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The "Gore Effect" is the satirical name suggesting a relationship between cold weather and appearances of former U.S. Vice President and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Al Gore at global warming associated events. Curtis Brainard of the Columbia Journalism Review has called coverage of the Gore Effect vacuous and "asinine," noting the distinction between short-term weather and long-term climate.

The term "Gore Effect" or "Al Gore Effect" is also sometimes used to describe the impact of Gore's 2006 film, An Inconvenient Truth, on the climate change debate.

Background

The use of the term "Gore Effect" in relation to cold weather coinciding with Gore's travel dates back at least to 2006, at least in newspapers. Because of Gore's prominence as an advocate of the dangers of global warming, "His detractors delight in noting coincidences between events relating to his favorite subject and severe winter weather." Although 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 argue their case against global warming. Stephen McIntyre blogged on December 25 2008 on Climateaudit about How Al Gore Saved Christmas and claimed a coincidence between Gores visits in Toronto 2006 und 2007 and strong snowfall afterwards

Steve Benen of the Washington Monthly called the focus on such coincidences "insulting", and environmentalist A. Siegel has called the jokes a "shallow observation" from "those who don't get that weather isn't climate". Conversely, The Washington Times editorial staff has said, "If nothing else, the Gore Effect proves that God has a sense of humor," and a Competitive Enterprise Institute spokesperson has expressed a similar view. Harald Martenstein described the alleged effect in the German weekly Die Zeit as 'Gores personal Climate Disaster'.

The Gore Effect has also been humorously invoked at several climate rallies.

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. (June 2010)

The alleged Gore Effect is often communicated in form of lists of various events world wide which seem or do to confirm the assumption. Several name the global warming rally held in New York City on January 15, 2004. The day was described as one of the coldest days in the city's history. NOAA weather records for January 15-16, 2004 indicate that a number of surrounding areas, including Central Park, either tied or broke their record lows for that day. Various political enemies of Gore, e.g Roy Blunt and James Inhofe started to use the coincidence to critize Gore and his efforts against Global Warming.

Other coincidences are more vague or plain hoaxes. Gore's lecture at Harvard University in October 2008 was described by Washington Times as coinciding "with low temperatures that challenged 125-year records." Actually, on the day of Gore's speech, the average temperature was 3 degrees below the average for the day, and well over the record low.

The last days of the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference coincided with snowfalls in Copenhagen as well in various parts of the US. Media Matters for America reported of various right wing media to seize on local weather conditions to deem climate change a "fraud".

In April 2010 a Twitter message of Al Gore announcing how April 2010 had the lowest snow cover on record was met with heavy snowfall in Colorado and Wyoming shortly afterward. The concidence received a certain media coverage.

See also

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

References

1. Waller, Martin (26 December 2009). "The year of living precariously". The Times (in English). United Kingdom: News Corporation. Retrieved 10 June 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
2. Lovely, Erika, "Tracking the 'Gore Effect'", November 25, 2008, Politico, retrieved June 9, 2010
3. Peckham, Aaron (2007). Mo' Urban Dictionary: Ridonkulous Street Slang Defined. Kansas City, Missouri: Andrews McMeel Publishing. p. 126. ISBN 978-0-7407-6875-0.
4. ^ Brainard, Curtis (November 26, 2008). "Global Cooling, Confused Coverage". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved 8 June 2010.
5. New Brunswick Business Journal Nov. 2 2009
6. On the Gore Effect: The Nobel and the Politics, NYT October 16, 2007 Eric Chivian, M.D. director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment, Harvard Medical School.
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. Global Warning Chidanand Rajghatta, Jun 5, 2007 The Times of India
11. ^ Bolt, Andrew (November 17, 2006). "Al Gore rains on his party". Herald Sun. Melbourne.
12. ^ Daly, Michael (December 20, 2009). "The Gore Effect brings snow to New York City". Daily News. New York.
13. How Al Gore Saved Christmas, Climateaudit 25. Dezember 2008
14. 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)
15. Siegel, A. (March 2, 2009). "Fire and Ice..." The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2009-01-10.
16. ^ "EDITORIAL: The Gore Effect". The Washington Times. March 4, 2009.
17. 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)
18. Kältetote in Peru Unser Kolumnist enthüllt Al Gores persönliche Klimakatastrophe, (Frozen Corpses in Peru - Our columnist uncovers Al Gores personal climate disaster) by Harald Martenstein, Die Zeit, March 13, 2009
19. Smith, Ron (January 8, 2010). "Temperatures drop, alarmism heats up". Baltimore Sun. The Baltimore Sun. p. 1. Retrieved 8 June 2010.
20. Warren, David (2 November 2008). "Save us, please, from those who would save the earth". Ottawa Citizen. p. A.14.
21. http://www.erh.noaa.gov/okx/readtext.php?file=pns/01152004.txt
22. Gore decries 'global warming' in bitterly cold NYC Former VP slams Bush as 'moral coward,' says 'W' only concerned about financial contributors, WorldNetDaily Exclusive 15. Januar 2004
23. http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KBOS/2008/10/22/DailyHistory.html?req_city=NA&req_state=NA&req_statename=NA
24. McCrann, Terry (June 9, 2010). "Climate hysteria just warming up". Herald Sun. Herald and Weekly Times. p. 1. Retrieved 8 June 2010.
25. Harris, Tom (January 1, 2010). "Climate conference organizers asked for trouble in Copenhagen". Canada Free Press. Retrieved 10 June 2010.
26. Right-wing media seize on snow at Copenhagen conference to deem climate change a "fraud"December 18, 2009 12:15 pm ET, Media Matters for America
27. Pollowitz, Greg (May 12, 2010). "The Gore Effect Hits Denver". National Review Online. Retrieved 10 June 2010.
28. "Wyoming, Colorado get dumping of spring snow". Las Vegas Sun. May 12, 2010. Retrieved 11 June 2010.

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