Twenty Years After Sounding the Alarm, Al Gore Is Still Fighting for the Planet

Two decades have passed since Al Gore first brought the climate crisis into living rooms across the world, and the former vice president has not gone quiet. If anything, the urgency in his voice has sharpened. In a recent conversation with Inside Climate News, Gore made clear that while humanity still has the tools to avoid the worst outcomes of a warming planet, the obstacles standing in the way are more entangled than ever before, and one of the newest is something most people carry in their pockets.

According to Inside Climate News, the explosive growth of artificial intelligence is creating an energy demand that threatens to overwhelm progress made on sustainable energy. Massive data centers powering AI systems are being built at a breathtaking pace across the country, consuming staggering amounts of electricity and water. In Bessemer, Alabama, a proposed development known as Project Marvel would clear hundreds of acres of farmland and draw enough power to supply roughly one million homes, potentially increasing the entire state’s energy demand by ten percent on its own. Communities near proposed sites have shown up in force to oppose these projects, only to find their concerns brushed aside by officials citing tax revenue and job promises.

Gore sympathizes deeply with those residents. He also sees reason for cautious hope. Major tech companies have signed clean power agreements, and a study from the London School of Economics suggests that if AI tools are thoughtfully deployed in areas like grid management, food production, and transportation, their climate benefits could outweigh their energy costs. The catch, as researchers and the International Energy Agency have both warned, is that this outcome requires deliberate public policy, not market forces alone.

Beyond AI, Gore speaks candidly about the political dimensions of the environmental fight, including fossil fuel money shaping elected officials and recent Supreme Court decisions threatening majority minority districts that could affect who gets to vote on climate policy at all. He views the democracy crisis and the climate crisis as inseparable.

Still, Gore remains committed. His nonprofit, the Climate Reality Project, has grown to over 4.5 million people worldwide, all working to push the clean energy transition forward. For anyone who cares about the future, Gore’s message is not one of despair but of determined, eyes open resolve. The tools exist. The question is whether the political will can catch up in time.

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