Al Gore plans 24-hour webcast linking climate change, extreme weather (BLOG)

(THECUTLINE)Al Gore, whose 2006 documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth," was the first PowerPoint presentation to ever win an Academy Award, is planning a 24-hour presentation this Thursday to do what the two-hour film could not: convince skeptics that the link between climate change and extreme weather, like Hurricane Irene, is real.

Gore's "24 Hours of Reality," streamed via ClimateRealityProject.org, will include another multimedia presentation by the former vice president. The hour-long presentation will start every hour, on the hour, across 24 different time zones and 13 languages. Each presentation will begin at 7 p.m. local time. Gore himself will introduce the presentation in New York.

"Each hour people living with the reality of climate change will connect the dots between recent extreme weather events--including floods, droughts and storms--and the manmade pollution that is changing our climate," the project's mission statement reads. "We will offer a round-the-clock, round-the-globe snapshot of the climate crisis in real time. The deniers may have millions of dollars to spend, but we have a powerful advantage. We have reality."

Trewin Restorick, the chief executive of Global Action Plan, one of Gore's partners, told Reuters that the presentation includes 200 new slides. "There will be a full-on assault on climate skeptics," Restorick said, "exploring where they get their funding from."

According to BoxOfficeMojo.com, "An Inconvenient Truth" has earned nearly $50 million worldwide since its 2006 opening. It has also earned Gore plenty of critics, including Rick Perry, the Texas governor and Republican presidential candidate.

Earlier this year, Gore criticized Perry's response to a rash of Texas wildfires.

"The governor called for prayer. And I prayed," Gore said. "But as was said already, prayer should involve commitment. There is an old African proverb: 'When you pray, move your feet.' We are called upon to make choices, today."