Our Choice: How We Can Solve the Climate Crisis

An eye opening book

The hard right will likely lambast this without even reading it. The fossil fuel industry will belittle it and throw paid off scientists at it to refute it. The only problem is that they are speaking from emotion rather than fact or from the fear of losing their personal gains from it. Gore basically has compiled a lot of scientific fact in this and his earlier work on the subject and made it so that it is understandable by most. As inconvenient as it may be to those that stand to profit monetarily from our planets demise, this book tells the truth. Well done Mr. Gore - an excellent sequel.

18 out of 20 people found this review helpful.

A soon-to-be available superb, top-notch resource

After watching the former vice president's shellacking earlier this week of a Republican congresswoman (thanks to a YouTube video), I am convinced this will be a superb resource for anyone concerned over the future of Planet Earth. We are long past the debate phase on this catastrophic problem. Now is the time to act.

9 out of 16 people found this review helpful.

We ALL Live On This Planet

As intelligent beings who inhabit this earth, as beings who love our unborn children, we have the choice to give them a world with air and water, or a void where life forms cannot be sustained. We can be selfish, live for our own personal moment, or we can do what we must so future generations on every inch of this globe can live, and raise their children. As moral and ethical and loving humans, Mr. Gore has offered us irrefutable facts in a way we can all understand, and we can live as role models and teach our kids to carry on. They deserve no less. SO ... are YOU self-serving and selfish, immersed in political fighting, or are you willing to open your eyes and simply fight for life as we know it? Please remember: Choosing nothing is still a choice, but it's a lethal one for our children ... Mr. Gore has presented a world-stopping topic, and one which we can still choose to stand up and fight for. Read it, before it's too late, and learn what we can all do.

8 out of 9 people found this review helpful.

Those Who Know...

OUR CHOICE: A PLAN TO SOLVE THE CLIMATE CRISIS (unabridged) Al Gore

Those in the know, know global warming is absolutely real and this book is for people like me who want to protect ourselves and others from the inevitable climate crisis at hand by taking measures to lessen its effects now. We must all be responsible for our actions and follow the leaders who are trying to help us fix what's been messed up, regardless of who or what caused it. It's simple and inexpensive to do when compared with the result of doing nothing which could prove very costly.

Al Gore and notable others in mainstream science prove this time and again with real facts and figures. Naysayers try to convince the public otherwise by using outdated moldy charts and fuzzy numbers because they desperately want to die rich, even at the expense of others. This book makes a lot of sense and will help us all accomplish our goals through the hard work and determination of those dedicated to working together for one cause.

6 out of 8 people found this review helpful.

File this one under "fantasy"

Weak topical research and leftist drama is not the same as "fact." The fact is that the Earth's temperature does change over time (it has been in a cooling phase for the past 10 years), and man's impact on the temperature of the Earth is negligible. Al Gore is just hoping to make a few more million so he can buy another fleet of gas guzzling SUVs to show his real appreciation for the environment.

6 out of 26 people found this review helpful.

Excellent presentation, solid topic and awakening call for everyone.

There is an imaginary line in older National Geographics maps showing a line running East to West in Canada where above that line the ground is frozen to about 4 feet deep, so called frost line. I have been traveling to Northern Quebec and Northen Ontario each year since 1965. This imaginary line has moved North about 200 miles, so I don't think anybody needs to prove to me if there is or there is not Global Warming. Where there used to be tundra vegetation, like grasss and occasional small bushes now it is covered with new young trees. The perma frost has melted away so the trees can take root.
Mr. Gores books specially the latest one Our Choice, is exactly what it says. It is our choice to decide what we want, nobody is holding a gun at our head to do it. Although for some time he was unable to speak up when he was the Vice President, because he was shut out from deal making politics and an avid contender to Clinton doctrine, he still had the guts to come out with the Truth and had the means and the financing to bring this awaful facts to everyday Joe and Jane's attention. It is easy for anyone, either informed or uninformed, either careless or careful of personal gains to criticize his works, but the final judgement is resting upon us all, not on him, not just Americans but the World poplation. So we are left with a delima, do we say we don't care and its the next generations problem and milk the planet for all she has? or be more careful and make this bounty last longer for everyone's sake?
It has been somewhere around 6 years that people are trying to do something about this in their own little way. There is hope, since many European countries including Canadian cities have banned plastic shopping bags. Canada has banned insectesides, herbasides and othet chemicals which may polute the ground water.
Did you know that it costs you about $ 1,200 during the life of your car to haul around your 60 pound car battery? which also contains lead and acid?
Did you know that about 82,000 Tons, that is about 180 Million pounds of fish is being killed by Acid rain generated by American cars each year?
That is why you pay more that $ 4.00 per pound for fish instead of $0.73 a pound.
So the man is trying to tell us that we will benefit from cleaner Earth and it will not cost us any money, we will make money doing it. Why is it that truth is so hard to accept. Are we all 16 years olds and we know better? and won't take advise?
I wish someday Mr. Gore will stand up and Talk to us, not talk at us, in our daily everyday English. His approach has been to make sence to the The Big Bussines, the Government, the Scientists, but I think if he starts writing and speaking English, he will have more support from everyone and can bring Change more rapidy. People need to hear it in their own language, so maybe the message can be translated in many ethnic languages to be listened to here and abroad.

4 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

inspiring, makes you wanna do something about our climate crisis

our choice is a very stimulating read. it is very informative and detailed on every topic in each chapter. our former vice president gives very detailed and innovative suggestions on how we can solve our current climate crisis. each page is as brilliant as the next. i would recomend this book to anyone because we are in this together, saving this planet is up to all of us.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Please Stop

Al Gore unfortunately doesn't understand the difference between statistics and science; he also doesn't understand the difference between bias statistics and non-bias statistics. His movie An Inconvenient Truth does more harm than good by confusing the general public about what science is, and actually hurts environment by stealing much-needed attention away from real environmental issues. To gain a better understanding about what science actually is, I recommend "Science Matters: Achieving Scientific Literacy" by Robert M. Hazen and James Trefil instead of this nonsense.

3 out of 16 people found this review helpful.

Club Of Rome Report

Al Gore uses junk science to further line his pockets.
The Club of Rome published a report titled "The First Global Revolution" in which they wrote "In Searching for a new enemy to unite us, we came up with the idea that pollution, the threat of Global Warming, water shortages, famine and the like would fit the bill"
There's more research you can do on the global warming lie at www.somethingmustbreak.net/id26.html

2 out of 13 people found this review helpful.

For those of us who are intellectually in the middle, the saving grace of his first book was that it raised the consciousness of folks to this problem. "Our Choice" has no such saving grace.

For what it is worth, here is my opinion. And a balanced opinion, I hope.

The scientific analysis of the global warming issue is, to me, reasonably clear. Over the past 200-300 years, the earth has warmed up. Scientists can produce impressive statistics on both sides of the issue, but the dominant opinion seems to be that our globe is warming up. And a continuation of this warming trend for another 30-100 years will have disasterous consequences for mankind. I agree with this conclusion, and so does Mr. Gore.
But most folks who look at the issue fail to focus on the logical next step in the analysis. And it is this next step that is very key to our understanding of "global warming" and its effect on mankind.
The next step in evaluating what humans should do about the warming is to understand what role humans have had in creating the warming. If we do not know what role humans have had, we can't really decide which actions humans should take to combat the effect of the warming.
In "An Inconvenient Truth," Mr. Gore states that, "Scientists now all agree that humans have a great effect on the level of warming." That statement is simply not true. The scientific studies done on this issue have produced results that are conflicting. There is far from any universal agreement about this issue among scientists.
If you don't believe this, then please read the literature, instead of believing Mr. Gore because he is famous and says what you want to hear. Read the studies that demonstrate other results. You will see what I mean.

I think it is unfortunate that Mr. Gore knew the truth of the above statements when he wrote "An Inconvenient Truth". And Mr. Gore succumbed to the need of the politician to lie to prove his point. You will recall the statement I made above about the "saving grace" of the first book and movie. I truly believe that the effect of his book, despite the lies (there are many more in the book), was positive. Because of his book, a huge number of people finally saw that warming was an issue.
In "Our Choice", Mr. Gore assumes that all of the readers understand and agree with the statements in his first book. Proceeding with that assumption is not only disingenuous, but it also denigrates us, as humans, and our ability to think for ourselves.
"Our Choice" suggests what actions humans can take to avoid the potential awful effects of global warming. And his suggested actions are based on the notion that humans really can have an effect. But nowhere does he go back to the science to demonstrate that our actions can make a difference. He ignores the studies that show that mankind is but a smidgeon of a cause.
If mankind is unable to do much about the warming, then our efforts should be directed toward coping, and not preventing.
My strong belief is that global warming does exist. I also believe that we don't know whether humans did much to cause it. I also believe that Mr. Gore chose this issue because it might be able get him back into the public spotlight in a favorable way. and he certainly was correct.
I simply can't separate 1)the fact that he had a positive effect on the recognition of global warming, from 2) the fact that he lied to do it. And he knowingly went presented solutions that are based on scientifically unsupportable data.
You may think that I didn't like "Our Choice." Well ... you are right!!

2 out of 11 people found this review helpful.

Excellent and compelling summary of where we are and what we need to do!

I have an extensive scientific and technological background in this field and can confirm that Al Gore's material is quite accurate. However, he also makes the point that it is very hard to convince people on the basis of science alone, given the strong lobbys and vested interests that will stop at nothing to mislead the populace. Thus, Al Gore emphasizes that each person must become active, both in our daily personal choices, but also in engaging in various grass-roots organizations that promote sustainability. This is a book that both compels to action, and provides a lot of detailed information that makes one wiser concerning where some of the most promising current opportunities for action lay.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Our Choice Al Gore's new book

This is a wonderful book! I have learn so much about climite change. I was lucky enough to see what was going on when I was in Alask. The people who live there told me they had never seen every thing melting like it is now. In the summer it is 88 drgrees. The highest was in the 70's. The people who live there are losing business because of the climite change.

Al Gore helped to explaine what is happening in our world and what will happen in the future if we do not do somethingnow.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

okay people

okay to all the people saying that al gore is just trying to make money. he might just be trying to make money but that doesnt mean that global warming isnt happening. and how do you know for sure that its not happening i mean if its because you read something else that said its not happening how do you know its right and this books wrong. my guess is that you think your a lot smarter than you realy are.

1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Our Choice, or Gore's Mandate?

Last week, this book was given to our 8-year old daughter, who is very interested in science: especially geology and meteorology. Our 10-year old son also read it.

When our daughter began scoffing at this book within 2 minutes into it (she asked us if this was supposed to be a "textbook or a fiction book") and asking to use the computer to access various scientific websites in order to verify her own knowledge... we figured there was something missing in this book.

It wasn't long before we realized that Ex-Vice President Gore had absolutely rewritten and retooled much of what science has proven, with some hoodoo kind of patented, untested "new" science- all in order to sell a book. Then, he sprinkled in some pretty scary warnings which implied that the reader's parents caused all the problems. WTH?

Don't waste your money.

This is an utter "Doom & Gloom" fairy tale, albeit a depressing one, for a kid to read! If your children have a private school education, are home-schooled, or at least have an excellent public school education, they will see this tripe for what it is.

And they will NOT respect you for making them read this!

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

a good resource

While the writing is not exactly lively or well edited, this is one of the better books out there for those interested in comparing energy options.

MUST READ FOR EVERY CONCERNED CITIZEN. UNFORTUNATELY NOT EVERYONE IS.

One of the most user-friendly treatments of a situation that affects us all and should concern us all but selfish or narrow-minded people will always have arguments against reason.

It's written as jack n jill as possible to try for wider appeal than the typical 'environmental' treatment but I fear it is still too limited. Al Gore has done the documentary, and this book, and now needs to penetrate tv-land to counteract the lobbyists and their dirty money. As long as our government allows it to be cheaper to buy your way out than to clean your act up, we will never solve the environmental crisis.

Question for reviewer Cathian

I don't mind a difference of opinion, but I would like one based on facts, especially with a subject so important to our children.

Can you cite one of the science facts your daughter found to be false and where she got that information?

Our Choice by Al Gore

Well documented, excellent up-to-the-minute research. The chapters are well organized and easy to read. The graphs, pictures and drawings are easy to understand and give a good visual of each chapter. Global warming solutions are a complicated subject with a lot to consider - this book separates fact from fiction and makes a good argument for things we can do now (and are doing now) to solve the climate crisis. This book is NOT political but discusses how "political will" is imperative to solving this issue, mostly by energizing the reader to assert their right to vote on the issues that will ultimately make a difference. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to truly understand this topic and its solutions.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Our choice or our mandate?

This turned out to be a list of the technologies that may help the world in its quest to become carbon free. Not a great deal of discussion of the details of implementation or pitfalls or the fact that most of these are currently uneconomic and thus will not be a choice but more likely a government mandate. Some of the facts were interesting, but on research, wrong. The claim that there is only one company, in Japan, that can produce the castings for nuclear reactors, is incorrect and therefore understates the nuclear capacity that can be added, if anyone would want to. This is a great primer for the non-technical reader who wants to know how the world could look without fossil fuels, but it lacks the balance and inspiration of Gore's earlier books. Gore is at his best when he is calling people to action. This book doesn't do that and may lead some to conclude that Gore is a bore.

We must teach our children about global warming

As an educator this is a great book to help lead a discussion about global warming with children. It is perfect for the classroom as well as for families. It is difficult to understand why people would not want to encourage taking care of the planet where we live. Sure we could sit by and not teach our children and not do anything, but how many generations of people will be able to do that?