For an hour and twenty minutes they discussed the many facets of global climate change.

“Part of out problem, in my opinion,” said Gore, his image projected on the wall, his receptionist style microphone fully apparent, “in our modern civilization is that we’ve somehow gotten into this mistaken way of thinking that’s dominated by short-term horizons.”

The crowd was a rapt fan base of Bay Area Dems, ready to hang on every word (When local political activists – LaRouchers –burst into the auditorium, they were where shushed by the crowd – “Shut up!” “Go – before being ejected by security).

Gore spoke for lengths of around five minutes, stacking statistics and theories, drawing conclusions. Solar, wind, and hydropower were touted, as was ethanol and the third-generation of photo-voltaics. Gore advocated the removal of limits on the amount of electricity that can be sold by small producers. This would let private homes with solar panels sell more energy back to the grid.

Alternatives like nuclear energy and hydrogen fuel cells were derided, but not discarded.

“I think nuclear power will play a small role… I’m not reflexively opposed to it,” said Gore. In addition to the current downsides of nuclear power – problems with potential arms programs, operator error, and waste disposal, Gore added, “There’s still an economic challenge, because in a time of energy uncertainty…. utility managers don’t want to place all their bets on a very large increment…. they want to place smaller bets and keep their flexibility. At the present time commercial reactors only come in only one size – extra-large.”

His answers were often laced with a decent humor and an impressive, off-hand knowledge of energy and the environment.

“Hydrogen,” said Gore, “is really a medium of transferring energy and not a source of energy, sort of like electricity. Where does hydrogen come from? You know the Bush-Cheney administration…. their source of hydrogen is coal, and again, call me crazy, but, it really seems like a bad idea.”

Ever the armchair scientist, Gore brought up neurology. He proposed that the brain’s functions may affect our ability to comprehend and avert a worldwide climate crisis.

“The fear and reasoning centers of the brain are connected. And they’re connected both ways,” said Gore. “Now, while communication from the fear center to the reasoning center is quite robust [here he paused, receiving an easy laugh] the reason center sends a… a little more than a trickle. But the good news is that it’s the aggregate bandwidth that counts.”

Off the cuff analogies peppered the evening.

“Maybe there’s something, mmm, wrong with our educational process,” responded McCosker. Several times that evening McCosker shifted the topic, somewhat critically, to education.

Gore gave no rebuttal to this, per say. Their discussion played very much like an out-of-court settlement between two opiated British lords, agreeing and conferring quite properly and congenially with each other, sliding in the occasional inside-joke with a raised brow. I mean this in the best way. It was a relaxed environ.

The crowd was a rapt fan base of Bay Area Dems, ready to hang on every word (When local political activists – LaRouchers –burst into the auditorium, they were where shushed by the crowd – “Shut up!” “Go” – before being ejected by security).

Preceding the event, Gore made an appearance at a dinner reception in the center’s California Room. The Slanted Door, with executive Chef Charles Phan on hand, catered. The hour-and-a-half meet and greet was attended by three hundred of the City’s movers and shakers, including supervisors Michaela Alioto-Pier and Bevin Dufty.

Before the reception ended, an announcer reminded the elite crowd to use the bathroom before the lecture started.