OPINION:
Move over Jack Bauer, Al Gore is here. In the hit television series “24,” federal agent Jack Bauer observed no limits in his real-time quest to thwart terrorists intent on killing millions of innocent Americans. Mr. Gore is looking to channel this program’s success with his own “24 Hours of Reality,” which he claims will rescue the planet itself from a more imminent threat - global warming. The Oscar-winning veep-turned-environmental-maven, however, is no Jack Bauer.
Mr. Gore’s politically correct spectacle will lecture the public live over the Internet on Sept. 14 and 15, borrowing the 24-hour gimmick from the TV thriller while adding a twist. Rather than portray a particular terror threat over the course of an entire day, Mr. Gore’s program will present a series of environmental dangers - each one an hourlong - from all 24 time zones across the globe. According to the online trailer, the broadcast will “focus the world’s attention on the full truth, scope, scale and impact of the climate crisis. To remove the doubt. Reveal the deniers. And catalyze urgency around an issue that affects every one of us.”
Nearly two decades after Mr. Gore broke into the climate-change business with his book “Earth in the Balance,” interest in his cause has waned as reasons to be skeptical regarding the grandiose claims continue to mount. So Mr. Gore has dumped the old name of his outfit, Alliance for Climate Protection, and rebranded it Climate Reality Project. Taken together with “24 Hours of Reality,” Mr. Gore’s new operation purports to be all about truth, but don’t be fooled.
During the past several years, the Climategate scandal showed that scientists manipulate data to bolster their stories of impending doom. That, combined with the absence of actual temperature elevations, has soured the public’s acceptance of Mr. Gore’s central article of faith that human activity is heating the planet. The new “24” is an attempt to bring those who may have strayed from the path back into the fold, accepting the climate creed that earned Mr. Gore the Nobel Peace Prize and a great deal of wealth.
“24 Hours of Reality” will be selling the supposed dangers of warming the world over, not just in America. While viewers in the Northern Hemisphere are likely still to be fanning themselves when the show airs in September, those tuning in from south of the equator might still be suffering from late-winter shivers. The inconvenient truth is that global temperatures have not warmed in nearly 15 years.
The latest warmist excuse is that China’s coal-burning power plants are throwing huge clouds of sulfate aerosols into the atmosphere that reflect solar radiation and counter the heating effects of man-made greenhouse gases. Yet climatologist Patrick J. Michaels points out that there is very little mixing of air flow between the Northern and Southern hemispheres. Readings in the north have risen slightly since 1998, while those in the south have fallen, with no net change. In other words, there has been no global warming.
Mr. Gore’s “24” is an attempt to breathe excitement back into a global-warming industry in decline. Getting people to fall for it again will require more than a new name and edgy Internet broadcast. It will take actual global warming - and maybe even Jack Bauer.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.