Introduction

The assignment was to choose someone that "made a significant difference in helping, saving, recuing, or improving the lives of other people." For this reason I chose Al Gore. Though Al Gore has served for the United States on the House of Representatives, as the 45th vice president, and as a contender for president in 2000, his most notable actions are those that have to do with the environment. He has written books that show the effects of global warming and the climate changes on society (Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit and An Inconvenient Truth). Both of these books were bestsellers, and therefore through them Gore was able to teach the readers about the ongoing climate problems. When his book An Inconvenient Truth became an award-winning documentary, it only helped to reach more people and to inform them about the earth's condition. He utitilized the film's success and created The Climate Project (TCP), a nonprofit organization where Gore personally trains people about his slideshow featured in the film, and they then use this to present the slideshow to other people. Through all of these efforts, not to mention his constant fights while in office to warn America about the effects of global warming, Gore has managed to create a new understanding when it comes to the environment. When people would have otherwised been uneducated and unaware, a considerable number are just the opposite because of his efforts. Because of this knowledge, people will know to live in a way that is better for the earth, and to spread their knowledge to others. Without Gore, none of this would have been possible, and for that he has made a significant difference in the lives of humans.