An inconvenient fact-check of Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth on its 20th anniversary

Washington Examiner ^ | January 31, 2026 8:00 am | Joe Concha

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Summary of Article's Inconvenient Truth Comments

Al Gore released An Inconvenient Truth in 2006, warning of imminent catastrophic climate impacts requiring massive global investment to avert planetary disaster. The film premiered to acclaim at Sundance with a standing ovation, won two Oscars (including Best Documentary), and earned Gore the Nobel Peace Prize.

Twenty years later (in 2026), key claims include:

• Bronze: Gore stated Mt. Kilimanjaro would lose all snow by 2016. Glaciers have shrunk dramatically (~90% since early 20th century, down to ~1 km² or less by recent estimates), with projections of near-total loss by 2030–2050. Seasonal snow persists, but permanent ice fields continue retreating rapidly.

• Silver: Gore cited a 75% chance of ice-free North Polar summer within 5–7 years, per Dr. Wieslaw Maslowski, who disavowed the precise figure. Arctic sea ice reached its lowest winter maximum on record in March 2025 (14.33 million km²) and 10th-lowest September minimum in 2025 (4.60 million km²); long-term decline persists (~12% per decade), with no full summer ice-free event, though variability includes some gains in interim years like 2021–2023.

• Gold: Gore warned that melting Greenland and parts of West Antarctica could raise sea levels 20 feet each, flooding areas like Florida, San Francisco, the Netherlands, Beijing, Shanghai, and displacing millions to hundreds of millions. No such rapid collapse or mass displacement has occurred; sea-level rise continues gradually (3–4 mm/year globally).

Gore has not apologized or returned awards, maintaining climate advocacy. At the 2026 World Economic Forum in Davos, he reportedly booed Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick during a dinner speech; Lutnick described it as the "greatest honor," mocking Gore's past predictions (e.g., ice caps gone by 2025, Greenland green). (248 words)

[Gil4]

Not to mention our base on Diego Garcia.

Is that one going to be under water, or is it going to tip over and capsize like Guam? Better check with Hank Johnson.

[frank ballenger]

RE: why outdoor concert could not be held in Antarctica.

It’s because all the polar bears would take up good seats by sitting on icebergs breaking off from global warming. Then Ticketmaster applicants would say “Why should I pay so much when they are in the front rows sitting there for free?”

[sauropod]

Bkmk

[DoodleBob]

Everything I ever needed to know about how The Authorities really feel about climate change, is embodied in Obama's home on Martha's Vineyard.

[redangus]

Whichever he’s a billionaire based on those stupid comments.

[SkyDancer]

I always liked that physics experiment where you fill a water glass full to the brim with ice, then add water until the ice floats. Now you let it sit and watch what happens when all the ice melts. What happens?

[Flag_This]

How dare you?!

Obola just bought a coastal compound so he could give us all an early warning!

You’re welcome!

[cnsmom]

They had to mandate watching that movie in DMV public high schools for years.My daughter was forced to watch and rewatch it for years.

[JimRed]

The ice on Greenland, Canada, Siberia and Antarctica would add to sea levels if it melted; the northern polar ice cap would not.

[FlingWingFlyer]

Still lots of Penguins and Cola Bears. Algore is a liar.

[BFW]

Archive.is copy of https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/in_focus/4441322/fact-check-al-gore-inconvenient-truth-20th-anniversary/

https://archive.is/ofPcS

Save for reference.

[dangus]

3-4 mm per year is 30-40 cm per century, little more than a foot. This is infinitessimal compared to the rate of deposition and removal along the US East Coast, for instance, and a minor effect on the Mississippi Delta compared to other human effects such as shipping lane configurations. At five feet, nearly all of the economic impact of flooding in America would be late-20th-century government-created infrastructure, built when government saw land left completely empty by private investors for obvious reasons as a cheap place to build massive projects.

[dangus]

The ice in Canada and Siberia is minimal in terms of depth, though. “Permafrost” is on inconsequential volume. Generally people look at Greenland (>9%) and Antarctica (>90%) as significant glacial stores.

[Apple Pan Dowdy]

A little song about how “global warming is freezing us to death”

https://youtu.be/hdEtJnVY4qE?si=CTOXxp2KnBB0AwiX

[SkyDancer]

I don’t think so, but .....

[FroggyTheGremlim]

“little song”

Cute.