Gore is stumping for his new book (
http://www.powells.com/biblio/71-9781594867347-0# ) and, of course, for our planet. Letterman asked some *really* important questions -- it looks like he is taking his role very seriously! He asked about population growth and Gore provided some apparently well-informed and (to me) surprising answers.
Trying to find the video; will post.
ETA: Supposedly a repeat from November, but does not match any of the video clips I can find, except for one short, uninformative one.
ETA: Gore said that most recent projections are that population will *stabilize* around 9 billion around 2050. The four most important factors slowing population growth:
-education of girls
-empowerment of women (having a role in gov't, NGOs, etc.)
-availability of birth control (suck it, Dubya and your "evangelical" friends)
-increasing survival of children
The latter is a little counterintuitive, but -- as happened in this country early in the last century -- when parents realize that their children are not likely to die off they choose to have smaller families.
ETA: nice synopsis at this link
http://planetforward.ca/blog/al-gore-and-david-letterman-an-eco-friendly-master-class-part-5/ETA: VIDEO HERE:
http://openalex.blogspot.com/2009/11/al-gore-on-letterman-id-vote-for_05.htmlunfortunately it ends early. :(