the most powerful, most profitable automotive industry on Earth, and we did it by following a particular formula that Henry Ford innovated. Breaking out of that formula is sometimes more difficult for an industry that has been successful at the old way than it is for a new upstart like Toyota, for example, who stole the leadership on environmentally-friendly cars and are stealing the leadership from GM as the biggest auto-maker on the planet. Theres a long waiting list for every Prius thats made. But no matter how much advertising [American auto-makers] pump into SUVs, people dont want to buy them as much now because theyre going to the gas station and having to take a mortgage out just to pay for a tank-full! (Laughs)

What do you think it will take to convince the American government to adopt the Kyoto Treaty?

Well, I think the country as a whole is still in what somebody described as Category 5 denial. But the political system is like the climate system in one respect it is sometimes non-linear and can change quickly instead of at a mere glaciers pace. After Hurricane Katrina, a lot of people said, Hey, we gotta look at our whole card here. What is going on?! This is not really a political issue; its a moral issue. Eighty-five conservative evangelical ministers have now broken with the Bush/Cheney White House on this issue and called upon their congregations to make solving this crisis a priority. General Electric, and a lot of other businesses that have been friendly with the Bush/Cheney White House are now breaking with them on this issue. Now 230 cities have ratified Kyoto, and that reflects the grassroots enthusiasm. The people are way ahead of the politicians on this... Ive watched the situation get worse and worse all these years, and still the country is doing nothing about it. We have national leaders who are telling us its not even a problem! But luckily the people are changing at the grassroots level. Were not there yet, but the change is underway.

Is there any concern on your part that the people who most need to see this film i.e. the conservatives who put fiscal gain ahead of environmental concerns wont see it, and that youll wind up preaching to the choir?

Well, the movie is much more likely to reach the people who are not in the so-called choir than my slideshow is. But even with the slideshow, Ive given it to audiences that were dominated by right-wing Republicans who were skeptical about the climate crisis, and who were changed by it. Ive probably made more headway with those groups than with groups that were made up of people who were already inclined to agree with me.

Really? Ive always had this theory that you can lead a horse to water, but you cant make him think.

(Laughs) I like that! I may use that.

What do you think it will take to convince the average Joe to take this issue seriously, and to take action towards resolving it?

Redefining it as not a political issue, but a moral issue. There are precious few exceptions, but most everybody, when confronted with what they see as a choice between right and wrong, will try to choose right. This issue-- because it affects the survivability of human civilization; the inhabitability of this planet; and the welfare of not only our grandchildren, not only our children, but of USis a moral issue. And when people see it framed accurately in that way, they will, and they are, choosing the right course of action.

I saw your The Way Things Might Have Been sketch on Saturday Night Live, which was great. Do you feel a sort of gradual change in public perception of you as a human being outside of the political spectrum, and do you ever wish you couldve been this more passionate, engaging, personable back when the spotlight was more heavily concentrated on you?

(Laughs) I dont spend a lot of time on what ifs, but I think there are two things relevant to your question. First, the way candidates are seen in national campaigns, through the filters of opponents daily accusations and the political press focusing on certain things and not others, that makes it hard to communicate about big, important challenges that you feel passionately about. I could have event after event on global warming, then after the event reporters would ask about some little petty controversy that happened that day. The next morning, there would be no mention of global warming, but the little Q&A would be the lead of the story as if thats what the event had been about. The second thing is Ive been through a lot, and I dont feel as if Im approaching this issue in the same way I would have years ago. Im building on what Ive learned in my previous career, but doing the best I can to be as persuasive as I can.

(At this point, Gores handlers come in and begin to walk him out en route to a local Q&A screening.)

Would you ever consider running for President again?

I have no intention of being a candidate again.

In that case, what do you think it would take for the Democrats to win in 2008?

I dont know. Its awful early, but I do think they need to stand for something.

Do you think effective environmental legislation will ever be possible as long as the Republicans are in power?

Yes, I think it can be a bipartisan issue again. I think it should be, and I think it will be.