Al Gore, in his response to Bill O'Reilly, begins: "Last week on his show Bill O'Reilly asked, 'Why has southern New York turned into the tundra?' and then said he had a call in to me. I appreciate the question."

Portrait, Al Gore, 11/03/09. (photo: Graeme Robertson)

An Answer for Bill O'Reilly

By Al Gore, Chairman, Current TV

02 February 11

ast week on his show Bill O'Reilly asked, "Why has southern New York turned into the tundra?" and then said he had a call into me. I appreciate the question.

As it turns out, the scientific community has been addressing this particular question for some time now and they say that increased heavy snowfalls are completely consistent with what they have been predicting as a consequence of man-made global warming:

"In fact, scientists have been warning for at least two decades that global warming could make snowstorms more severe. Snow has two simple ingredients: cold and moisture. Warmer air collects moisture like a sponge until it hits a patch of cold air. When temperatures dip below freezing, a lot of moisture creates a lot of snow."

"A rise in global temperature can create all sorts of havoc, ranging from hotter dry spells to colder winters, along with increasingly violent storms, flooding, forest fires and loss of endangered species."

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+105 # J.R. 2011-02-02 22:12

Hey Bill, can you hear me over here? The term a lot of scientists are using these days just to avoid getting side tracked by pimps is GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE. Overall the earth is warming, but that means some places get more rain.... and yes, snow, other places get less. Wilder swings in weather. And so on. Why don't you look at the empirical science instead of asking grumpy anti-intellectual questions? Do you have something against science?

J.R.

+88 # AndreM5 2011-02-03 07:56

However, Bill-O wasn't actually asking a question. He was making a snarky slur as if a big snowstorm is proof Gore's message is wrong. His audience is limited but so is their understanding.

+32 # doslobos 2011-02-05 03:35

Since Mr. O'Reilly doesn't understand that the moon is responsible for the ebb and flow of the tides, he clearly has no apparent understanding--nor interest--in science.

+10 # X Dane 2011-02-06 16:21

I agree with most of the comments made here; but I am shocked that only a handful read or commented on Johann Hari's great article (2/4) about how the English people forced some of the companies, (VodaPhone being one) and other deadbeats, who refuse to pay taxes. They organized on twitter and face book, and staged sit ins at the stores.

When irritated customer asked why, they were told, how the taxes Vodaphone DIDN'T pay, caused a lot of poor people to lose their apartments because they lost the subsedies, so the customers joined the protesters. They were very effective.

WE NEED TO DO THAT HERE TOO!!!!!!!!!

PLEASE READ THE ARTICLE AND SEE IF YOU DON'T AGREE. IT IS NOT ENOUGH TO WRITE ANGY COMMENTS.
WE NEED CONSTRUCTIVE ACTION

+84 # Jorge 2011-02-02 22:13

Poor mega-millionaire Bill O, he just reads what is written for him by Exxon, the Cato Institute, etc. Matter of fact, how many of the bought-and-paid-for media celebs do not get paid millions to promote the corporate "news"? With his millions Bill-O can live in a huge plastic bubble when the climate worsens.

+17 # Interested Observer 2011-02-04 15:46

In the Bill O'Reilly culture, the one for which he purports to be a warrior, the fact that he is a multi-millionaire is PROOF that he is right.

+68 # X Dane 2011-02-02 22:53

Bill O'Reilly is not as intelligent as I thought. For a long time scientists have explained that the warming of the planet causes the warming of the oceans and therefore much heavier precipitation.

Much more snow in the winter and heavier rainfall in the summer, causing lots more flooding in spring, summer and fall.

In resent years we have seen worse storms and flooding. It is frightening what is happening in Australia. The flooding there cover areas larger than France and Germany combined, and now a huge cyclone is bearing down on them.

In areas of Europe DROUGHT is the danger Slovakia is one country in trouble.

But I think the term Climate Change is a better term, since a number of people do not understand global warming.

+41 # lotuslover 2011-02-02 23:12

Doesn't this presume Bill O'Reilly can read?

+58 # PatriotPaul 2011-02-02 23:43

It's rather ironic that conservatives actively worked to change the term "global warming" to "climate change" as it seemed to reflect less of a man-made cause and sounded less frightening.

Now it's kind of biting them in the butt because severe cold weather and snow IS a component of man-made global warming, but climate change terminology better describes and encompasses this.

Paul Harris
Author, "Diary From the Dome, Reflections on Fear and Privilege During Katrina"

+81 # ER444 2011-02-03 01:01

It has been the craziest winter I have experienced in my 57 years on this earth, and you just have to ask the good people of north eastern Australia what they think after the largest storm ever recorded pounds the already flood ridden region if this weather is a little "unusual" if not freaky. The thing I don't understand is, any so called "solutions" to a "possible" global warming won't hurt anybody. On the contrary, it will start new megaindustries and create millions of new jobs. Look at Germany. The solar cell industry is booming and has created work for hundreds of thousands of people. The USA is importing wind turbines from whom ? Siemens !! Whether the doomsayers are right or not, ignoring the possibilities this new way of thinking creates puts the USA way behind the competition. I doesn't take a genius to see that oil is finite and running out, look at the price... with China and India screaming every day for MORE. The fact is the creation of clean renewable energy creates millions of jobs makes all of us less dependant on foreign oil, and just suppose the doomsayers are right ? One of these days it will be TOO LATE.

+53 # Donald Pardew 2011-02-03 01:03

Al, you are going to have to dumb it down even more if you want any chance O'Reilly will understand it.

+33 # H.M.S. 2011-02-03 01:31

I'm not that sure Bill could understand this, however.

+40 # Johnny K 2011-02-03 01:48

Just look at the plight of the poler bears in Alaska. What's going to happen to them?

-22 # vitobonespur 2011-02-03 09:32

Quoting

Just look at the plight of the poler bears in Alaska. What's going to happen to them?

I suspect they'll probably move to the cooler climate in Florida! At least the POLAR bears. I'm not sure what the POLER bears will do.

+25 # J.Lindsley 2011-02-03 10:56

[
quote name="vitobonespur"]Quoting

Just look at the plight of the poler bears in Alaska. What's going to happen to them?

I suspect they'll probably move to the cooler climate in Florida! At least the POLAR bears. I'm not sure what the POLER bears will do.

Remember the polar bear in the TV Series
LOST? In a tropical setting!
Prediction in fiction?

Instead of cutting Education...we should be putting a total "SURGE" miltary progam to overcome the dumbing down of the past 5 decades.

It has resulted in a House of Representatives who are under educated and don't believe in Evolution...or as they call it EEEVilution.

There are consequences from our actions....or inactions.

We are in crises in this nation.

+1 # Vicki 2011-02-06 21:40

"the poler bears"

'Polar' is the correct spelling...the bears of the North Pole.

Sorry, Johnny, I can't help myself.

+41 # Ralph Averill 2011-02-03 01:53

Thanks, Al. But as simple as your explanation of an incredibly complicated process was, I don't think it was simple enough for O'Reilly, or his audience.

+13 # Terrapin 2011-02-03 08:50

Oh, please ... don't confuse U.S. with fact. This is a communist, socialist, leftist, radical, feminist, Islamofascist plot to destroy OUR American Way of Life®. No doubt Bill Ayers and the WEATHER underground are behind this.

+41 # J.Lindsley 2011-02-03 04:13

Bill O'Reilly....that sir is basic science!
You should have understood this years ago.
One learns by asking questions; So Al Gore has given you the straight on truth that most of us perceive when we recognize extremes.

You are one of the extremes of distorted and ignorant commentators.

At least you did ask the question. That alone is advancement. Congratulations , Bill. I give you a silver star

Go for the Gold, man.

+49 # Richard Schmidt 2011-02-03 05:18

But the right wing is in denial, mainly because their corporate owners won't allow them to use their brains.

+41 # Glen 2011-02-03 05:19

Consider weather chaos world-wide. Consider how rapidly those weather patterns are developing and general climates changing, and have been for a couple or three decades. I keep it to those decades because that is the time period when it became very noticeable. If anybody travels at all, and discusses climate with locals in many countries and islands, there would be few places where there has not been changes seen.

Bill O'Reilly is an entertainer who kicks up controversy. He doesn't really CARE about any of this.

+47 # myungbluth 2011-02-03 05:31

Why does Al Gore think that scientific thought or actual evidence will sway the opinions of those who, in the face of overwhelming scientific agreement that ALREADY exists, reject an idea they simply do not WANT to believe in? When have the likes of Beck, Hannity, Palin, O'Reilly, etc. - shown an interest in facts? Facts are the first victims of the "death panels" and we now live in an alternate universe!

+22 # deadhead 2011-02-03 05:54

That's too simple for Oh'Really to understand.

-77 # gcavener 2011-02-03 05:54

In other words, absolutely any weather phenomenom is proof of global warming, right? Man is destroying the earth, so must pay penance to Al Gore and others who produce nothing but hot air. (major source of global warming)

+51 # Bruce Gruber 2011-02-03 07:20

Cute - but misinformed ... Violent weather patterns were predicted as part of climate change. Climate change was calculated to have been influenced (as the ozone layer we rarely discuss) by increased carbon dioxide from industrial (oil burning) processes including hundreds of millions of vehicles. Scientists have NOT claimed that there are no recurrent natural cycles in earth climate or weather patterns.Some research suggests that man's UNnatural addition of pollutants to the process is contributing to possible acceleration of change with degradation.
Remember Kodak's great success gave us Love Canal and the cancers that followed. The industrial successes in Cleveland contributed to MANY Cuyahoga River fires (as in other places). Copper Hill, TN exhibits clear results of corporate progress on the landscape. Exxon (Valdez) damages have yet to be reversed (or paid for). BP's contributions to Gulf of Mexico 'natural processes' are unconvincingly derided by directed opposition research by shills for the petroleum industry ... and on and on. You and I may be guilty of producing "nothing but hot air", but Al Gore has served as a public servant, elected official and educator who likely deserves better than uninformed snark.

+11 # pollu\y 2011-02-03 10:40

kodak had nothing to do with love canal. kodak is/was in rochester, ny; love canal is/was in niagara falls, ny. love canal was the creation of hooker chemical, renamed occidental chemical. it doesn't change the fact that love canal is a dump site, as is much of the rest of western ny.

0 # Jean Louise 2011-02-07 08:49

Amen, amen, amen.

-24 # deerpeer 2011-02-03 06:00

The Global Warmists forgot to figure in the RIMM -- the Rising Idiocy of the Masses and the Media.
DP

+33 # ER444 2011-02-03 07:53

No they don't. That is exactly what we are talking about here. Deerpeer, you aren't listening. Bill O and his cohorts at faux news ARE the leaders of RIMM.

+31 # AML 2011-02-03 06:15

Dear Al,

I hope Beck doesn't link you to the uprising in Egypt...

+48 # Bruce Gruber 2011-02-03 06:29

Limbaugh, Beck, O'Reilly, Coulter, and their ilk all use the same technique. A question about a THING is linked with an accusation about a PERSON. Next, offer a baited challenge for someone to take the red herring. If the bait is taken, it is ignored or ridiculed - never debated with a challenger.
Al Gore took public lead during the Clinton years on climate change issues in connection with health, world hunger, air quality and environmental degradation. Public policies and priorities surrounding these issues collide head on with private enterprise costs of operation. There's no surprise that opposition is ginned up by PR campaigns from major corporations and their pretend research foundations. It is inevitable. That shills for these economic rapists can perform daily talking points for radio and tv consumption and agitation is capitalism at its most effective. Joe McCarthy proved how effective the technique can be.
What confounds me is how my fellow Americans can be so consistently convinced to accept over-simplified and accusatory rhetoric as PROOF of anything ... without question or debate. Rush says he can tell them what they need to know with one brain hidden up his, well, you know! Neal says 'don't believe anything I say unless you can prove it for yourself'. I prefer the latter as entertainment (sic).

+33 # Jorge 2011-02-03 07:50

"What confounds me is how my fellow Americans can be so consistently convinced to accept over-simplified and accusatory rhetoric as PROOF of anything ... without question or debate."
Thom Hartmann says 91% of talk radio is right-wing radio (deniers of man-made climate change). Even PBS evening news (it was supposed to be commercial-free) is brought to you by Chevron. Ordinary folks are bombarded with Rush/Bill-O/Beck, Faux News (at the gym, at airports, military buildings, etc.). Driving down I-5 from SF to LA there are many RWNJ radio stations and no Progressive stations (just the weak station in SF and then finally one Progressive station in LA). Sad. No chance to hear the facts, just Big Oil/MIC propaganda. RW control of media is complete.

+35 # agronomo 2011-02-03 06:34

There was a political cartoon recently in the Investors Business Daily that showed Al Gore bundled up for winter weather with his extended tongue stuck to a frozen pole labeled "global warming". What part of CLIMATE CHANGE do these idiots not understand? Perhaps some off-season tornadoes in Oklahoma would get their attention. Not that I wish anyone harm, but they did vote for Inhoff.

+23 # dean 2011-02-03 07:51

the right wing herd doesn't care about the facts, no matter how carefully they're presented. Mr Gruber is spot on about their ad hominem way of retaliating.

the herd only cares about its own momentum and power. facts are irrelevant, and any harm done by ignoring the facts is collateral damage. the herd is the thing.

Mike Malloy touted Eric Hoffer's "The True Believer" a while back. it explains what motivates any mass movement. that includes the big ugly ones in the past, the present, and sadly, the future.

+26 # fredboy 2011-02-03 08:16

Today's news reflects Al's warnings: massive winter storm in the US and massive killer storm in Australia.

Yet even at the local level people don't--or don't want to--get it.

Let's remember the ultimate truth: Nature bats last.

+26 # Philip Hordiner 2011-02-03 08:17

It is obvious that the world is flat until some "nutcase" says it is round. This is a threat to our reality so we punish the messenger. Eventually the evidence is so clear that it becomes common knowledge.
Bill is still a "flat earth" person.
Let us hope that he doesn't influence too many people for too long.

+25 # Jim Rocket 2011-02-03 08:27

I'll venture that the right wing leaders DO believe in Climate Change but they're rich enough that they know it will be a mere inconvenience for them. By leaders I mean the Koch brothers etc. not their mouthpieces. If you want O'Reilly to change his opinion send him a bigger check than the one he gets from Murdoch. I predict his enlightenment will be swift.

+25 # Homer Peters 2011-02-03 09:24

Thank God for the brains and sanity on RSN!
To Bill-O and his ilk the truth is really an "Inconvenient Truth!"

+20 # Foxtrottango 2011-02-03 10:33

What in the heck is Al Gore doing in direct communicating with one of the sorriest greediest, racist and bigot that only the FOXnewsKKKrap is able to hire to do it's dirty work.

I feel it would be beneath Al Gore to even mention the sorry racist creep!

The sorry right wing talk shows hosts have already degraded America into the muck!

+10 # DurangoKid 2011-02-03 10:42

Mr. O only cares about winning against the humans and he thinks that's enough. Yes, nature bats last and nature does not negotiate. Beat the humans and you still have to answer to your Mother.

+19 # Robyn 2011-02-03 15:20

Bill O'Reilly is either crazy or stupid...or maybe both. Here in Australia, we have just had two states flooded, both resulting in terrible deaths, bushfires and a huge cyclone. In the US, there are major snowstorms, we are experiencing heatwaves and cold never before seen. Climate change is real and like it or not, we have to live with the concequences of decades of pollution and wasteful practices that have hurt the planet.

+15 # Rara Avis 2011-02-03 15:41

gcavaner:

It is not a question of penance. I also think that Global Climate Change more accurately covers it. Why do people note the weather on a particular day in a particular place and either refute or prove Global Climate Change based on only that? Mr. Gore and all those scientists understand that this is a global phenomenon that is linked to human interaction with the planet's environment. If Mr. gcavaner either wishes to ignore what is happening and why or if he wishes to feel guilt and do penance he is free to do that. Neither will solve the problem or help humans and the life on the planet deal with Global Climate Change. Mr. O'Reilly has the same disease.

Can't conservatives be more intelligent and creative problem solvers? I just don't understand how they can all be so dim witted? It is a real achievement. This is not with any disrespect but just a factual observation as to Global Climate Change and the uniform conservative refusing to face the plain and observable facts.

-16 # Tucker 2011-02-03 16:08

If the environmentalis t crowd is seriously concerned about climate change they should stop sicking the dogs on nations who attempt to address their need to industrialize by utilizing ZERO CARBON nuclear technology!! Whether or man made climate change is "real" or not, the political forces behind the expansion of environmentalis t policy have proven, by their ignorant, racist and irrational attacks on the developing nations nuclear programs, that they care less about reducing pollutants than they do about maintaining geo-political control over nations and reducing self-determination and sovereignty in a global system leaning towards facism. The entire muslim world clearly sees this contradiction, fears the implications of americas adoption of this malthusian version of environmental
policy, and accurately views the lip service paid to environmental concern to be political subterfuge.

+7 # Jayne Milner 2011-02-06 17:24

Actually they burn huge amounts of diesel fuel to mine uranium ore, then burn huge amounts of diesel to crush the ore rock uranium occurs in, then they cart it off to a place like Oak Ridge, TN where there burn vast amounts of coal to make all the electricity needed to mill, process and refine the uranium. They have used up much of the best uranium ore and the weak ores they have now don't even break even. They burn more oil and coal energy producing nuclear fuel rods then they get out. Nuclear power is a storage/transfer system - not an energy source. Like hydrogen, where one needs an energy source to break the hydrogen out of water, the nuclear power cycle really runs on fossil fuel. They would be better off just burning the coal and oil to produce electricity rather than burning it to create nuclear fuel rods - because of the dangerous radioactive waste generated from nuclear power. Solar, wind, tidal, geothermal, biomass, etc. are real, clean, safe, renewable energy sources which must replace dirty polluting fossil fuel and nuclear if life on earth is to survive.

+18 # nobushit 2011-02-03 16:40

Get the Fairness Doctrine back!

These RW radio talkshow producers and TV spinmeisters like Bill O, Hannity, Beck, etc. would have to give equal time to opposing points of view. This was the true lasting legacy of Ronnie Ray-Gun. There were always RW whackjobs on the radio before Reagan. They were in tiny no-power stations in the deep South, for the most part. After the fall of the Fairness Doctrine, upsprings Faux, like some kind of poisonous mushroom, and the voice of opposition went silent, at least on the public/cable airwaves. We still have cable, at least for another year or two. Write/email your Congressperson.

+13 # Ezev 2011-02-03 20:36

If O'Lylie could make money by saying there is climate change or global warming, he would be standing there with his hand out. He is a media prostitute and that is all that he is.

+7 # Mac 2011-02-04 22:24

When are you Americans going to learn. The right is operating in a bubble. They have their own TV, Radio, Blogs and Papers. They have convinced everyone in that bubble that anything written outside that bubble is hogwash. You need to start lobbying for much stricter reporting laws. When talk show hosts make wild claims on supposed news shows they need to be accountable. Both sides are spouting wild propaganda backed up by their own wild propaganda. So anything you say here will have no impact on the followers of the Reilly's and Becks of the world.

+3 # antineocon 2011-02-05 01:59

far as i can see everyone here thinks Oriellys a jerk. why is he so popoular then please tell me

+2 # Progresso 2011-02-05 08:00

Bill-O is seen many places on many shows, not just his own lame show vs. the few Progressives (

+9 # jerry6665 2011-02-05 12:52

one of the reasons the hannity/limbaugh/ etc crowd is so popular is because they give their programs away for free to radio stations who then make money selling ad space and pocketing the money.

in marketing, you learn from experience that repeating something 9 times finally gets that 'something' noticed by the brain. 10 more times and it becomes mired in your hardwired brain as 'truth'. after that, change is almost impossible.

so, between the barrage on radio that can play in the background of blue collar work, the faux news and the unending investments by corporations to keep the palins, limbaughs, et al, in the news and in front of the eyes of the nation, it is not surprising that many are 'convinced'.

the fairness doctrine was valuable and would help stem the tide were it brought back. but, face it...we are no longer a brave nation. if we were, we wouldn't allow our nation to be usurped by greedy corporations and people like these who are destroying us from within while pretending it's for our own good!

+4 # George D 2011-02-05 12:35

The answer is simple; The "poll" is a tiny subset of America, known as the "cable TV viewer" and there is a correlation between low IQ and intellect of T.V. viewers of a certain type. Popular? I'd say a big fish in a small pond; Or perhaps "gene pool" is a better analogy.

Quoting

far as i can see everyone here thinks Oriellys a jerk. why is he so popoular then please tell me

+7 # George D 2011-02-05 10:51

There is a saying that I learned a number of years ago, in a philosophy class; "Knowledge is it's own reward". I have often pondered that statement and, while it's true that for many things, knowledge can work to assist and guide you as an individual, the inability to get others to comprehend and act in the best interest of a collective group, is where this statement breaks down. We live in a divided society and world. We have people, (corporations, politicians and "news" read as propaganda organizations) doing their best to keep us divided and keep half of us (if not all of us) dumb and in denial.
Global climate change, initially stated for what it actually is, "Global Warming" is a fairly easy concept to understand and to connect the dots on; But only if people of reasonable intellect that are open to hearing the science behind such discussions, listen and understand the message. That will never happen when the message is intentionally distorted and undermined by professional propagandist with another agenda. Welcome to the new media of the U.S. with the O'Reilly's, Beck's, Palin's, Hannity's etc, in control.

-5 # reiverpacific 2011-02-05 12:32

Not to condone the likes of "Pill" O'Reilly or anything (very much to the contrary -but then FOX "News" should really be renamed the "Fantasy Channel") however, I'd like to know -and have asked many pundits and "thinkers" right and what passes for left in the FSA ("Fragmented States of America", as I now call it) whether Al "Mr Environment" Gore has divested himself of his and his familys' shares in Occidental Petroleum who were driving several tribes in the Colombian Amazon region to threaten if mass suicide by persistent test-drilling for oil in their previously virgin rain forest, sacred to them and their ancient mode of existence. Can anybody answer that -or is this just another INCONVENIENT TRUTH in the asking?

-1 # George D 2011-02-06 16:39

Sometimes a good question is asked in a way that offends people. I believe that you are addressing the idea of hypocrisy and not the topic and idea of Global Climate Change and what to do about it. This is a tactic that is used by both sides and it isn't very helpful to a good debate.
What AL Gore does or doesn't do has no bearing on the validity of Climate Change. This is not a game of how many "gotcha" (as Sarah Palin likes to say) points one can score. It's about serious issues that need unified solutions and dialog about them.
Again;
"Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people".....
reiverpacific said..."Not to condone the likes of "Pill" O'Reilly or anything (very much to the contrary -but then FOX "News" should really be renamed the "Fantasy Channel") however, I'd like to know -and have asked many pundits and "thinkers" right and what passes for left in the FSA ("Fragmented States of America", as I now call it) whether Al "Mr Environment" Gore has divested himself of his and his familys' shares in Occidental Petroleum who were driving several tribes in the Colombian Amazon region to threaten if mass suicide by persistent test-drilling for oil in their previously virgin rain forest, sacred to them and their ancient mode of existence. ....is this just another INCONVENIENT TRUTH in the asking?"

+4 # Vicki 2011-02-06 21:48

....is this just another INCONVENIENT TRUTH in the asking?"

I don't know the truth about Occidental's social atrocities. I do know it's an oil company.

Nevertheless, what Al Gore warns about global climate change is fact. And he's not the only voice out there.....just the easiest to pick on.

Whether or not you respect Al Gore is irrelevant. He speaks the truth about
climate change, as do millions of others. So argue (or not) with them instead. Al Gore's associations don't change the facts.

+1 # nimbleswitch 2011-02-07 03:35

Bill O'Reilly is the champion of Idiocracy. The movie was right--that's where we're heading.

+1 # Jean Louise 2011-02-07 09:00

Hmmm, well, let's see...
Al Gore:Harvard University graduate, U.S. Senator, two term Vice President of the U.S., Presidential candidate who had election stolen from him by a Supreme Court who thinks corporations are people, Academy Award winner, Nobel Peace Prize winner, author, scholar who actually studies scientific evidence...
and
Bill O'Reilly.....
Think I'm going with Al on this one.

-1 # dragoon 2011-02-07 11:11

Al, is there anything that could happen that would make you think twice about the weather? If I say, "...it's getting colder, you say, (valley girl fashion): "Yeah, get a grip." If I say, "Snowier!" You say, "Gag me with a spoon, it's snowier because its WARMIER, Duhuh!" If I say "The World's temperature has waxed and waned for millions of years, big time, all before technology," you say, "Ohmigod, the last turnip truck just left the station, duhuh. People fart methane, don't you know. Talk about greenhouse gas! There are 7 billion farters that weren't here before, you moron, duhuh....!"

0 # lnason@umassd.edu 2011-02-13 05:27

Gore is correct about increased precipitation -- most alarmists have predicted greater precipitation in North America due to global warming for the last several decades. Gore is however incorrect about that alarmists have been predicting more snow (and lower temperatures). Oppenheimer notoriously predicted snow-free winters a decade ago and virtually all alarmists have predicted higher winter temperatures in temperate regions.

Since it is clear that the actual data do not fit the reality on the ground, the movement has made a subtle shift to "climate change" and focused more on the unpredictabilit y of extreme events. Unfortunately for Gore, the work Pielke and others has shown conclusively that we are not experiencing more extreme events than we have experienced in the past.

This does not imply that global warming theorists are wrong (they may well be correct), but it does prove that we do not yet understand climate science well enough to make reliable predictions about what will happen. Those who claim, like Gore, to have a crystal ball are either trying to use science to further a political agenda or failing to understand the science.

Lee Nason
New Bedford, Massachusetts

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