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Al Gore urges David Letterman not to despair about global warming: ‘There’s a lot of opportunity in this crisis’

 

[Update: Video & Partial transcript available here.]

Former Vice President and climate crusader Al Gore appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman during the January 29 broadcast.

Letterman sounded pessimistic about the future of the planet, declaring, “With the drought coming on, we are nothing but screwed.”

Gore urged Letterman not to despair about global warming and energy issues: ‘You sound hopeless Dave. There’s a lot of opportunity in this crisis.”

[Climate Depot note: That is an understatement by Gore. See: $100 million man — Gore to be govt billionaire?! Al Gore has thrived as green-tech investor — ‘Benefited from more than $2.5 billion in loans, grants and tax breaks’, as part of Obama’s stimulus – ’14 green-tech firms in which Gore invested received or directly benefited from more than $2.5 billion in loans, grants and tax breaks’

It’s Official: Al Gore is by far the most lavishly funded fossil fuel player in the global warming debate today

Forbes: Al Gore Richer Than Mitt Romney After Current TV Sale — Middle Eastern Oil Money Makes Gore richer ]

Letterman pressed Gore on whether the sale of Gore’s Current TV to Qatar based Al-Jazeera was hypocritical.

Letterman: ‘So you are selling this television network to a gas and oil supported emirate…You, Al Gore, are doing business with this country that is enabling your ultimate foe — climate change.

Gore: I think I understand what you are getting at Dave — but I disagree with it. First of all they (Al-Jazeera) have ambitious plans to develop renewables in the region. There is a visionary plan to take solar energy and wind energy from the Middle East and North Africa to Western Europe. Again, the network that they founded, has become a very widely respected news gathering organization, including on climate issues.

Gore had earlier noted that Al-Jazeera’s “climate coverage is higher quality and more extensive than any network on TV now in the U.S.”

 

A skeptical Letterman challenged Gore as to whether he really has gone green in his personal life.

Letterman to Gore: “I think I have done maybe more than you have done int terms of exploiting alternative energy. What do you think?

Gore: “I am not so sure about that.”

Letterman: “How many electric cars do you have. I have two.

Gore responded: “I have two.” Gore then insisted that he had “33 solar panels on the room of my house.”

[Climate Depot note: Gore’s personal energy habits have been under scrutiny for years. See: FLASHBACK 2007: AL GORE’S REFUSAL TO TAKE THE “PERSONAL ENERGY ETHICS PLEDGE”]

Gore also spent considerable time attempting to link current weather events, including drought, to man-made global warming. But the science behind Gore’s claims are lacking. See: New Report: ‘Extreme Weather Report 2012’: ‘Latest peer-reviewed studies, data & analyses undermine claims that current weather is ‘unprecedented’ or a ‘new normal’

Related Links:

Flashback 2009: Climate Depot on Gore’s path to become the first ‘Carbon Billionaire’

$100 million man — Gore to be govt billionaire?! Al Gore has thrived as green-tech investor — ‘Benefited from more than $2.5 billion in loans, grants and tax breaks’, as part of Obama’s stimulus — ’14 green-tech firms in which Gore invested received or directly benefited from more than $2.5 billion in loans, grants and tax breaks, part of Obama’s historic push to seed a U.S. renewable-energy industry with public money…Gore’s orbit extended deeply into the administration, with several former aides winning senior clean-energy posts. GIM saw its earnings quadruple from 2008 to 2009, although there is no way to know how much can be tied to federal support’

Where has he been?! Al Gore: You know what may ‘soon’ offer an alternative to the TV media environment? The internet! — Gore: ‘The internet is now growing in importance and pervasiveness, to the point where soon it may offer an alternative to the TV media environment that reinvigorates democracy. I’m hoping that’s the case’

Who’s Worse — Al Gore or Bernie Madoff? ‘Gore has been on wrong side of everything — first making AGW into a phony catastrophe & now introducing the mouthpiece of Sharia into U.S. homes’ — ‘…while personally gaining hundreds of millions in the process. What a guy. And you thought Bernie Madoff was bad’

‘Al Gore is now well on his way to amassing an indecent fortune that would make Al Capone’s stash look picayune by comparison’ — ‘Gore has done extremely well for himself, buying carbon offsets from the company he co-owns and chairs, Generation Investment Management’, partnering with the venture capital investment firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers that is behind Terralliance, an oil wildcatter, and earning royalties from Pasminco Ltd. for a highly toxic zinc mine on his property’

WashPost columnist dumps on Gore: ‘Al Gore, still following in his daddy’s footsteps’ — Gore said in a statement that the common goal of Current TV and al-Jazeera is ‘to give voice to those who are not typically heard; to speak truth to power; to provide independent and diverse points of view; and to tell the stories that no one else is telling.’ Translation? When put out to pasture, oh do graze in the tall grass — and don’t get too fussy about who signs the checks.

Geraldo Rivera Recounts Gore’s Snotty Disdain After He Went to Fox News: ‘Gore’s Current TV being sold to Al Jazeera…reminded Rivera of Gore’s holier-than-thou attitude the last time they met’

Al Gore’s Oil-Fueled Al-Jazeera Deal Follows A String Of Green Energy Fiascos

Forbes: Al Gore Richer Than Mitt Romney After Current TV Sale — Middle Eastern Oil Money Makes Gore richer — Gore ‘sold his Current TV network to Al Jeezera for a reported $500 million last week, a move that will make him worth at least $300 million, according to an estimation by Forbes. That’s more than Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who is worth about $250 million, according to a September estimate from Bloomberg’

Current TV staffers lash out at Gore: ‘The mostly left-leaning group—some still in denial —weren’t buying what Al Jazeera was selling’ — ‘Gore’s supposed to be the face of clean energy and just sold [the channel] to very big oil, the emir of Qatar! Current never even took big oil advertising—and Al Gore, that bulls***ter sells to the emir?’

CNN’s Howard Kurtz: ‘Why Al Gore’s Al Jazeera deal doesn’t seem right’ — ‘Gore starts a liberal cable network, which turns into a complete & utter flop, then sells it to a Middle East potentate…’ — ‘…in a deal that will bring him an estimated $70 million…the crusader against climate change is taking petrodollars from an empire built on oil, the bete noire of environmentalists…there is something unsettling about Gore making off with such a big payday from a government-subsidized channel after making such bad television. Nice work if you can get it’

Australia’s Daily Telegraph Features Climate Depot: ‘OILY AL’ — Climate Depot’s Morano: ‘Gore’s massive personal cash influx from oil-backed Al Jazeera makes him by far the most lavishly funded fossil fuel player in the global warming debate today. Will the media now accurately label Gore an industry funded activist every time they report on him?’

AlGorjeera — It’s Official: Al Gore is by far the most lavishly funded fossil fuel player in the global warming debate today — ‘Gore’s massive personal cash influx from oil-backed Al Jazeera makes him by far the most lavishly funded fossil fuel player in the global warming debate today. Will the media now accurately label Gore an industry funded activist every time they report on him?’

Flashback 2011: Gore Unhinged! Loses it on skeptical claims: ‘It may be volcanoes.’ Bullshit! ‘It may be sun spots.’ Bullshit! ‘It’s not getting warmer.’ Bullshit!’ — Climate Depot Responds! — Climate Depot’s Point-By-Point Rebuttal to Gore’s Highbrow Scientific Arguments

Greens Give Gore 2 Thumbs Down: Gore’s climate ‘reality’ show faces strongly negative reviews from his fellow global warming activists — Environmental allies distance themselves from Gore: ‘I actually avoided the Goreathon…Gore is now as much a hindrance as a help on climate…my heart immediately sank..most boring talk on climate, ever’

Gore touts Morano as 2012’s ‘Climate ‘Misinformer of the Year’: ‘ClimateDepot.com founder Marc Morano has been called ‘the Matt Drudge of climate denial,’ the ‘king of the skeptics’ — Gore’s website features Climate Depot

Flashback 2007: Climate Clash: Gore Rebuffs Morano 37000 feet over South China Sea in 2007 – ‘You all attack me all the time’

 

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