Ignoring for a moment that Gore purchases carbon offsets to reduce his carbon footprint, the impact that any one individual has on the global climate crisis is negligible. Whether Al Gore pollutes or not, significant public policy changes are needed to address this problem. Blaming individuals is a cheap way to escape our collective responsibility to the world we inhabit.

As the recent Gingrich/Kerry debate showed, there is a clear consensus that climate change is real. The argument isn’t over whether or not global warming is happening — it’s about what we should do to address it.

You’re right. Simply repeating over and over again that global warming doesn’t exist doesn’t make it true. In fact, it makes you look mighty silly.

Dan, I’m very glad to see someone else laud not just Al Gore’s sense of passion on this issue, but also his sense of optimism. At a time when it’s popular to denounce solutions before trying them out, it was inspiring to see him before Congress affirming a deep belief in the American spirit and sense of ingenuity. That it came on the same day that our petulent child of a president was throwing a hissy fit because he can’t play nice with Congress is a stark reminder of how badly the nation screwed up in 2000.

Simply repeating something over and again doesn’t make it true. Appearing on the cover of Time doesn’t make something true (remember the coming ice age was a Time cover story too).

Dan, the folks you’re congratulating are already congratulating themselves and are now preaching to what may be a cult choir. As you discussed before, the preachers are playing to the Amens and not the hey-wait-a-minutes.