Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Active Banana (talk | contribs) at 22:10, 9 June 2010 (since when do we use blogs as sources?). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The "Gore Effect" is a humorous term which has been used to refer to mock efforts against Global Warming. The alleged effect connects extreme weather, such as unseasonably cold temperatures, driving rain, hail, and/or snow coinciding of appearances by former U.S. Vice President and Nobel Peace Prize Al Gore and others against Gobal Warming. . The Gore Effect has been humorously invoked at several climate rallies. Previously, the "Al Gore Effect" was sometimes used to describe the impact of Gore's film, An Inconvenient Truth, on the climate change debate.

Because of Gore's prominence in warning of the dangers of global warming, "His detractors delight in noting coincidences between events relating to his favorite subject and severe winter weather." The coincidences are without basis in science and mentioning them "doesn’t contribute much to the actual making of policy", according to Lisa Miller, Republican spokeswoman for the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee, but it "can be fun". Yet some climate skeptics use the coincidences as a humorous way to make the point that global warming isn't happening as fast as they say some climate experts are claiming. Climate skeptic scientist and meteorologist Joseph D’Aleo said: "We used to kid in forecasting that whenever we were very certain about a major forecast, it would wind up being so dead wrong that we’d be embarrassed. It certainly makes you think."

Steve Benen of the Washington Monthly called the focus on such coincidences, "insulting". Environmentalist A. Siegel called jokes about the Gore Effect a "shallow observation" from "those who don't get that weather isn't climate".

In the opinion of The Washington Times editorial staff, "If nothing else, the Gore Effect proves that God has a sense of humor." A representative of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a libertarian think tank, expressed a similar view.

One early example of usage of the term for cooler weather associated with Gore is in a November 15, 2006 posting at Urbandictionary.com. Blogger Tim Blair was using the term in this sense as early as January 16, 2007. The next day, Glenn Reynolds mentioned the Gore Effect on his "Instapundit" blog, with a link to Blair's post. (As early as February 11, 2004, Blair was using the term in a different, broader sense of an action by Gore taking place just as fate reverses the situation to create the opposite effect of the one Gore desired. As late as March 26, 2007, Mark Steyn was using the term in the same, broader sense.

Harald Martenstein described the alleged effect in the German weekly Die Zeit as 'Gores personal Climate Disaster'. Martenstein sees the Effect as mere proof of nature, maybe God himself being able to use humour.

Events described as instances of the Gore Effect

The relevance of particular information in (or previously in) this article or section is disputed. The information may have been removed or included by an editor as a result. Please see discussion on the talk page considering whether its inclusion is warranted.

The following is a partial list of the events described in various media sources as instances of the Gore Effect:

• January 15, 2004 – A global warming rally was held in New York City which suffered one of the city's coldest days in history.
• November 2006 – Al Gore visited Australia to speak about global warming two weeks before summer began, and it snowed.
• March 2008 – A congressional media briefing on the Bingaman/Specter Climate Bill was purportedly canceled due to a cold snap.
• May 2008 - Gore delivers a speech at a climate change conference in Lima, Peru at the same time the city experiences an unseasonable cold spell.
• October 2008 – London saw the first snow since 1922 while the House of Commons debated the Climate Change Bill.
• October 2008 – Gore appeared at Harvard University, which "coincided with low temperatures that challenged 125-year records."
• March 2009 – Driving snow caused problems at an event billed as "the biggest global warming protest in history" in Washington.
• October 2009 - Gore gives a speech in Wisconsin amidst frost and near-record low temperatures.
• December 2009 – Over four inches of snow fell in Copenhagen during the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference as temperatures dipped to below 25°F, not including wind chill.

See also

• Al Gore and the environment
• Global warming controversy
• Confirmation bias
• Availability heuristic

References

1. ^ Lovely, Erika, "Tracking the 'Gore Effect'", November 25, 2008, Politico, retrieved June 9, 2010
2. Peckham, Aaron (2007). Mo' Urban Dictionary: Ridonkulous Street Slang Defined. Kansas City, Missouri: Andrews McMeel Publishing. p. 126. ISBN 978-0-7407-6875-0.
3. Brainard, Curtis (November 26, 2008). "Global Cooling, Confused Coverage". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved 8 June 2010.
4. ^ "EDITORIAL: The Gore Effect". The Washington Times. March 4, 2009.
5. Bolt, Andrew (November 17, 2006). "Al Gore rains on his party". Herald Sun. Melbourne.
6. Smith, Ron (January 08, 2010). "Temperatures drop, alarmism heats up". Baltimore Sun. The Baltimore Sun. p. 1. Retrieved 8 June 2010. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
7. Sayre, Carolyn, "Measuring the Al Gore Effect", Time, 169.8 (Feb 19, 2007): p20.
8. Howard, Cori, "Green peace of mind", The Globe and Mail. Toronto, Ont.: Jun 21, 2007. pg. L.5.
9. "Icons of pop." Power Engineering 112.7 (2008): 38.
10. ^ Daly, Michael (December 20, 2009). "The Gore Effect brings snow to New York City". Daily News. New York.
11. Benen, Steve (November 25, 2008). "Political Animal: 'The Gore Effect'". The Washington Monthly. Retrieved 2010-01-12. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
12. Siegel, A. (March 2, 2009). "Fire and Ice..." The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2009-01-10.
13. Dufour, Jeff (January 27, 2009). "Yeas & Nays: If it's Al Gore, it's cold". The Washington Examiner. Retrieved 2010-01-08. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthor= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
14. Definition of "Gore Effect" by Bill Collins, November 15, 2006 at Urbandictionary.com, retrieved June 9, 2010
15. Blair, Tim, "GORE EFFECT BY PROXY", blog post, 9:30 a.m., January 16, 2007, "Tim Blair" blog, retrieved June 9, 2010
16. Reynolds, Glenn, "GLOBAL WARMING IN ACTION:", January 17, 8:21 p.m. post, "Instapundit" blog, retrieved June 9, 2010
17. Blair, Tim, "GORED", blog post, February 11, 2004, 10:38 a.m., and comment by Tim Blair at February 11, 11:57 a.m. ("Gore the personification of bad political karma"), "Tim Blair" blog, retrieved June 9, 2010
18. Steyn, Mark, "Melting of the Polls", blog post, March 26, 2007, 1:09 a.m., "The Corner" blog at "National Review Online" website, retrieved June 9, 2010
19. ^ Kältetote in Peru Unser Kolumnist enthüllt Al Gores persönliche Klimakatastrophe, by Harald Martenstein, Die Zeit, March 13 2009
20. ^ Warren, David (2 November 2008). "Save us, please, from those who would save the earth". Ottawa Citizen. p. A.14..
21. Waller, Martin, "I am indebted to David ; City Diary", The Times, 15 Oct. 2009: 52.
22. McCrann, Terry (June 09, 2010). "Climate hysteria just warming up". Herald Sun. Herald and Weekly Times. p. 1. Retrieved 8 June 2010. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

• Al Gore
• Environmental controversies
• Global warming
• Political satire