[Opinion] The Vague Truth About Gore

Al Gore, who had lost the 2000 presidential election by a hair to President George W. Bush, is gaining popularity thanks to his documentary film “An Inconvenient Truth,” which he starred in. The documentary film, which presents the danger of global warming as shocking but also in a funny way, won the Academy award for a documentary feature. At the end of the documentary, Gore suggests some “carbon- neutral” lifestyles: using fluorescent lamps instead of incandescent lights, drying your clothes in the sun instead of using drying machines, and driving hybrid cars.

On the other hand, Gore, who reportedly has lectured more than 1000 times on the topic of global warming, is an alleged hypocrite whose words and actions are inconsistent. The conservative think tank Tennessee Center for Policy Research recently reported that the Gore’s electricity bill was about $1,359 USD. This is about 20 times more than the average American family uses. Gore explained that “the high electric consumption is because of his office at home,” which sounds more like a lame excuse. His house, which he shares with his wife alone, has a floor space of more than 280 pyeong, with 20 bedrooms and 8 bathrooms.

Also, as for the movie “An Inconvenient Truth,” Gore is facing criticism from scientists. Scientists claim some points of the film are exaggerated. Without citing a specific time frame, Al Gore predicted in his statement that the world’s seas would rise by 6m, which will consequently cause parts of New York and Florida sink beneath the waves, whereas the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a United Nations body that studies global warming, forecasted that the world’s seas would rise a maximum of 58cm until the late 21st Century.

Although Gore is from a considerably prestigious family, politically, he is a follower of the progressive Democratic Party line. The same applies to the former president John F. Kennedy, U.S. Senate John Kerry, and the first female Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat who wears Armani suits.

Gore was born to his father, a senator from Tennessee and his mother, who is a lawyer. He graduated from Harvard University and succeeded politically by making the questions of environment and information superhighway important issues. However, when was shouting to the world to dry their clothes in the sun, he himself did not care about his electricity consumption. Of course, the same may well be said of plenty of left-leading politicians in Korea as well.

shchung@donga.com