I – Chapter 15

0100 [00:42:23] "Two canaries in the coal mine. The first one is in Arctic. This of course is the Arctic Ocean, the floating ice cap. Greenland on its side there. " (Al Gore)

0300 [00:42:51] "These are called drunken trees just going every which ways. This is not caused by wind damage or alcohol consumption. These trees put their roots down in the permafrost. And the permafrost is thawing. And so they just go every which way now. " (Al Gore)

0400 [00:43:13] "This building was built on the permafrost and has collapsed as the permafrost thaws. This woman's house has had to be abandoned. The pipeline is suffering a great deal of structural damage. " (Al Gore)

0500 [00:43:28] "And incidentally, the oil that they want to produce in that protected area in Northern Alaska, which I hope they don't, they have to depend on trucks to go in and out there, and the truck go over the frozen ground." (Al Gore)

0600 [00:43:42] "This shows the number of days that the tundra in Alaska is frozen enough to drive on it. Thirty-five years ago, 225 days a year. Now it's below 75 days a year because the spring comes earlier and the fall comes later and the temperatures just keep on going up. " (Al Gore)

0700 [00:44:04] "I went up to the North Pole. I went under that ice cap in a nuclear submarine that surfaced through the ice like this. Since they started patrolling in 1957 they have gone under the ice and measured with their radar looking upwards to measure how thick it is because they can only surface in the areas where it's three and a half feet thick or less. " (Al Gore)

0800 [00:44:28] "So they have kept a meticulous record and they wouldn't release it because it was national security. I went up there in order to persuade them to release it. And they did. And here is what that record shows. " (Al Gore)

0900 [00:44:39] "Starting in 1970, there was a precipitous drop-off in the amount and extent and thickness of the Arctic ice cap. It has diminished by 40% in 40 years. And there are now two major studies showing that within the next fifty to seventy years in summertime it will be completely gone. " (Al Gore)

1000 [00:44:59] "Now, you might say, "Why is that a problem?" and "How could the Arctic ice cap actually melt so quickly?" When the sun's rays hit the ice, more than 90% of it bounces off right back into space like a mirror. But when it hits the open ocean, more than 90% of it is absorbed. And so, as the surrounding water gets warmer, it speeds up the melting of the ice. " (Al Gore)

1100 [00:45:25] "Right now, the Arctic ice cap acts like a giant mirror. All the sun's rays bounce off more than 90%. It keeps the Earth cooler. But as it melts and the open ocean receives that sun's energy instead, more than 90% is absorbed. " (Al Gore)

1200 [00:45:42] "So there is a faster build up of the heat here, at the North Pole, in the Arctic Ocean, and the Arctic generally than anywhere else on the planet. " (Al Gore)

1300 [00:45:54] "That's not good for creatures like polar bears who depend on the ice. A new scientific study shows that for the first time they are finding polar bears that have actually drowned, swimming long distances up to 60 miles to find the ice. " (Al Gore)

1400 [00:46:12] "And they didn't find that before. But what does that means to us? To look at a vast expanse of open water at the top of our world that used to be covered by ice. We ought to care a lot because it has planetary effects. " (Al Gore)