Former Vice President Al Gore said President Donald Trump’s “assault on science” threatens “the capacity of the human species to endure” on Earth.
Gore issued his warning in a speech to Harvard University students and faculty Wednesday, stressing “reason” and “rational debate,” indeed democracy itself was under threat from the “ideology of authoritarianism.”
Science “is now being slandered as a conspiracy based on a hoax,” Gore said, likely referring to a 2012 Trump tweet where he called man-made global warming a “Chinese hoax.”
“The subordination of the best scientific evidence to the cynical greed of those buttressing the power of a would-be-autocrat is yet another strategy for controlling policy by distorting and suppressing the best available information,” Gore said.
“So the ideology of authoritarianism is not only a threat to democracy in America, now because of the attacks on climate science, it has become a threat to the survival of human civilization as we know it and even potentially to the capacity of the human species to endure,” Gore continued.
“In order to solve the climate crisis, we must solve the democracy crisis,” Gore said.
While Gore, a Harvard alumni and producer of two films of questionable accuracy on global warming, did not refer to Trump by name, the former vice president’s message was clear.
“The system of checks and balances that has protected the integrity of our American system for more than two centuries has already been dangerously eroded,” Gore said.
Gore, however, also went after social media, which he claimed is driven by “surveillance capitalism.” Gore said social media “enhances cynicism and magnifies divisions” that erode society.
SEE ALSO: Ocasio-Cortez Mocks GOP On Climate Change Using Viral Weatherman Video
Gore went on to blame rampant flooding and tornado sightings in the Midwest on man-made global warming, echoing recent attempts by Democratic presidential candidates to do the same in Iowa.
“Speaking of wind, the winds are increasingly destructive in our world,” Gore said. “Yesterday was the thirteenth day in a row when multiple tornadoes touched down in the United States — 500 this month.”
“Hurricanes have become much stronger. Today, the Arkansas River is four feet higher than the all-time record flood stage. The Mississippi River is setting records as the longest flood ever. Thirty-nine million Americans today are at risk from flooding,” Gore said.
SEE ALSO: Unusually Cold Weather Behind Recent Tornados, Not Global Warming
Gore also implored Harvard to divest its endowment from fossil fuel holdings, comparing it to the 1980s campaigns to pull investments in South Africa during apartheid.
Gore has often compared climate activism to the anti-apartheid, civil rights and abolition movements.
“It was immoral to continue investing in apartheid,” Gore said before going on to accuse fossil fuel companies of using the tobacco industry’s strategy to keep the American public ignorant of climate science — a narrative pushed by some liberal media outlets.
“The American people have been the targets of a massive, well-organized and lavishly-funded campaign of disinformation, designed to spread doubt and confusion and prevent the formation of a political consensus necessary to adopt new policies to save the future of human civilization,” Gore said.
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Mississippi River longest flood evah? No, I think that would be 1927, Al. It is shocking that a buffoon so thoroughly discredited is still invited to speak.
Al Gore Con-Man,Snake Oil Salesman,and Hypotcrite witha big time chip on his shoulder(The block of wood on top of his neck)since he won two undeserved awards(Nobel Prize,Oscar)for his fake Documentry and wrote two books EARTH IN THE BALANCE,ASSUALT ON REASON)and his failed Live Earth Consert he has become insufferble Bore
Trump Derangement Syndrome.
It is revealing that President Trump was rich before he entered politics. Billary and Gore became rich after.
I hope that people smart enough to enter Harvard see Gore for what he is.
And yet it is the Greens that want to institute their authority to direct the non-elites to do their bidding. Using mocked-up science as an excuse for their authoritarianism. Ironic, isn’t it.
“Gore issued his warning in a speech to Harvard University students and faculty Wednesday, stressing “reason” and “rational debate,”
In this I fully agree with Mr. Gore. It is telling that he will not debate nor countenance reasoned arguments that stand on good science that shows flaws in his ideological world view.
It is ironic that Gore and others keep accusing President Trump of being anti-science. The fact is the global warming/climate change movement is the greatest assault on science in history. To review, in true science data is compared to a theory. If the theory doesn’t match, it is modified or scrapped. In climate change the theory is the UN IPCC climate models (there is more than one). The data doesn’t match the politically motivated models, so instead of modifying them they have been changing the data.
I find Gore’s comments about democracy interesting. Maurice Strong, the father of the UN IPCC, said that democracy had to be altered in order to address global warming. He was probably smart enough to foresee that the recent election losses of the climate change movement would eventually happen.
Gore wrote book ASSUALT ON REASON if this spoiled little pinhead is being unreasonible