II – Chapter 07

0100 [00:44:11] "But let's step back and take a global view of the increasing temperatures and the extra heat energy. 93% of all this heat energy is going into the oceans. And it has several consequences. A direct consequence is that when ocean-base storms cross much warmer ocean waters the storms get stronger and more destructive. " (Al Gore)

0200 [00:44:33] "Just a few years ago Superstorm Sandy in the Atlantic crossed areas of the ocean 9 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than normal. And it caused tremendous destruction in New Jersey and in New York. " (Al Gore)

0300 [00:44:48] "And, by the way, ten years ago, when the movie An Inconvenient Truth came out, the single most criticized scene in that movie was an animated scene showing that the combination of sea level rise and storm surge would put the ocean water into the 9/11 memorial site which was then under construction. And people said, "That's ridiculous. What a terrible exaggeration!" " (Al Gore)

0400 [00:45:18] "Something happened last night at one of the most iconic location in New York, the World Trade Center, Ground Zero. A flood of water with a current so strong, it flooded the reconstruction. " (woman 6)

0500 [00:45:31] "There is a wakeup call here, and that is climate change and our vulnerability to it. It was true, ten years ago, it was true five years ago. It is undeniable today. " (Andrew Cuomo)

0600 [00:45:48] "Years before the scientists predicted that this would happen. One year later, in the Philippines, Super Typhoon Haiyan crossed the areas of the Pacific three degrees Celsius warmer than normal, and it became the strongest and most destructive ocean-based storm ever to make landfall. " (Al Gore)

0700 [00:46:07] "In the city of Tacloban and nearby areas, there were 4.1 million climate refugees. Thousands of people were killed. " (Al Gore)

0800 [00:46:34] "Even just remembering it now, after more than two years, just remembering the sound of the wind." (Cristina Gonzales Romualdez )

0900 [00:46:51] "And then the water came after. Like...like wall of water just rushing in. " (Alfred Romualdez)

1000 [00:47:08] "That's why we have to climb to the roof. In fact, I was shouting, you know, giving them orders, "Break that ceiling, we've got to get out of here and we've got to climb up."" (Alfred Romualdez)

1100 [00:47:31] "If we went to any other place, we would have died. Because that had a concrete structure, and that's where we were able to climb up. " (Alfred Romualdez)

1200 [00:47:48] "People are...are...are running, are crying because they don't know what happened to their family. We see a lot of dead people. I saw Sir Alfred helping...helping the other people to...to..what do I call this...to..." (John Leonard Chan)

1300 [00:48:10] "Recover the bodies?" (Al Gore)

1400 [00:48:11] "To recover the bodies. Then...then...sorry. " (John Leonard Chan)

1500 [00:48:15] "No, that's okay. It's okay. Thank God you are safe." (Al Gore)

1600 [00:48:19] "Actually, sir, I'm so...I'm so scared when I'm telling this to my friend..." (John Leonard Chan)

1700 [00:48:24] "It brings back, doesn't it?" (Al Gore)

1800 [00:48:25] "Yes, sir. I felt so, so scared. " (Al Gore)

1900 [00:49:27] "When Tacloban was hit, I knew that I wanted to organize a training here in the Philippines to meet face-to-face with the people were on the front lines of this and empower them to translate an excruciatingly painful experience into a focus on changing policy, confronting public officials. I don't...I don't know any other way to do it. " (Al Gore)

2000 [00:50:01] "The loss of life was very tragic and what a blessing it was that Pope Francis came to Tacloban, to the ground zero of that tragedy and delivered a very powerful message that the gravest effects of crisis are visited upon the poorest people. This is true everywhere in the world. " (Al Gore)

2100 [00:50:24] "Now the second order consequences of the warming oceans include some that we are all experiencing on regular basis now. When the temperature goes up, the water vapor coming off the oceans into the sky is increasing significantly. This means that every storm is different now because it takes place in a warmer and wetter world. " (Al Gore)

2200 [00:50:49] "Water vapor is often funneled thousands of kilometers from the oceans over the land, and then much more of it falls at the same time. Look at this downpour that hit Tucson, Arizona, and watch the water splash off the city. They are now calling these things "rain bombs." " (Al Gore)

2300 [00:51:16] "Huston has been hit between May of last year and May of this year, two 1-in-500-year floods and 1-in-1000-year downpour. Now, that's unusual. Almost Noah-like. " (Al Gore)

2400 [00:51:34] "This was in Spain last fall. In Chile, last year. Epic event. And now, today. There are water rescues underway in southeast Louisiana. " (Al Gore)

2500 [00:52:16] "Now, the same heat that is bringing all that water vapor off the oceans is sucking the soil moisture out of the ground. And it's making the droughts deeper and longer. In China, in Vietnam and Thailand, and all around the world. And where there is drought, the vegetation dries out and the fires increase. " (Al Gore)

2600 [00:52:48] "Every night on the evening news is like a nature hike through the Book of Revelations. But the dots are very seldom connected in the media. This is global warming. When we have scientists tell us the dots connect, we need to have in our democracy a conversation about cause and effect. " (Al Gore)

2700 [00:53:14] "Let's look for example at the story of what happened in Syria. From 2006 to 2010, they had a record breaking drought. This farmer is one of many who lost his farm. 60% of all the farms in Syria were destroyed. 80% of all their livestock were killed." (Al Gore)

2800 [00:53:38] "A climate-exacerbated drought during that period contributed to the displacement of about 2 million people before conflict broke out. " (man 14)

2900 [00:53:46] "Yes, many other causes. The dictator there is a bad guy, it's a multi-sided civil war, and all of the rest. But this drought is the worst in at least 900 years. As far back as the records go. It's unprecedented. " (Al Gore)

3000 [00:54:05] "And, of course, since then the country has been plunged into horrific civil war. " (man 14)

3100 [00:54:14] "The next generation, if they live in a world of floods and storms and rising seas and droughts and refugees by the millions escaping unlivable conditions, destabilizing countries around the world, they would be well-justified in looking back at us and asking, "What were you thinking? Couldn't you hear what the scientists were saying? Couldn't you hear what Mother Nature was screaming at you?"" (Al Gore)