AL GORE'S CHOICE

Al Gore is an environmental activist in the United States and a former politician. He served as Vice President under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 2001. Gore is an author, businessperson, former U.S. Senator, former journalist and co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. In 2006 he wrote the book An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It (the book won a Grammy Award in 2009. He also starred in An Inconvenient Truth, which won an Academy Award in 2007. Gore wrote Earth in the Balance in 1992 and The Assault on Reason in 2007 which are New York Times Bestsellers. His most current book is Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis (2009).

Al Gore communicates with his supporters at regular intervals through Twitter. His following to date is 1,933,584. Gore’s tweets regularly address current events or update his supporters on upcoming and past issues on the global front. He also uses Facebook to communicate with and update his supporters who have added his page. Gore's website AlGore.com allows supporters to see the projects he is affiliated with, gives the ability to purchase books or DVDs on various reputable sites, offers links to related web sites and offers the latest news.

Al Gore has been the center of quite a number of news stories, the most current are about the launch of his book Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis. The book was released November 3 2009.

The two articles that I have chosen both focus on the release of Al Gore’s new publication.

Al Gore’s Climate Choice, written by New York Times journalist Andrew C. Revkin reads like a book review. The article discusses the content of Al Gore’s book and the policies that Gore wishes for his readers to take away from reading Our Choice. The article breaks down the essence of the book chapter by chapter, unveiling the core of Al Gore’s message of political will being the key to change.

There are 158 reader comments on this article. Most of the comments are critical of Al Gore’s policies, his new book and the money he is making from the new book.

Mac from the UK says:

Al Gore has declared in his new book that the attack on Global Warming is now essentially a 'spiritual' endeavor.
This move to a faith based position shows how far Gore has retreated from science. The factual has been replaced by superstition, enlightenment has been replaced by greed. The world's first eco-prophet will save your green soul from earthly damnation at a price.
With Al it was always about the money.

Sean from Baltimore, MD said:

Dr. Norman Borlaug won the Nobel Prize more than 30 years ago for his revolution in agricultural productivity. He is credited with saving a billion lives. Al Gore won the Nobel [sic] prize 2 years ago and is on track to be the world’s [sic] first carbon billionaire. Al Gore's spiritual endeavor for global warming is much more akin to Jimmy Swaggart or Jim & Tammy Baker rather than Mother Theresa.

There were a few readers that commended Gore and had positive words to say about the article published about the book and the book itself.

Razor from New Jersey says:

The personal attacks on Al Gore here are childish and transparent. The time has passed for that nonsense. Grow up and stop whining about Al, and figure out what you can do. Stop blindly following the marching orders and talking points of Rush and his ilk. Wake up to the science. Drop your political agenda and start thinking about this critical issue and how we can address it.

Spencer from Hastings-on-Hudson, NY says:

Andy, thanks for the fine synopsis. Gore has been studying climate deeply for most of his adult life, he also understands politics better than 99.99% of us, and he has gone into the economics so thoroughly that he is making millions of dollars -- not by lobbying but by understanding that, as he keeps trying to tell us, there are great opportunities here for everyone (if he can convince Wall Street by his example it may be the most useful step of all). On top of that he has studied how the brain responds to advertising--this was part of his political education--and he has talked at length with just about everyone in the science, business, and political worlds. And now he's written it all up. This is one book I have GOT to read.

The second article dealt with Gore becoming the world’s first “carbon billionaire.” Al Gore: World’s First Carbon Billionaire, written by LA Times journalist Johanna Neuman discusses the idea of Al Gore becoming rich off of the exploits of others through the spread of “propaganda” disguised as truths needed to be followed by citizens of the world.

There were 11 reader comments on this article. The comments on these are varied, though weighted almost the same for and against Al Gore’s new publication.

Larry Thomas says:

Al Gore should be in prison, he is no different then Charles Ponzi. He's becoming filthy rich by promoting the lie of "Global Warming" and creating this fraudulent carbon credit market.

Jake says:

Boy you can't win being green.
Nobody chastises the industrial polluters when they make obscene profits while destroying our future (i.e.: big oil, coal, etc).
After conservative gasbags (politicians, economists) spent DECADES arguing that going green would be unprofitable and destroy America, now they're on the attack when it proves to BE profitable.
Gore deserves every cent he's made.

Here is a clip from an interview on Morning Joe on MSNBC where Al Gore talks about his book, his policy and the climate.

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The only common denominator in these two articles is the book Our Choice and the reader’s comments in support of or opposing Al Gore.

Al Gore has not spoken out on these articles on Twitter or on his Facebook account. He has however responded to critics calling him a “carbon billionaire” and has been quoted in various articles in print, online and on television.

On ABC Al Gore denied being a “carbon billionaire.” “I am proud to have put my money where my mouth is for the past 30 years," he said. "And though that is not the majority of my business activities, I absolutely believe in investing in accordance with my beliefs and my values.”

He also responded to that accusation in the in the LA Times article saying, “Do you think there is something wrong with being active in business in this country?” he told the Times. “I am proud of it. I am proud of it.”

I believe the first article was an unbiased writing on the publishing of the book, giving readers a chance to find out about the new release from Al Gore. The second article was more of opinion piece, having readers question their stance on Al Gore’s genuineness in the writing of his book Our Choice.

As a high-profile public figure I believe the medium Al Gore chose to defend himself was best – the conventional forms of media – television, print, etc.

I believe that his use of social media to inform supporters is also good. I believe that the two should remain separate – conventional news for reporting and responding in a reputable manner to current issues and social media platforms to inform and update members of the public.

Here is another video clip from ABC with Al Gore giving an interview with Diane Sawyer about his book Our Choice.