Al Gore’s “I Told You So” is Painful to Acknowledge as Anthropogenic Global Warming Becomes Reality

“An Inconvenient Truth” documentary aired 17 years ago accompanied by a book bearing the same name. Narrated and written by former Vice President, Al Gore, many in the political classes at the time saw it as grandstanding. Gore warned us of the perils of human-caused climate change then and in the last week, has reminded us again about the message of the film and book stating in a New York Times interview:

“Everywhere you look in the world, the extremes have now seemingly reached a new level. The temperatures in the North Atlantic and the unprecedented decline of the Antarctic sea ice, both simultaneously. We see it in upstate New York, we see it in Vermont, we see it in southern Japan, we see it in India. We see it in the unprecedented drought in Uruguay and in Argentina.” 

Notably, Gore doesn’t cite the unprecedented heat waves coursing across Europe, Central Asia and the Southern Tier U.S. states. Gore’s noteworthy statement, “Every night on the TV news is like taking a nature hike through the Book of Revelation,” should speak loudly to Christians in the United States of whom many continue to believe climate change to be “an act of God” rather than “acts of humankind.” Citing the Book of Revelation, the apocalyptic last book in the New Testament, is in my mind an interesting word choice for Gore who comes from Tennessee, a Bible-belt state that’s history includes the infamous Scopes Trial back in the 1920s, and more recently legislation to make The Bible the official state book.

A Pew Research Center Report in 2022 examined how religion affects climate change perception. It found that 53% of Americans linked global warming to human activity. But it noted that a majority of evangelical Christians were climate change skeptics with only 32% linking the warming to human activity while 36% cited natural causes as an explanation for rising atmospheric temperatures. Compared to non-Christians, agnostics and atheists, the numbers were far different with the vast majority expressing a high level of concern about anthropogenic climate change.

The Pew report noted that views on climate change were “heavily influenced by politics” with evangelical Christians backing The U.S. Republican Party where climate change is viewed as less of a problem, with some even declaring “that God is in control of the climate.”

Other data points from the Pew research show that religious and political divides are in harmony citing these research results:

• 77% of U.S. Democrats surveyed say the Earth is getting warmer because of human activity. That compares to 24% of registered Republicans.
• 10% of U.S. Democrats say the Earth is getting warmer from natural causes. That compares to 42% of Republicans.
• 2% of Democrats believe there is no solid evidence that the Earth is getting warmer. That compares to 18% of Republicans.

Evangelical Protestant links to the Republican Party today are more significant than at any time in the past. Donald Trump appealed to evangelical Christians in his two runs at the White House. And in places like Tennessee, evangelicals represent the majority of the population.

So Gore, as a son of Tennessee, is fighting a battle to turn apocalyptic weather news into an argument to make all of us including evangelicals and fellow Tennesseans recognize we are turbocharging climate change.

In the New York Times interview, Gore expresses hopefulness despite the current climate data telling the New York Times, “We know how to fix this.” He goes on:

“We can stop the temperatures going up worldwide with as little as a three-year time lag by reaching net zero. And if we stay at true net zero, we’ll see half of the human-caused CO2 coming out of the atmosphere in as little as 30 years.”

What will it take to achieve and stay at net zero?

• end the use of fossil fuels to produce energy by speeding up renewable infrastructure and capacity.
• stop fossil-fuel company lobbies that inhibit governments from implementing net-zero policies and regulations.
• end anti-climate rhetoric and greenwashing by businesses and industry.

Gore states that “the climate crisis is in the main a fossil fuel crisis” and notes the absurdity of holding the next international COP climate meeting in the United Arab Emirates, a country dominated by the fossil-fuel industry and having the president of the meeting be the head of that country’s state oil company.

If you need a reminder of why Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth should be driving our global climate change agenda, here are just some facts to ponder:

• In Southwest Iran, temperature records were broken with the heat index (a measure that combines temperature and humidity) reaching 67 Celsius (152 Fahrenheit) this week. An index of 54 Celsius (130 Fahrenheit) can lead to heat and sunstroke.
• Fire weather in Canada has scorched 11 million hectares (over 27 million acres) with smoke reaching as far south as the State of Georgia.
• Greece and Spain hit daytime high temperatures of 47.8 Celsius (118 Fahrenheit) in the last week while Death Valley in California saw a temperature of 50 Celsius (122 Fahrenheit) at Furnace Creek.
• Phoenix had 19 consecutive days of daytime temperatures 43.3 Celsius (110 Fahrenheit) or higher this month.
• And average temperatures globally in July have been the highest since record-keeping began.