An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It by Al Gore. 

4/5 rating. 321 pages.

Book #65 of 2020. Read September 23, 2020.

Everyone loves to make fun of Al, but this book is one of the best climate change books I have read. He does a wonderful job in this book of including a good amount of data with a lot of graphs, pictures and stark illustrations showing the huge impact that has already been seen by the changes in our climate.

The pictures make this book very depressing to read – seeing that Al was actively trying to make changes in America a full 15 years ago and we are still trying to bring about consciousness on this issue. Climate change is here, it is a serious issue, and every day that we postpone the inevitable it will make it harder to make the right decision when we are forced to. After reading this book, I wonder what would have happened if we acted then to combat climate change…

“The climate crisis also offers us the chance to experience what very few generations in history have had the privilege of knowing: a generational mission; the exhilaration of a compelling moral purpose; a shared and unifying cause; the thrill of being forced by circumstances to put aside the pettiness and conflict that so often stifle the restless human need for transcendence; the opportunity to rise.”

“By seizing the opportunity that is bound up in this crisis, we can unleash the creativity, innovation, and inspiration that are just as much a part of our human birthright as our vulnerability to greed and pettiness. The choice is ours. The responsibility is ours. The future is ours.”

Al was ahead of his time on calling the alarm for climate change, and because of this he suffered for being a lone voice of sanity. Please go read this book and see what amazing information he has to share!

Quotes:

“I have learned that, beyond death and taxes, there is at least one absolutely indisputable fact: Not only does human-caused global warming exist, but it is also growing more and more dangerous, and at a pace that has now made it a planetary emergency.”

“We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Imagine now that they are asking us: ‘What were you thinking? Didn’t you care about our future? Were you really so self-absorbed that you couldn’t – or wouldn’t – stop the destruction of Earth’s environment?’”

“We can answer their questions now by our actions, not merely with our promises. In the process, we can choose a future for which our children will thank us.”

“To see the Earth as it truly is, small and blue and beautiful in that eternal silence where it floats, is to see ourselves as riders on the Earth together, brothers on that bright loveliness in the eternal cold – brothers who know now that they are truly brothers.” – Archibald MacLeish

“But I truly believe I was handed not just a second chance, but an obligation to pay attention to what matters and to do my part to protect and safeguard it, and to do whatever I can at this moment of danger to try to make sure that what is most precious about God’s beautiful Earth – its liveability for us, our children, future generations – doesn’t slip from our hands.”

“The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to its close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences.” – Winston Churchill

“Losing something is one thing; forgetting what you’ve lost is something else again. Maybe I shouldn’t generalize from my personal experience, but I do believe that our civilization has come perilously close to forgetting what we’ve lost and then forgetting that we’ve lost it. This is caused in part by never having the chance to commune with nature. That may sound like so much hippie pap, but I defy anyone to take in this country’s unspoiled treasures and not feel calmed, humbled, and rejuvenated by them.”

“But if you never put yourself in the midst of nature – to understand that its essence is our essence – then you’re inclined to treat it as trivial. You become willing to abuse and destroy it through carelessness, not recognizing that to do so is wrong.”

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.” – Upton Sinclair

“By ignoring scientific consensus on critical issues such as global climate change, [President Bush and his administration] are threatening the Earth’s future.” – part of accusation by 48 Nobel Prize-winning scientists in 2004 against Bush

“We’re told that we have to protect our automobile companies from competition in places like China where, it is said, their leaders don’t care about the environment. In fact, Chinese emissions standards have been raised and already far exceed our own. Ironically, we cannot sell cars made in America to China because we don’t meet their environmental standards.”

“We can’t afford inaction any longer, and, frankly, there’s just no excuse for it. We all want the same thing: for our children and the generations after them to inherit a clean and beautiful planet capable of supporting a healthy human civilization. That goal should transcend politics.”

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