CBS’s Harry Smith Is Al Gore Jr.?

At the beginning of the 8:30AM half hour of the CBS "Early Show," weatherman Dave Price did a brief story highlighting a melting ice shelf in Antarctica as an example of climate change and co-host Harry Smith used the opportunity to show off his global warming knowledge: "And they also talk about because as this disappears, this reflects light, alright? That's another huge issue because that ice reflects the light. It turns to water, which absorbs the light. That could be another exacerbating factor in global warming." Smith followed up by pointing to himself and declaring: "Al Gore Jr." Both Price and co-host Maggie Rodriguez replied "you are."

Given Smith’s known obsession with Al Gore, including trying to pin a ‘Gore‘08' campaign button on the former vice president during a interview in May of last year, this self-description was quite interesting. Price went on to joke: "You know, you spent a lot of time with him...The 'Inconvenient Anchor,' Harry's new book coming out."

As for that melting ice shelf, Price noted that no tidal wave was coming any time soon, but still offered an ominous warning: "If this happens, will it make, again, the water levels go up? Not so with this piece because it was already floating, but in the event that land-based glaciers begin to really melt, you could be talking about a rise in water levels which could be catastrophic..."

Here is the full transcript of the segment:

7:31AM TEASER:

MAGGIE RODRIGUEZ: Also, look at this. A giant chunk of an ice shelf in the Antarctic collapses. What may have caused the break coming up.

8:30AM SEGMENT:

DAVE PRICE: In the meantime, who wants to see something really interesting? You know, we're coming up on Earth Day as we head into the middle of April, and for anyone who says, you know, what affect does climate have on the Earth? --

SMITH: Right.

PRICE: What affect do high temperatures have on the Earth?

HARRY SMITH: Take a look at this --

PRICE: Look at the monitor everyone, I want to show you some video. A lot of people saying global warming, or at least higher temperatures, being blamed for this massive collapse of an ice shelf in Antarctica.

SMITH: This thing is how big? It's the size of --

PRICE: It's seven times the size of Manhattan.

RODRIGUEZ: Can you imagine?

PRICE: Now, if the rest of it goes, it's a chunk of ice the size of Connecticut. It's along the Wilkens Ice Shelf. It's been there for about 1,500 years, and now what their really surprised at is not only that it's melting, they anticipated that some of that would happen --

SMITH: Right.

PRICE: But how quickly --

RODRIGUEZ: How quickly --

PRICE: It is doing so.

SMITH: Right.

PRICE: Now, a lot of people may wonder, alright, well, if this happens, and there is where it is on our globe --

SMITH: Sure. Oh, huge.

PRICE: If this happens, will it make, again, the water levels go up? Not so with this piece because it was already floating, but in the event that land-based glaciers begin to really melt, you could be talking about a rise in water levels which could be catastrophic, so this is really -- look at this video.

SMITH: Right, right. And they also talk about because as this disappears, this reflects light, alright? That's another huge issue because that ice reflects the light. It turns to water, which absorbs the light. That could be another exacerbating factor in global warming.

PRICE: Right. And so we continue to watch that situation.

SMITH: Al Gore Jr.

PRICE: You are.

RODRIGUEZ: Yeah, you are.

PRICE: You know, you spent a lot of time with him.

RODRIGUEZ: But were you nominated?

PRICE: The 'Inconvenient Anchor,' Harry's new book coming out.

SMITH: There you go.

PRICE: But keep in mind, we're going to give you tips throughout the month of April on how you can do your own part to make sure our Earth stays healthy, and of course it'll culminate when we do a live report on -- as we head into Earth Day.

SMITH: There you go. Were you impressed by that, kids?

RODRIGUEZ: Yeah, yeah.

SMITH: Oh, yeah.

RODRIGUEZ: Hey, when are you entering the presidential race, Harry?

SMITH: Well, I don't know. There's a little time left.

RODRIGUEZ: We keep waiting.