Measuring the Al Gore Effect

By Carolyn Sayre

He's not your average comeback kid. As the star of last year's An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore turned a wonky PowerPoint presentation on global warming into the third-highest-grossing documentary of all time; it has earned some $45 million so far. With the film up for two Oscars this month and Gore a nominee for this year's Nobel Peace Prize for mobilizing a worldwide crusade, the Al juggernaut just keeps picking up steam.

FOOT SOLDIERS He has trained nearly 1,000 roving volunteers to give the presentation shown in the film. All the disciples, including Cameron Diaz, pledged to give 10 talks a year.

SCHOOL MUST-SEES Britain just announced plans to send all its secondary schools a copy of the film. It's required viewing for high schoolers in Norway and Sweden.

FREE SHOWS As the film is being shown at community centers across the U.S., organizations like Share the Truth are raising money to distribute free DVDs.

BOOKS The film's producer Laurie David is working with Scholastic on a children's book about global warming, while a right-wing publisher scouts for a more conservative account.