Does anyone do hyperbole about climate change better than Al Gore? No, I don’t think so. Of course, he has had a lot of practice. He’s been using the issue since back in the day when the first predictions of the coming of a new Ice Age began to catch on.

Some of us are old enough to remember the 1970s and the first Earth Day. Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin was concerned that environmental issues were not being addressed in politics so he began Earth Day. That was on April 22, 1970. An estimated 20 million people nationwide attended festivities that day. The Clean Air Act of 1963 was one of the first laws to address the environment and it was designed to control air pollution on a national level. The Clean Water Act, first passed in 1972, is the primary federal law in the United States governing water pollution. Al Gore, throughout his long political career, presented himself as an expert on climate change – though it was then called global warming. In 1976, during his days in the House of Representatives, he held the first congressional hearings on the issue and co-sponsored hearings on toxic waste and global warming.

Since he left political office, Gore has been a full-time scold on the topic. He’s made a handsome living from his fearmongering. He started a London-based investment management firm to create environment-friendly portfolios, he formed a group to develop a web-based program with multiple advertisements on television focused on spreading awareness for the climate crisis (he invented the internet, you know), and he’s a frequent speaker at environmental conferences. His books are best-sellers and we can’t forget his award-winning documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. Liberals loved that one.

All of this activity on the part of Gore makes appearances at forums like Davos a natural fit. No longer the premiere world economic forum of days past, it has been overrun by social justice warriors and their causes. Climate change is particularly popular with attendees. With this in mind, Al Gore’s speech at this year’s gathering is over the top, even for him. Just when we thought Gore could not get any more obnoxious in his language on the topic, he outdoes himself. This year he compared the threat of climate change to war battles and terrorism.

In his closing remarks Wednesday before a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Mr. Gore said that “this crisis, the climate crisis, is way worse than people generally realize. Way worse.”

“The burden to act that is on the shoulders of the generation of people alive today is a challenge to our moral imagination, but this is Thermopylae,” Mr. Gore said. “This is Agincourt. This is the Battle of the Bulge. This is Dunkirk. This is 9/11. We have to rise to this occasion.”

Clearly, he says such over-the-top statements to capture the attention of his audience. He is trying to make the case of the severity of the problem, in his mind, to those who will listen to him. What he does with this kind of hyperbole, though, is turn off those who might be open to hearing what he has to say. His loyal followers are already convinced. Sensible people who may be skeptical of the coming environmental apocalypse hear these kinds of comments and think, “C’mon, man.” These words are also hurtful and insulting to survivors of terrorist attacks and wars and their loved ones.

Ken Webster Jr., radio host at KPRC-AM in Houston, said that 16,000 French soldiers and 1,000 British soldiers died during the evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940.

“Imagine telling millions of people that a fraction of a degree higher in temperature is the equivalent of thousands of people dying in a giant explosion or a Nazi invasion,” said Mr. Webster in a post.

Gore, like other publicity-seeking adults, enjoyed a photo op with teen activist Greta Thunberg and sang her praises.

Great to see @GretaThunberg at #WEF20 today. Once again, I was struck by her potent and sobering call to action. Nobody speaks truth to power as she does: “Our house is still on fire. Your inaction is fueling the flames by the hour.” https://t.co/tbd7mh1P4Y pic.twitter.com/UzbdkMlvJr

— Al Gore (@algore) January 22, 2020

Some reactions to Gore’s meeting with young Greta are worth a chuckle. Enjoy.

Two terrorist leaders in one photo https://t.co/LKfmGWc8Pn

— Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) January 22, 2020

But did she scold you for your massive house and SUV travel https://t.co/IC6qVLNimn

— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) January 22, 2020

Ex veep makes unnecessary trip to Switzerland to sound alarm about burning of fossil fuels. https://t.co/3IkfzPx5lo

— Doug Powers (@ThePowersThatBe) January 22, 2020