GLENN: So I want to go to two places that people look to for credibility. And I just want to ask you: Which one has more credibility? Because I can't decide.
He's contestant number one. He used to be a vice president. He used to -- he and his wife used to lead an activist group against the -- the evils of rap lyrics. And now he's all about climate change. And here he is going to talk to a guy who is a 50-year crabber who has lived on the Chesapeake Bay. Now, what they're arguing about, so you know, is has sea level risen?
Now, just so you can put this into context, Al Gore claims that, yes, the sea level is rising. And we're all going to die of a fiery drowning death very soon.
PAT: It will be both fiery and downing --
GLENN: Both. It will be all of it.
PAT: It will. Uh-huh.
GLENN: It will be blizzard snows --
PAT: And drought.
GLENN: -- and -- and record heat. Okay? Both of them willing happening to us. And it will be a horrible, grisly death, all because of global climate change. And already -- sea levels have already risen an alarming rate. Now, what is that alarming rate? I want you to know. The width, the thinness of a dime is how much we're talking about in the rise of the sea level -- the thinness of a dime, which scientists have been able to measure by satellite, to tell us via satellite that the sea level has risen, the thinness of a dime. Now, here's a guy --
PAT: Right.
GLENN: A crabber. I mean, what does he know. And a mayor.
PAT: He's lived on this island in the Chesapeake Bay for 50 years. But come on.
GLENN: He's now able to talk to contestant number one. Yes, let me reveal him. He's the one, he's the only, Al Gore.
VOICE: I'm a commercial crabber, and I've been working the Chesapeake Bay for 50-plus years. And I have a crab house business out on the water. And water level is the same as it was when the place was built in 1970.
I'm not a scientist. But I'm a keen observer. And if sea level rise is occurring, why am I not seeing signs of it? I mean, our island is disappearing, but it's because of erosion and not sea level rise. Plus, we get a sea wall. We will lose our island. But back to the question, why am I not seeing signs of the sea level rise.
AL: What do you think the erosion is due to, Mayor?
VOICE: Wave action, storms.
AL: Has that increased any?
VOICE: Not really.
AL: So you're losing the island even though the waves haven't increased?
VOICE: Yes. This erosion has been going on since Captain John Smith discovered the island and named it. And it's gotten to our doorstep now and we focus on it more.
AL: Well, arguments about the science aren't necessarily going to be of any comfort to you. And I'm sorry for what you're going through.
GLENN: Okay. So stop for a second. Before I get to this, I just want you to know. You know, they're seeing erosion. What do you think that's caused by?
PAT: Waves.
GLENN: Waves.
PAT: Waves, you know.
GLENN: You know, I don't know if you know this, Al. But the cliffs of Dover weren't always cliffs. I know that's hard to understand, but it appears as though those cliffs have eroded. You know, sand wasn't always sand. It was rock. The black sand? That's because the land was volcanic rock. That's what makes it black.
Pink sand? Because it was coral. It wasn't always like that.
PAT: I'm telling you though, that's how dangerous this is.
GLENN: Coral was not always -- it's not pink sand. Look at the pretty pink sand. There were rocks. Waves beat over it for millions of years and break it down in various -- that's erosion.
PAT: Hmm.
GLENN: But...
STU: If we don't do something, we may have a hole that may turn into a canyon that may turn into a Grand Canyon.
PAT: If we don't stop the Colorado River, damn it, there's going to be a big hole in the ground.
GLENN: Wow. Wow.
STU: And look what happened.
PAT: If only Al were here 150 years ago, darn it.
STU: He's not quite that old.
GLENN: Okay. So now, he goes into his science explanation.
AL: Your neighbor is on Tangier Island. I read about you in the paper. There was an article in the Washington Post, I believe, after President Trump called you up. And won't necessarily do you any good to tell you that the scientists do say that the sea level is rising in the Chesapeake Bay and that you've lost about two-thirds of your island.
PAT: So what I'm telling you is -- and this may be a little bit demeaning, but you're too stupid to know you're being demeaned. You don't know what you're talking about.
GLENN: Right. And, by the way, that's a quote -- you know, it's a little demeaning to say this to them, but they're too stupid to understand.
PAT: To know they've been demeaned.
GLENN: That's a quote from Al Gore.
The thinness of a dime, the rise of sea level which, boy, that's a tough margin, huh? That margin of error is less than the thinness of a dime. That, yes, that's the reason why you've lost two-thirds of your island.
PAT: Of his island.
GLENN: Two-thirds of your island. And I just want you to know that experts agree.
PAT: Jeez.