'Scientists were dead right': Al Gore says on 20th anniversary of 'An Inconvenient Truth'

[nitpicked]

https://abcnews.com/US/scientists-dead-al-gore-20th-anniversary-inconvenient-truth/story?id=133922490

The scientists have been right about climate change all along, says former Vice President Al Gore on the 20th anniversary of the release of "An Inconvenient Truth," the Oscar-winning documentary about Gore's campaign to educate people about climate change.
(snip)

"The scientists were dead right on all the important elements of it, and it really is insane that we are continuing to use the sky as an open sewer and we're trapping so much heat every day it's equal to the amount that would be released by 800,000 Hiroshima-class atomic bombs exploding every day on the earth," Gore said during an interview with ABC News at his family farm in Tennessee.

In a review of key claims by the documentary, ABC News found that the majority of the scientific observations made in "An Inconvenient Truth" have come to fruition or are on track to in the years to come. The last 11 years -- from 2015 to 2025 -- have been the hottest on record, according to scientific data from NOAA and the Copernicus Climate Change Service and summarized in a report released earlier this year by the World Meteorological Organization.

In the film, Gore also discussed how warming oceans would cause hurricanes to be more destructive. Climate scientists over the last decade have contributed to a growing body of evidence that human-amplified warming is leading to more intense storms and allowing for the rapid intensification of tropical cyclones as they approach land.
(snip)

[2naSalit]

1. Today is...

Going to be a good example of how it's going to look for the next few years if not decades. Actually, the next few days will be extreme over at least two thirds of the country with severe thunderstorms with giant hail and F grade tornadoes. Outside those areas will be extreme heat and wind to be followed by a rather cool, if not cold, spell.

Fun, fun, fun!

[DemocracyForever]

4. Melting Artic glaciers behind the cold spell

As our planet continues to warm, the Artic glaciers are continuing to melt. Gravity is pulling all of the melt southward which has now begun to block the warmer waters that come up from the south and moderate the temperatures. This is what's now causing the cold spells and snow in places like Atlanta that never get snow and who got 6 inches of snow earlier this year

[-misanthroptimist]

2. Bush v. Gore was so bad...

...that it will ultimately end up destroying civilization. That's some mighty impressive adjudicating.

[DemocracyForever]

3. I totally agree!

When future generations of Americans look back to understand why the need to wear gas masks to go outside because the air is too poisonous for them to breathe which was caused by our generation failing to stop burning fossil fuels and they also no longer have the right to vote, they'll need to look no further than the GOP controlled SCOTUS's anti-democracy, unconstitutional Bush vs Gore ruling in 2000. This was the watershed event that changed our planet and our country forever.

[OKIsItJustMe]

5. The wheels were already in motion before 2000.

As Gore explained in An Inconvenient Truth, David Keeling (as in the “Keeling Curve”) started regularly measuring atmospheric CO₂ in the late 50’s. The Nixon administration knew about the “Carbon Dioxide Problem” in the 60’s.






Everybody knew about the “Greenhouse Effect” in the 70’s. There was no controversy at that point. It was established science. Gerald Ford started acting on it, Jimmy Carter built dramatically on Ford’s accomplishments.

Ronald Wilson Reagan tore it all down.

[OKIsItJustMe]

6. Moynihan's meno to Ehrlichman

https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/virtuallibrary/documents/jul10/56.pdf

MEMORANDUM

THE WHITE HOUSE

WASHINGTON

September 17, 1969

FOR JOHN EHRLICHMAN

As with so many of the more interesting environmental questions, we really don't have very satisfactory measurements of the carbon dioxide problem. On the other hand, this very clearly is a problem, and, perhaps most particularly, is one that can seize the imagination of persons normally indifferent to projects of apocalyptic change.

The process is a simple one. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has the effect of a pane of glass in a greenhouse. The C02 content is normally in a stable cycle, but recently man has begun to introduce instability through the burning of fossil fuels. At the turn of the century several persons raised the question whether this would change the temperature of the atmosphere. Over the years the hypothesis has been refined, and more evidence has corne along to support it. It is now pretty clearly agreed that the C0₂ content will rise 25% by 2000. This could increase the average temperature near the earth's surface by 7 degrees Fahrenheit. This in turn could raise the level of the sea by 10 feet. Goodbye New York. Goodbye Washington, for that matter. We have no data on Seattle.

It is entirely possible that there will be countervailing effects. For example, an increase of dust in the atmosphere would tend to lower temperatures, and might offset the C0₂ effect. Similarly, it is possible to conceive fairly mammoth man-made efforts to countervail the C0₂ rise. (e. g., stop burning fossil fuels. )

In any event, I would think this is a subject that the Administration ought to get involved with. It is a natural for NATO. Perhaps the first order of business is to begin a worldwide monitoring system. At present, I believe only the United States is doing any serious monitoring, and we have only one or two stations.

Hugh Heffner knows a great deal about this, as does also the estimable Bob White, head of the U.S. Weather Bureau. (Teddy White's brother.)

The Environmental Pollution Panel of the President's Science Advisory Committee reported at length on the subject in 1965. I attach their conclusions.

Daniel P. Moynihan