An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power Page #5

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Here is the range of

the one mosquito

that they're most worried about.

And warmer conditions

increase that range

considerably.

But here is the kicker on this.

It's not just the mosquito,

it's the virus.

And the warmer temperatures

speed up

the incubation rate

inside the mosquito.

So we get an explosion

in the number of cases.

And now it's spread

to Miami, Florida.

And for the first time

in history,

pregnant women have been advised

not to go to part of

the United States of America.

In many areas of

Central America

and South America,

the doctors are delivering

a message

that I've never heard

in my life.

They're telling women,

"Don't get pregnant"

"for two years, while we try

to get a handle on this."

That's something new in

the history of the human race.

How long can we just

sit back and say,

"Oh, well, maybe some genius

will think up some miracle"?

I'm sorry, I'm getting all, um,

fired up here.

But let's step back

and take a global view

of the increasing temperatures

and the extra heat energy.

93% of all this heat energy

is going into the oceans.

And it has several consequences.

A direct consequence is

that when ocean-based storms

cross much warmer ocean waters

the storms get stronger

and more destructive.

Just a few years ago

Superstorm Sandy in the Atlantic

crossed areas of the ocean

9 degrees Fahrenheit

warmer than normal.

And it caused

tremendous destruction

in New Jersey and in New York.

And, by the way, ten years ago,

when the movie

An Inconvenient Truth

came out, the single most

criticized scene in that movie

was an animated scene showing

that the combination of

sea level rise and storm surge

would put the ocean water

into the 9/11 memorial site,

which was then

under construction.

And people said,

"That's ridiculous.

What a terrible exaggeration!"

Something happened last night

at one of the most iconic

locations in New York

the World Trade Center,

Ground Zero.

A flood of water

with a current so strong

it flooded the reconstruction.

There is a wakeup call here,

and that is climate change

and our vulnerability to it.

It was true ten years ago,

it was true five years ago.

It is undeniable today.

Years before,

the scientists predicted that

this would happen.

One year later,

in the Philippines,

Super Typhoon Haiyan

crossed areas of the Pacific

three degrees Celsius

warmer than normal.

And it became

the strongest and most

destructive ocean-based storm

ever to make landfall.

Uh, in the city of Tacloban

and nearby areas

there were 4.1 million

climate refugees.

Thousands of people were killed.

Even just remembering it now,

after more than two years,

just remembering

the sound of the wind.

And then the water came after.

Like a wall of water

just rushing in.

That's why we had to

climb to the roof.

In fact, I was shouting,

giving them orders

"Break that ceiling, we've gotta"

"get out of here

and we've gotta climb up."

If we went to any other place,

we would have died.

Because that had

a concrete structure,

and that's where

we were able to climb up.

People are running, are crying

because they don't know

what happened to their family.

We see a lot of dead people.

I saw Sir Alfred helping...

Helping, uh,

the other people to, to...

What do you call this? To...

- Recover the bodies?

- To recover the bodies.

Then...

Sorry.

No, that's okay. It's okay.

Thank God you're safe.

Actually, sir, I am so scared

when I'm telling this

to my friend...

It brings it back, doesn't it?

Yes, sir. I felt so, so scared.

When Tacloban was hit,

I knew that I wanted

to organize a training here

in the Philippines

to meet face-to-face

with the people

who were on the front lines

of this and empower them

to translate an excruciatingly

painful experience

into a focus on changing policy,

confronting public officials.

I don't know

any other way to do it.

The loss of life

was very tragic.

What a blessing it was that

Pope Francis came to Tacloban

to the ground zero

of that tragedy,

and delivered

a very powerful message that

"the gravest effects of

the climate crisis"

"are visited upon

the poorest people."

This is true

everywhere in the world.

Now, the second order

consequences

of the warming oceans

include some that

we're all experiencing

on a regular basis now.

When the temperature goes up,

the water vapor coming off

the oceans

into the sky

is increasing significantly.

This means that

every storm is different now

because it takes place

in a warmer and wetter world.

Water vapor is often funneled

thousands of kilometers

from the oceans over the land,

and then much more of it

falls at the same time.

Look at this downpour

that hit Tucson, Arizona,

and watch the water splash

off the city.

They're now calling

these things "rain bombs."

Houston's been hit

between May of last year

and May of this year.

Two 1-in-500-year floods and

one 1-in-1,000-year downpour.

Now, that's unusual.

Almost Noah-like.

This was in Spain last fall.

In Chile, last year. Epic event.

And now, today,

there are water rescues underway

in southeast Louisiana.

Give me a knife,

give me a knife.

Now, the same heat

that is bringing all that

water vapor off the oceans

is sucking the soil moisture

out of the ground.

And it's making the droughts

deeper and longer.

In China, in Vietnam,

in Thailand,

and all around the world.

And where there is drought,

the vegetation dries out

and the fires increase.

Every night on the evening

news is like a nature hike

through the Book of Revelations.

But the dots are very seldom

connected in the media.

This is global warming.

When we have scientists

tell us the dots connect,

we need to have in

our democracy a conversation

about cause and effect.

Let's look, for example,

at the story of

what has happened in Syria.

From 2006 to 2010,

they had

a record-breaking drought.

This farmer is one of many

who lost his farm.

60% of all the farms in Syria

were destroyed.

80% of all their livestock

were killed.

A climate-exacerbated drought

during that period contributed

to the displacement

of about 2 million people

before the conflict broke out.

Yes, many other causes.

The dictator there is a bad guy,

it's a multi-sided civil war,

and all of the rest.

But this drought is the worst

in at least 900 years.

As far back as the records go.

It is unprecedented!

And, of course,

since then the country

has been plunged

into horrific civil war.

The next generation,

if they live in a world

of floods and storms

and rising seas

and droughts and refugees

by the millions

escaping unlivable conditions,

destabilizing countries

around the world,

they would be well-justified

in looking back at us

and asking,

"What were you thinking?"

"Couldn't you hear what

the scientists were saying?"

"Couldn't you hear what Mother

Nature was screaming at you?"

Um, so, first off, Mr. Gore...

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