THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
Sign up to The American magazine's newsletters (below) to receive more regular news, articles and updates on America in the UK.
Global Climate Action Summit 2018
Blog 4: "Please Excuse the Geekiness" – Former Vice President Al Gore
Alison Holmes reports from the heart of the GCAS
www.globalclimateactionsummit.org
Once upon a time and what feels like a thousand years ago, I had the great honor of attending the launch of "An Inconvenient Truth" hosted by Al Gore in the Guildhall in London. That was actually about eleven years ago, so not surprisingly, it was a slightly heavier and much grayer Gore who spoke in San Francisco's City Hall as the closing keynote speaker to the Cities4Climate conference organized by C40 Cities for Climate Leadership https://www.c40.org/ and Bloomberg Philanthropies www.bloomberg.org. However, I would suggest that his ability to 'talk science' in a both concise and compelling way has only increased in the intervening decade.
Opening with the old adage that "everything has been said but not everyone has yet had a chance to say it", the subtitle of his talk could have been 'earth, wind and fire' as he reeled out factoid after factoid about devastating storms, floods and fires that have ravaged not only the state of California and the United States, but the entire world. Changes in the gulf stream and weather holding patterns, the number of gallons of water dropped in a single storm, and the pressing fact that – even as this summit is preparing to convene and for the first time, there are major storms in both the Atlantic and Pacific simultaneously, all serving to illustrate the urgency of the need for action.
So you may ask Al, but I am sorry, we can't excuse the "geekiness" now even less than we did all those years ago. It is your calling – your vocation – and perhaps your most endearing quality that you clearly love and respect the data you lovingly gather and disseminate in an almost paternal way and carry it to the rest of the world with clarity and care.
The point of the day's conference was to highlight the activities of cities around the world and the people who are stepping up to the challenge of climate change. By closing with one of the 'founders' of the science-led front of the environmental movement, we not only can't forgive you, but we should thank you for taking up the torch all those years ago and tending that flame with passion and patience, waiting for the seismic shift (ecological pun intended) in public opinion that now offers you a more receptive audience for your critical "geek" message.
