Al Gore

"What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know. It's what we know for sure that just ain't so.”. This quote was said by the famous and widely popular author Mark Twain. Mark Twain is saying that it is not what we don't understand that gets people into trouble but it is things we do know and we choose to ignore it that gets us in trouble. The theme of this quote relates very strongly to the idea that we as humans know that pollution is bad for the environment but we choose to do so anyway because it is convenient for us. Human ignorance has dated far back in history and throughout our history we have had someone that has opened our eyes. During the era of pesticide use there was Rachel Carson and she led a revolution against pesticide use but today we have a new figure to follow. Al Gore, form democratic presidential candidate, has shown us the dangers we are creating for our future.

Al Gore is not a random citizen of the United States who decided one day to speak out against something he strongly disagreed with. On the contrary he is a popular person who has legitimate power to make a difference. As many people know he was involved in the controversial election of 2000. He was the democratic representative for the president’s position. He also held the position of vice president from 1993 to 2000 under Bill Clinton. Al Gore also served in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. Throughout his lengthy career in politics he always sided with the environment. Just recently Al Gore was given a great award that only a few people have been given. Al Gore was given the Nobel’s Peace Prize which is only given out to people that have made a difference in society (The New York Times, Jamie Baldwin). Al Gore won it because he made people aware of global warming.

Al Gore has a long career in politics but he does not believe that it is not a political issue but more of a moral problem. Al Gore also believes that global warming is not a political issue but a moral issue (An Inconvenient Truth). This is very true for many reasons. Politicians can make laws or programs that can influence people to stop polluting the planet but in the end it comes down to whether people are going to follow this law. If the people do not support the Political Program it basically makes them pointless and useless which leads to the programs cut. Upton Sinclair also stated Gore also quotes Upton Sinclair in saying that it is difficult to get a man to understand something when his paycheck is based on not knowing about it. This statement also aids in the fact that this is a moral issue. Gore is a strong believer in that employers are the basis of change. He says that if employers enforce change than the employees will follow. He uses effective ways in convincing the public that the dangers of global warming are not a laughing matter. One way he shows effectivness is using the future. He shows reliable graphs that are related to our time period. One example is the future of temperature with the rate of carbon dioxide being released into the air. Another effective way is through other species. In one example he shows a polar bear trying to find ice to rest on but because of global warming the ice is brittle and breaks into pieces. The polar bear is forced to contnue to swim

The modern day environmental movement fueled by Al Gores innovative speeches have had man people throughout the United Sates buzzing over each and every lecture he presents. Al Gore’s famous speech is so popular that one of his public speeches at the University of Toronto led to the crash of a website that sold tickets online. Despite the impact Al Gore has had through his speeches, he also made an impact in the political arena as well. In 1994 Gore opened a program called the GLOBE program that wanted to educate and solve environmental problems through the Internet. This program is still around and is well known for its accurate measurements in science, creating visuals such as graphs and maps by the Internet, displaying information online and available to the public, and intermingling