(CBS) This month, a poll of 3,000 Americans showed 49 percent were not that worried about global warming. That's up from 39 percent in 2007, when Al Gore's book and documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" was the hot topic in the climate change debate.
So, does the political will to save the planet from the potential harm from global warming still exist in the U.S.?
According to Gore, who has authored a new book called "Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis," the movement is rising -- not only in the U.S. but also around the world -- with people determined to solve the crisis.
"Early Show" co-anchor Harry Smith recently sat down with Gore and asked him about the environmental debate as we head into a new decade.
In the U.S., while there is more scientific agreement, there seems to be less political agreement about global warming. How does Gore view this disparity?
Gore told Smith, "Some of the largest carbon polluters have been vigorous and try to convince people -- as the tobacco industry did years ago on the link between smoking cigarettes and lung disease -- that there really isn't a link -- between global warming -- pollution and global warming. But the power of that kind of lobbying and advertising does have an impact."
Some climate models, Smith noted, say it takes a certain number of years for the environment to recover -- even if you stopped pouring carbon into the atmosphere now. So is it too late?
Gore said it's not too late, but added, "Some of the consequences are going to play out because we've already increased temperature one degree and another degree is stored up in the oceans. But the truly catastrophic effects that these scientists have been telling us we've got to stop, can still be avoided."
The politicians in Copenhagen have the 
