Al Gore Answers the Web's Most Searched Questions on Climate Change

Hi, I'm Al Gore.

And I'm doing a Wired Autocomplete interview.

(orchestral flourish)

I work on solving the climate crisis.

(orchestral flourish)

Okay, is climate change urgent?

Yes, extremely urgent.

These extreme weather events are becoming

much more frequent.

Just in the last eight years in the U.S.,

we've had 10 so-called once-in-a-thousand-year events.

Is climate change scientific fact?

Well, the scientists tell us it is.

They have known the basics of this for 150 years,

and they say that it's as established

as, like, gravity.

Is climate change reversible?

We have already caused some damage,

some of which is not reversible.

But here's the key fact.

The truly catastrophic consequences of global warming

can still be prevented.

Okay, is climate change political?

Some of the large carbon polluters

have been pumping lots of money into lobbying

and campaign contributions.

And that has made it political in a way

that it's not in any other country.

Is climate change being stopped?

No, not yet.

But, like a lot of other social revolutions in the past,

the abolition of slavery, getting women the right to vote,

civil rights movement,

all of these movements have seemed

like they would never succeed at times.

But then, when the central question became clearer,

a choice between what's clearly right

and what's clearly wrong,

then the change started really speeding up.

That's the point we're at in the climate movement.

Can renewable energy create jobs?

It definitely can.

The fastest growing single job occupation

over the next decade is predicted to be

wind turbine technician.

Can renewable energy be stored?

The same kind of technological revolution

that we saw with cell phones,

that's now beginning to happen with batteries.

The combination of cost effective batteries

and solar energy will revolutionize

the entire energy landscape.

Can renewable energy help the environment?

Definitely yes.

By relying on the burning of coal and natural gas,

the global warming pollution that comes from it

is trapping as much extra heat energy

in the atmosphere as would be released

by 400,000 Hiroshima class atomic bombs

going off everyday.

Can renewable energy power the U.S.?

Yes, absolutely.

Wind energy alone could produce 40 times

as much electricity as the entire world uses each year.

The figures are even more dramatic with solar energy.

The Earth gets as much energy from the sun

in one hour to equal

all of the energy used

by the entire global economy for a full year.

That's incredible.

Can we live on renewable energy alone?

Yes, we can.

The big revolution is electric vehicles.

Every major automobile manufacturer in the world

is preparing to roll out really cool electric vehicles

that have a range of 300 miles.

It's very, very exciting.

Okay, how can extreme weather

affect the economy?

Big storms wipe out bridges and destroy highways

and sever interstates.

How can extreme weather

affect human health?

First of all, heat stress puts a lot of people at risk.

Second, the changing climate conditions

expand the ranges of some of these mosquitoes

that carry Zika and other diseases.

Can extreme weather

affect food security?

Heat stress on plants, pests, and blights,

plant diseases are made worse

by the climate crisis.

And a really surprising finding,

the extra CO2 in the atmosphere is now beginning

to reduce the nutrient value in the food crops

that we rely on in our diets.

How can extreme weather affect our life?

Massive record-breaking flood events.

Mudslides in some areas.

Massive long, deep drought events.

These extreme weather events really have

a very harsh impact.

How can we

protect the environment?

First of all, by speeding up the shift

away from dirty fossil fuels

and toward clean, renewable energy.

We can protect the environment when we go into

the marketplace by choosing the greenest,

most climate friendly options.

And finally, you can protect the environment

by letting candidates know

that the environment is important to you.

And that you're gonna base your vote in the next election

very heavily on the way that candidate responds

to concerns about the environment.

When enough people do that,

we will protect the environment.