Current Presents Digg Dialogg: Al Gore

so many candidates... kinda like the G20?

Here we see further proof that the true leaders on this planet are only found among those who free themselves from political office.

I thought Al Gore was not a politician anymore. His answers were very vague and evasive. Too bad he wasn't pushed a little harder on some questions.

Mr.Gore "habitates" the real world. Where are you?

Great interview, Very educational and more people need to see this other than the already converted. Going on Digg about the environment is a little like preaching to the choir.

Great. Now.....Please put Mr. Gore back away, in what ever form or place he usually habituates.

If something happens to my current.com account (as has been happening for the last several days, I have voted the story down). You will know why.

THIS IS APROX 24 HOURS LATER... MY ACCOUNT BARELY WORKS. I can add comments on less that 25 percent of pages, and nothing political. I wonder what's up?

This idea that it's ONE way or ANOTHER is ridiculous. There is a compromise between drilling and not drilling....neither side is totally right. That's a fact.

Ha..when he said Whoa I thought of Joey from Blossom. (sp?)

Great interview, been looking forward to this.

good and interesting interview

If only we had this Al Gore in 2000, the world might be a different place. Awesome interview!

kevin is a cutie. and i liked the interview as i think Al Gore is a neat man to say the least- and i thought that it was extra neat that he (al gore) liked the format and crowd sourcing via digg / current

I actually got a chance to watch this and found it very enlightening. I never knew that much about Al Gore before (I really didn't get interested in politics until '06), but the more I see of his viewpoints the more I respect him.

Nice format guys. Since it seemed to be pretty short, sweet, and straight to the point with the use of technology, hopefully in the future we'll be able to have more brief interviews like this with people in positions of power.

It was refreshing to see a (former) politician answering questions candidly without worrying about offending anyone.

I wonder how Al Gore feels about Ron Paul's position on the Fed.

See you kids around.

-AES

Wow, Al Gore? How did you pull THOSE strings? To believe a chairman of a network would show up...

He's soooo cool. Could you imagine if America had gotten it right 8 years ago?

awesome interview! Also lol at "recovering politician"

Bill Clinton once said that he was able to accomplish more and have a bigger impact out of office than in office, I think Mr Gore is a fine example of this.

PS- Im glad they actually asked him about manbearpig hehe

I love hearing Al Gore talk, he's so knowledgeable about the environment and makes sense of the most complicated scientific stuff. I'm almost bummed that because Al is the CEO of Current we hardly ever see him on here (is it a conflict of interest???).

I want to see more Al Gore on Current!!!!!!!!!!

the most popular question is 'why is marijuana illegal?'

classy diggers

This is really fantastic. I wish more leaders would have the courage to take on questions like these.

Al Gore for President 2016!

Nice dodge on that marijuana question.

Gore stated that it was sensible to restrict debate participation for third (or 4th) party candidates, as it leaves more time for clarification as to the points of difference between the main two, which is what the populace is going to be most interested in.

I think that is a solid point, but there is the issue of raising the quality, intensity or honesty of the debates, which can benefit from more participation. For example Nader, does raise issues in a manner in which is far less compromising than a more main stream candidate can be, and I do think it is important that the general public here those uncompromising statements in the context of high-stakes national discourse.

But this could be mitigated by current trends in communication technologies and I think what the Digg dialogues are doing is an especially advanced example. Much was made of the Youtube submissions and so on, but he questions are still curated and approved by an editorial board that does not answer to we the people. What I LOVE about the Digg approach, was the the creation of the questions was open and transparent, and that it was the groundswell of opinion that determined the interview agenda.

If in future presidential debates, if people were allowed to submit their questions in whatever media form they chose, and the public voted on which questions they most resonated with, and there were debates COMPLETELY set according to those questions; I would feel more comfortable with the more restrictive idea of limiting debate participation.

Decent interview. The interviewer was obviously intimidated by his guest, as I'm sure I would be if I were in his shoes.

As far as VP Gore serving in some function in Obama's cabinet, I'm torn. On the one hand, Al Gore is such a resource, considering his experience and knowledge, that I would like to see him utilized in some function. On the other hand, I have to respect his aforementioned experience and knowledge when he points out the limitations of holding such an office.

Great interview, thanks!

Way to go JanforGore!

Kevin Rose is cool. No question.

But please tell him that his "presenter's voice" is totally stupid and a product of the older generation.

As a young brilliant culture maker he should ditch the stupid newsy-interviewer-host-of-show voice he used at the start of the clip.

It made me want to smack him.

Okay, that was a bit of a rant......

Nice clip. Gore has some interesting points and seems pointed in the right-ish direction.

But remember when his wife tried to kill rock n' roll?

I loved everything about this interview. From Al Gore's wisdom on global warming and renewable energy, to his great sense of humor, to the fact that they propped Mac and then right after there was a PC commercial! I love you Current! Dont ever change!!

Holly crap. I did not know Al Gore was the Chairman of Current TV!!!!!!

I do love how he politically skipped the Marihuana question. He knows about Net Neutrality and Environmental issue but not about Marihuana effects?

I also now know why Current is so Pro Mac. :-)

8100 Views, yet only 19 comments?

I love Al Gore, not because he is so smart and into it, but he really sits down and talks the issues down, even... HERE!

Mr. Gore, get Obama in there and let's have a 15 Min interview.

Great Interview. You won't see this on CNN or FOX. A real conversation with AL Gore. I feel like these are the issues and questions we want to hear. Thanks Current and DIGG.

Congrats Jan,
Keep up the great posts!

whooooooo .... what?

why SO evasive about legalizing marijuana?

yes, something is illegal when there are laws against that thing........ got that.......... (?)

would talking seriously about marijuana affect the seriousness of global warming?

just unsettlingly strange

all forms of hypocrisy should be fought. if willingly one falls short on even one kind, both the general progress of all kinds and the single one being given the extra time, all fall short from what could have been achieved if the main subject, true freedom (& do onto others as you would have them do to you & my limit finishes where your's start) had been recognized as the axis of most issues.

laws end up being tangent ideas to problems that the same law has still to solve.

:-/

maybe if so many issues are going wrong when it comes to the weather, it must include others that may not be that easily visibly directly related too

i dont know, ive hit (micro) brick walls, but i never thought i would see how much some people get affected by their wall hitting experiences, i got that vibe from this interview.

if time is peculiarly particularly conveniently precious at this hour, if this was not a promo for clean energy inc., then most of what is left is that hypocrisy within.

while i don't agree w/ his views on the environment, i think the guy definitely has a savvy for business and interesting thoughts on the political process...at least he was honest when he had mix feelings about some things which i can appreciate....good interview

like the way digg and current combine the advantages of text and video.

hint: a friend of mine says he dislikes the term "crowdsourced" (because it sounds like a one-way channel) -- he prefers the term community (and I agree)... communities speaking the same language (see http://gaggle.info/miscellaneous/articles/wisdom-of-the-language :) can be very transformative and empowering for all participants.

Mr. Gore,
I'd like to thank you for your continued efforts to improve the environment, the government, and because of these actions, the very lives of the public. Please keep up the good work of keeping the government and corporations on their toes. Thank you again.
P.S. great interview

I believe he (Obama) needs to display “wisdom” and focus on the big 3. One may have to go down and the rise of a green player to replace the fallen may need to be his biggest move! If I was an advisor to President Obama, I would encourage him to not bailout anyone-else (excluding the middle class) and focus on transitioning from the traditional economic giants to investing in the new green giants! One of my own favorite quotes is:

“I happen to deeply agree with the wisdom of Tom Friedman (that we cannot consume of way out of this mess and “Have you ever been to a revolution where nobody gets hurt?”). The fact is that the current economic conditions will cause a lot of companies to close their doors (websites too), and they will die off altogether due to lack of understanding the competitive (innovative) landscape. Just look at Detroit and the Big 3 for example! Those that will fight to stay alive will need to figure out — What’s Next?

I believe that the New Green Economy will include the Rise of Green Real Estate Markets paired with the continued success of Cleantech, Clean Energy Markets, and large scale shifts toward Clean Transportation, and the Greening of the IT Industries (plus a fourth quarter of record investment!!), which will lead to a boom in “American Made” Green Collar Jobs and the creation of new wealth. The trick is: “who will get it right??” Execution makes all the difference for most of these opportunities and green investors need to pay more attention to the items that management claim they can achieve.” - Yeves Perez, Founder of EcoInvestmentClub.com - Nov 2008

See more on talk on Fast Company:
http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/glenn-croston/starting-and-growing-green-busines...

"I happen to deeply agree with the wisdom of Tom Friedman (that we cannot consume of way out of this mess and "Have you ever been to a revolution where nobody gets hurt?"). The fact is that the current
economic conditions will cause a lot of companies to close their doors (websites too), and they will die off altogether due to lack of understanding the competitive (innovative) landscape. Just look at
Detroit and the Big 3 for example! Those that will fight to stay alive will need to figure out — What's Next?

I believe that the New Green Economy will include the Rise of Green Real Estate Markets paired with the continued success of Cleantech, Clean Energy Markets, and large scale shifts toward Clean
Transportation, and the Greening of the IT Industries (plus a fourth quarter of record investment!!), which will lead to a boom in "American Made" Green Collar Jobs and the creation of new wealth. The trick is: "who will get it right??" Execution makes all the difference for most of these opportunities and green investors need to pay more attention to the items that management claim they can achieve." -
Yeves Perez, Founder of EcoInvestmentClub.com - Nov 2008

Gore is a bit to much of a democrat for me, but I liked
the interview and the format for it.

Wow. That was a awesome interview.

Its very rare to see a person to person type interview with someone like Al Gore. And me being a huge Al Gore supporter, It was very interesting to see his opinions on questions that most mainstream media wouldn't ask. And it was also very nice to see the human side of Al Gore. He seems like a person you could randomly sit down and have a cup of coffee with, Unlike most famous people. Or even people in general.

Thank you for this post. And i don't mean to be greedy... But whens the sequel coming?

Kevin Rose?!!?! I haven't seen him in years!!!

Mr. Gore:

For you to say I'm amazing is the greatest compliment that could be given to me and I thank you. My view on distinquishing between which GMOS may be safe and which are dangerous is a task made much harder by Monsanto and other agri-business companies that are in bed with the FDA and USDA to keep any information about the safety and health effects of GMOS hushed and off the labels of our food. And for me one of the biggest problems caused by all of them is transgenic pollution and the way Monsanto then uses that political favor and muscle to push out farmers who do not subscribe to their patented seeds and also how they are using the climate crisis to their own ends. I truly wish you had more time to delve deeper into this important issue. Who knows, maybe one day I will be lucky enough to actually get the chance to talk to you in greater length about this and other issues.;-). Thanks for answering the question.

Also, regarding prop 10, I think the fact that T. Boone Pickens was involved in trying to buy the vote and skew it in his favor by pumping millions into it may be one reason why it failed. I firmly believe people want alternate energies in their cars, they just don't want to be held hostage by the same types of monopolies and greenwashers controlling them as do the fossil fuel industry... and that includes the coal industry and their "clean coal " scheme which as you rightly stated is an oxymoron. I hope you are talking to President-Elect Obama about that and also that even if we were to have some sort of CO2 sequestering technology come down the pike in the next twenty years, it won't make much if any difference then nor will it solve the problem of other toxic chemicals that are released through coal ash, nor the destructive environrmental devastation of mountain top removal.

And one more comment. Thomas Jefferson rewrote the Bible to take out all of the mumbo jumbo about the life of Christ and wrote a reasoned logical accounting of his life as a man that I treasure reading, so thanks for that mention of him. He along with you are my greatest inspirations.

One can only hope that Mr. Gore will advise the Obama administration while continuing to enjoy the benefits of being a "free agent".
Nice message to JanforGore. She's been a powerhouse in environmental awareness.
Kudos to Kevin and everyone else involved in putting this together. Very well done.
Wait. Jefferson edited his Bible? I need to know more about that one.

Good interview. I appreciate your answer regarding atheists and our founding fathers. Since i'm doing a presentation regarding just that topic.

This was an awesome interview. I really enjoyed watching it...You rock, Al!