Al Gore Compares Climate Change Skeptics To 20th C

Al Gore Compares Climate Change Skeptics To 20th Century Racists



Al Gore pushed the rhetorical envelope yesterday when he compared skeptics of climate change to racists during the Civil Rights Movement. Gore was sitting down for an interview with Alex Bogusky of the Climate Reality Project, and suggested that young people today whose parents do not believe in climate change are asking the same questions now that race-conscious young people in the 60s asked their parents.

Gore explains:

“There came a time when racist comments would come up in the course of the conversation and in years past they were just natural. Then there came a time when people would say, ‘Hey, man why do you talk that way, I mean that is wrong. I don’t go for that so don’t talk that way around me. I just don’t believe that.’ That happened in millions of conversations and slowly the conversation was won.”

In some circles, according to Gore, just using the words “climate change” is considered taboo, as was the case with Southerners bringing up racism. The interviewer suggested the comparison may not be quite accurate, considering the scientific evidence available for global warming. However, Gore suggested that there is a moral component that both arguments share.

Later in the interview, Gore addressed comments made by Rick Perry about climate change, and saw his remarks as part of “an organized effort to attack the reputation of the scientific community as a whole.”

“It’s not in [scientists'] nature to get ready to constantly defend themselves against political attacks. That’s not want they expected to be doing in their lives.”