An Inconvenient Truth

"They looked up and they snapped this picture, and it became known as "Earthrise" And that one picture exploded in the consciousness of humankind. It led to dramatic changes. Within 18 months of this picture being taken the modern environmental movement had begun."

"The struggles, the victories that arent really victories, the defeats that arent really defeats, they can serve to magnify the significance of some trivial step forward, exaggerate the seeming importance of some massive setback."

"We have to think differently about war. Because the new technologies so completely transform the consequences of that old habit that we cant just mindlessly continue the patterns of the past."

"There are three misconceptions in particular that bedevil our thinking. The first: isnt there a disagreement among scientists as to whether the problem is real or not? Actually... not really."

"You look at that river gently flowing by. You notice the leaves rustling with the wind. You hear the birds; you hear the tree frogs. In the distance you hear a cow. You feel the grass. The mud gives a little bit on the river bank. It’s quiet; it’s peaceful. And all of a sudden, it’s a gear shift inside you. And it’s like taking a deep breath and going, "Oh yeah, I forgot about this."

"It takes a sudden jolt sometimes for us to become aware of a danger. If it seems gradual, even if it really is happening quickly, were capable of just sitting there and not responding, and not reacting."

"Old Habits plus Old Technology have predictable consequences. Old Habits, that are hard to change, plus New Technology can have dramatically altered consequences."

"We have everything we need, save perhaps, political will. But, you know what ... political will is a renewable resource. ... The solutions are in our hands. We just have to have the determination to make them happen."

"I guess the thing Ive spent more time on than anything else in this slide show is trying to identify all those things in peoples minds that serve as obstacles to them understanding this. And whenever I feel like Ive identified an obstacle I try to take it apart, roll it away, move it, demolish it, blow it up. Ive set myself a goal: communicate this real clearly. The only way I know to do it is city by city, person by person, family by family, and I have faith that pretty soon that enough minds are changed that we cross a threshold."

"We have everything, save perhaps political will. But in America, I believe political will is a renewable resource."

"I believe this is a moral issue. It is your time to seize this issue. It is our time to rise again, to secure our future."

"Future generations may well have occasion to ask themselves, "What were our parents thinking? Why didnt they wake up when they had a chance?" We have to hear that question from them, now."