I'm glad that Al Gore isn't running for President of the United States.  Instead of running around trying to pander to the parties and to the masses and instead of having to deal with the state of the economy and the fallout of a controversial war, Al Gore is able to concentrate all of his efforts and influence solely on the climate crisis.

If you watched the video yesterday (or hit the jump to watch it today), you probably felt inspired and impressed and maybe a little stressed-out as well.

Al opens his talk by defining religion not as belief but as action (how we live).  Then he goes on to say that optimism is not merely a belief, that its not good enough to believe things will get better, that we have to live it and take action.

Here's a play-by-play:

His first slide is one of the Earth without an ice cap.  He then reveals that within about 5 years there will be no northern ice cap in summer.  5 years...

Then he hits the South Pole... no good news there... then we go to outerspace for a minute before Al reveals some new data on the greenhouse effect in our atmosphere.

Now Mr. Gore get political.  He talks about the candidates for the U.S. Presidency, media and public pressure to do something about climate change.

More graphs.  We use too much gas, we emit too much carbon.  Now developing nations are following in the footsteps of the developed world and are increasing their emissions in turn.

Let's unify.  Let's fight poverty.  Let's replace taxation on employment with a tax on carbon.

The "Energy Super-Grid" project for Europe looks amazing and visionary.  This has to happen.

Al slams tar sands and shale oil. 

"Junkies find veins in their toes when the ones in their arms and legs collapse.  Developing tar sands and coal shale is the equivalent."

Now we see where Al puts his money: Smart cars, alternative energy projects.  This is the future.

Every country has now ratified Kyoto... except the good ol' USA.

At 18 minutes in Al Gore really hits his stride.  A hero generation.  Revolutionary change.

"I'm optimistic... because I believe we have the capacity at moments of great challenge to set aside the causes of distraction and rise to the challenge that history is presenting to us."

"How many generations in all of human history have had the opportunity to rise to a challenge that is worthy of our best efforts?  A challenge that can pull from us more than we knew we could do?  I think we ought to approach this challenge with a sense of profound joy and gratitude that we are the generation about which, a thousand years from now, philharmonic orchestras and poets and singers will celebrate by saying they were the ones that found it within themselves to solve this crisis..."

Nifty stuff, no?  The new info on the ice caps is scary.  I'd like to think that losing an entire continent of ice would prompt people to action but it'll likely just lead to military action as various countries try to claim the arctic seabed as their own so they can exploit it for oil.

I like how Al Gore always references the "American Heroes" of times long past.  He often references the end of slavery in America as a comparison to what he thinks needs to happen to solve the climate crisis.  And I happen to think he's right.  The United States holds so much influence (and produces so much pollution) that it has to take a leadership role in making massive, sweeping changes in the next few years.  With the U.S. economy, and the world economy, swirling down the toilet due to shortsightedness and mismanagement, perhaps the creation of a new taxation structure and the development of new technologies is exactly what we need to revitalize markets around the world.

Optimism is about action.  I like that idea.

How about you?  Any thoughts on Al's latest speech?

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