Gore claims climate battle just like fight against slavery, apartheid

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Al Gore on climate change, future of Paris accord

Former vice president and environmental activist set to release new documentary 'An Inconvenient Sequel'

Global warming activist and former veep Al Gore likened the battle over climate change to humanity's greatest struggles -- like the fights against slavery, apartheid and nuclear proliferation -- during a speech Thursday in Australia, according to a newly reported transcript.

In a July 13 speech to the EcoCity World Summit in Melbourne, the former vice president argued combating global warming was “in the tradition of all the great moral causes that have improved the circumstances of humanity throughout our history,” according to the website Climate Depot.

“The abolition of slavery, woman’s suffrage and women’s rights, the civil rights movement and the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, the movement to stop the toxic phase of nuclear arms race and more recently the gay rights movement,” Gore said.

Marc Morano, executive editor for ClimateDepot.com, told Fox News he made an audio recording of Gore’s remarks because summit organizers prevented media from videotaping the event.

Morano, a former communications aide to climate change skeptic Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., also confirmed reports that security staff physically prevented people from taking photos with their cell phones.

It is not the first time Gore has drawn the parallel between global warming and civil rights.

“The climate movement should be seen in the context of the great moral causes that have transformed and improved the outlook for humanity,” Gore said at an green energy awards ceremony in June.

“It was wrong to allow slavery to continue, it was wrong to deny women the right to vote, it was wrong to discriminate on the basis of skin color or who you fell in love with,” he continued.

In a 2013 interview with The Washington Post, Gore likened climate change “deniers” to alcoholic fathers who fly off the handle when the issue is mentioned.

“The conversation on global warming has been stalled because a shrinking group of denialists fly into a rage when it’s mentioned. It’s like a family with an alcoholic father who flies into a rage every time a subject is mentioned and so everybody avoids the elephant in the room to keep the peace,” he explained.

Gore has been in Australia as part of a tour promoting the upcoming release of "An Inconvenient Sequel," the follow-up to the 2006 documentary on global warming.