II – Chapter 04

0100 [00:21:11] "Do you think that we are reaching that tipping point...to the point that it's not going to be any more denial?" (Vanessa Hauc)

0200 [00:21:16] "We are at a turning point. And we can successfully reach an agreement in this big global negotiation in Paris at the end of November to have a real meaningful turn in the right direction." (Al Gore)

0300 [00:21:33] "And what moment did you decide that you want to leave politics aside and actually move into...into this new career that you have?" (Vanessa Hauc)

0400 [00:21:42] "Well, to be honest, that decision was one made by the Supreme Court of the United States. I enjoyed politics, but this is a mission that I have dedicated myself to. And there is a hunger for information about what's happening, why it's happening and how we can fix it. " (Al Gore)

0500 [00:22:19] "I usually start with a black screen, and trust me, after only two or three times through, you will associate your own way of telling each story with the picture, and it'll come so easily. The way the memory works...." (Al Gore)

0600 [00:22:39] "Ten years ago, I made the decision to launch a training program, so that anyone who wanted learn the skills to communicate to thousands of others could come and get trained. " (Al Gore)

0700 [00:22:56] "Because really all we are trying to do is get the first stage going, which is just waking people up." (woman 4)

0800 [00:23:03] "There were only 50 of them in the beginning. But I look back on that first training and...uh...it makes me smile because they were really pioneers in my way of thinking about it." (Al Gore)

0900 [00:23:16] "This is the first picture that any of us ever saw of the Earth from space. It was taken on Christmas Eve on, 1968, during the Apollo 8 mission. And this was the first time that human beings left near-Earth orbit and went far enough into space to see the planet whole floating in the void. " (Al Gore)

1000 [00:23:42] "And I've always started my slide shows with those pictures. When people can see the Earth from space, they naturally find it easier to feel a connection to our shared home." (Al Gore)

1100 [00:24:02] "And the last image from the Apollo program, the blue marble, the one picture of the entire Earth fully illuminated, completely changed the way people think about the planet. It energized the modern environmental movement. " (Al Gore)

1200 [00:24:17] "I put that picture on my office wall in the West Wing of the White House and I looked at it every day. I called up NASA and said, "Hey, I've been looking at the same picture here and I'm just wondering if there is another one."" (Al Gore)

1300 [00:24:33] "I thought what if we could have images on a daily basis? Might that help to build the commitment people have for saving the climate balance?" (Al Gore)

1400 [00:24:41] "And that's when I learned there is really not another one. That's what led to the idea of the DSCOVR satellite. Not only for these pictures but because of the amazing scientific data gathering that you can do from that special point in space. " (Al Gore)

1500 [00:25:01] "There was opposition in the Congress. I was about to run for President and that may have had something to do with it. But once I finally got it approved, other instruments started being added to it. And one was the crucial early-warning device for solar storms that threaten electric utility grids and pipelines." (Al Gore)

1600 [00:25:30] "And NASA built the satellite, gave it a launch date. And then after the Supreme Court decision and the inauguration of Bush and Cheney, they canceled the satellite launch. " (Al Gore)

1700 [00:25:55] "The new administration, they didn't really realize they were also cancelling this solar-storm early-warning system. And the businesses that depend on it started making a lot of noise. " (Al Gore)

1800 [00:26:25] "And they proposed to resolve that quandary by taking all of the climate instruments and the camera off the satellite, replacing them with the equivalent of sandbags and only leaving the one instrument that these powerful industries wanted to be put into orbit. I thought, "Wow, that is extremism."" (Al Gore)

1900 [00:26:45] "By the end of it, this satellite was put in storage. We had a real opportunity to start building enough public support to really get on track to solving the climate crisis. But we lost that opportunity. And now, we cannot afford to lose it again. " (Al Gore)

2000 [00:27:28] "Okay, Bo. " (Al Gore)

2100 [00:27:42] "This house was my home when I was growing up as a boy. My mother and father built it. LBJ came to this farm. He fell out with my dad when my dad became one of the leading opponents of the Vietnam War, but they served in the Senate together a long time. " (Al Gore)

2200 [00:28:02] "Here is a picture of my dad doing Meet the Press and then, many years later, me doing Meet the Press. And, then, many years later me doing Meet the Press." (Al Gore)

2300 [00:28:09] "Here is a, uh...handwritten note that my second-oldest daughter, Kristin, wrote back in 1987, when we had a family meeting to go over whether or not I should run for President. It's divided into good parts and bad parts. " (Al Gore)

2400 [00:28:32] "Number 1, wants to do it. Number 2,has a good chance. Number 3, a lot of people who know the other candidates don't like them. He might get elected. It would be a good time to run things. He thinks he could solve problems. " (Al Gore)

2500 [00:28:51] "The bad points. Number 1, he would not be here a lot. Number 2, it would be hard to get more publicity than some of the others. Number 3, would not like to have Social Security around all the time. " (Al Gore)

2600 [00:28:09] "Meaning the secret service, of course. " (Al Gore)

2700 [00:29:20] "Just moments ago, I spoke with George W. Bush and congratulated him on becoming the 43rd President of the United States. Neither he nor I anticipated this long and difficult road. Let there be no doubt while I strongly disagree with the courts decision, I accept it. " (Al Gore)

2800 [00:29:38] "I accept the finality of this outcome, which will be ratified next Monday in the Electoral College. And tonight, for the sake of our unity as a people and the strength of our democracy, I offer my concession. " (Al Gore)

2900 [00:29:53] "I had a detailed plan for my life. But it turned out that life had a different plan for me." (Al Gore)