Al Gore's Speech 'The Climate Emergency'

Former Vice President, Al Gore’s speech, The Climate Emergency, was a highly accurate prediction of the circumstances our planet would be under in coming years. The facts relevant as of 2004 are still true in the year 2015. While many companies and individuals have learned to contribute to helping our plant go greener, the dangers of the climate change are still a pressing issue supported by scientific evidence. With occurrences such as extreme weather events, rising sea levels, and ice cap disappearances, global warming is physically being show on our planet and in order to prevent a complete reversed climate on our hemispheres, the population of Earth as a whole must ban together to reduce our carbon footprint.

In 2004 a graph was released

showing the carbon-dioxide levels in our atmosphere. This graph predicted that in sixty years, the carbon-dioxide concentration in our atmosphere would be six hundred parts per minute. However, a recent chart released in 2011 has shown that carbon-dioxide concentration levels have reached four hundred parts per minute, showing and increased level of approximate thirty parts per minute. At the rate of this increase, by the sixty year mark Gore’s researchers had predicted our carbon-dioxide levels will be over one thousand parts per minute. Unless each individual takes it upon him/herself, our planet will experience drastic, unlivable changes before the current generation has reached retirement age.
Due to the changing climate conditions, new weather patterns have been given the opportunity to form.

Because the Earth is slowly warming up, heat waves, for example, have been occurring more frequently and for longer durations. According to the Climate Communications, “In 2010, 19 countries set new all-time record high temperatures, but not a single country set a new all-time record…” (Overview). Comparing this to Gore’s speech, eighteen countries have experienced all new highs in heat since the European heat wave in 2003. This increase in temperature is due to the shifting of the climates in specific regions as an after effect of global warming.

As ice from polar glaciers begin to melt, the sea level rises to a new high. According to

National Geographic, “…that over the past century, the Global Mean Sea Level (GMSL) has risen by 4 to 8 inches…” (Sea Level Rise). This rise is due to the melting ice as well as thermal expansion. Gore begins to state this fact in order to provide another example of global warming for his audience with the line, “When ice melts in mountains and in Antarctica and Greenland- when land-based ice melts—it raises the sea level” (Gore). The risen sea levels need to be addressed when referring to global warming because if they are not they will lead to floods throughout the world such as, “An area of Bandladesh is due to be flooded where ten million people live. A large area of Florida is due to be flooded. The Florida Keys are very much at risk. The Everglades are at risk”

(Gore).
One of the major causes of the rising sea level is the melting of ice glaciers. The glaciers in Antarctica are two miles high and if they were all to melt, it would cause a drastic change in the sea level. The study to support the glacier melting as told by Gore states, “They drill down into the glaciers and pull up columns of ice. Then they study the bubbles of air trapped in the ice, and they can do that year by year because every year there’s a new layer” (Gore). Gore insists a sense of urgency when it comes to the melting of the ice glaciers. In order to create this mood, which needs to be created, Gore states that, “The Arctic ice cap has thinned by 40 percent in the last 40 years” (Gore).
Many skeptic viewers claim that global warming is not a threat due to the temperature and state of winters; however, the effects of climate change are first appearing in the arctic. This is the reason many environmental scientist are closely watching and studying the changes in the ice caps as well as rising sea levels. The Natural Resource Defense Council states that “Most scientist view what’s happening now in the Arctic as a harbinger of things to come” (Global Warming Puts the Arctic on Thin Ice). While the winters further south may not have much of a drastic change, the ice caps at the poles have been showing signs of melting.
Online bloggers and readers who have come across one article regarding Obama’s order for a larger number of ice breaker ships in Alaska claim that there cannot be a climate change if this piece of equipment is necessary for Alaska. While there is still an abundant amount of ice remaining in Alaska, “Rising temperatures are already affecting Alaska, where the spruce bark beetle is breeding faster in the warmer weather” (Global Warming Puts the Arctic on Thin Ice). Despite the fact that the physical ice in Alaska has been shown to not be depleting at concerning levels yet, other pieces of evidence such as the reproducing Spruce Bark Beetle, provide the proof that changes are occurring in lands that are typically colder than other parts of the world.
Scientists are continuing to further the study of global warming as well as finding possible solutions to the dilemma before it grows into a problem that the human race cannot solve. Because of not only the previous generations actions regarding technology and fossil fuels, but the current generations as well, the world is in a state of emergency, such as Gore has presented, regarding the change in the climate. While some actions have been taken, such as the banning of Chlorofluorocarbons, not nearly enough measures have been made in order to protect our planet and future generations from the danger of the warming planet. In order to reduce the melting of ice caps, drastic, dangerous weather events, and rising sea levels from occurring, we must put into effect regulations to prevent these dangers from causing a horrific aftermath on our planet. In 2004, Al Gore presented his case on global warming, and today these issues are still at hand and to this day, still need to be addressed to the country creating the highest levels of carbon-dioxide levels, the United States of America.