Al Gore's nickname: Al Gore

I was fortunate enough to see Al Gore in person last week, the same night he received the Nobel Peace Prize.

It was a tremendous effort and he showed a lot of passion towards the subject of global warming. Whispering at times, bellowing at others like a preacher, he had the audience on their seats which is saying something. Let's face it, for many the subject is either boring, lame or both.

All in all, I have a lot of respect for Al Gore. He's done a tremendous job getting the word out. He's a politician so sure, you're going to see some ghosting of that image as he tries to get the message across, but all in all, I have a lot of respect for the man.

I have to say though, I was more than a bit disappointed with his lecture. In the 90 minutes he talked, 85 minutes were spent getting us to believe there was a problem and in one quick slide, he rattled off a bunch of solutions. Sure, there were a few gasps in the audience when he showed the before and after photos of glaciers, but there was more silence, which told me he was for the most part preaching to the choir.

I was hoping he would give a chapter 2 to his Inconvenient Truth speech. He did a great job of telling us there's a problem and we have to do something!!!! -- and a horrible job of detailing what that something is. (There is a lot more on "the solution" on his web site, but in person, he doesn't talk to it much at all).

In scouring for this blog, there are so many solution theories and thoughts on what will and won't work. Many of them are very good ideas, but they have become lost in the noise of too much choice. It would be awesome to see Mr. Gore pick a handful of solutions and rally folks towards those.

Back when he was Clinton's side kick there was a joke that Al Gore was so boring that his secret service nickname was "Al Gore"... He's come a long way from that time; he is now the de facto voice of global warming. You have to admire that. I think it's time to use that voice to spur folks to action.