Al Gore's 'Slide Show' Clicks With Audiences

Gore's quest is the subject of a new documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth," which opens here on May 24. His almost-professorial plea to save the planet finds him center stage once again. [Many expect the] straightforward but quietly devastating film [will have a] significant effect on the public consciousness...Audiences may well walk out of theaters not only compelled to do something about the environment but impressed by a Gore they've rarely seen...Gore's interest in world climate changes dates to the late '60s...Gore figured lawmakers would be outraged by the climate changes and take action. They didn't. Instead, people started calling him "Ozone Man" and worse. Critics used his interest in the environment against him, portraying him as a tree-hugger..."

"In recent weeks, the trailer for the movie â€" an action-packed montage of climate disasters â€" has been receiving spontaneous applause in theaters on the Westside. Gore is swarmed at private screenings and at his continuing slide show lectures around the country."

"The response to the movie has been strong, but not all of it positive. In an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal, MIT climatology professor Richard Lindzen argued that the global warming 'alarmists' base their claims on 'junk science.'"

Gore counters: Doctors and scientists once believed that cigarettes didn't cause cancer and tried at all costs to sow doubt in the public. 'We've heard this before.'"