WE’LL never know what might have happened if the year 2,000 US Presidential recount had been successful, but it’s likely that Al Gore would have had more impact on American and global attitudes to climate change and carbon emissions than he has had from the sidelines.

However he has still become Mr Climate Change following an interest that developed at university, and his 2006 film, ‘An Inconvenient Truth’, summed up his understanding of how we human beings were distorting the climate at an unprecedented rate.

After a decade of travelling the world to inform and commit nations to action he has a new film doing the rounds - ‘An Inconvenient Sequel, Truth to Power’. In due course it will join the first one on line so will be available for all to see, and hopefully commit them to lifestyle changes that will reduce their output of climate distorting gases.

While I’m pleased that there’s another film concentrating on climate change I found it disappointing as it seemed to lack focus, and is rather simplistic in its belief that simply telling folks the facts will persuade them to change their lifestyles.

There were too few examples of how to influence others and indeed he is really preaching to the converted. When I saw it at the Picture House in Bradford I knew most of the 30 or so audience present.

Much of it was about what he was up to, at the Paris conference or travelling the world looking at climate disasters, and the responses and the message might have been clearer and more focused if he had spent less time on screen.

His example of communities that have adopted renewable energy was clearly because it was cheaper than fossil fuels, rather than because they accepted the science.

So maybe that’s the best way forward in an imperfect world.