The [Alleged] Human Cost of [Allegedly Anthropogenic] Climate Change

The report admirably calls attention to the myriad hardships afflicting the world's poor, whose suffering too often escapes the gaze of the developed world. But the role of human-caused climate change in spawning the disasters is simply asserted more often than it's convincingly demonstrated. Critics have huffed that the report features more guesswork than science, ridiculing one calculation that factors in the frequency of earthquakes to determine global warming's impact on weather disasters (the authors do concede a "significant margin of error.") Specifics aside, the report is doubtlessly intended to haunt world leaders as they gather in Copenhagen later this year to negotiate a successor to the Kyoto Protocol. If its chilling claims are even partially true, the report should be read as a clarion call to action.

Al Gore takes fossil-fueled trip to New York: Puts Agency Creatives on Notice

Sustainability was a key theme during Gore's speech, as he drew a parallel between the ad business and the needs of the environment -- long one of his most passionate causes. Yet Gore was somewhat thrown by a bizarre environment-related question posed by an audience member at the close of his address. "Do you believe that the extraterrestrial technology that documents indicate has been discovered at the China Lake facility in California can indeed significantly reduce levels of CO2 as to halt global warming by 2099?" asked the NewFront attendee.

After having the man explain to him that "extraterrestrial" meant UFO, Gore responded, "I personally do not. I don't."

Check out some other stops on Gore's fossil-fueled con-trail here.