The industrialized world is on a collision course with nature, says former Vice President Al Gore, who passionately urges a Stanford Business School audience to take action to save the environment.

Gore presented a wealth of leading-edge research from top scientists around the world and personal anecdotes and observations to document the fast pace and wide scope of global warming.

Nine of the top 10 hottest years recorded since the Civil War have occurred in the past 12 years, he said. Other evidence of warming trends cited by Gore: the 2003 heat wave in Europe that killed 15,000 people; a shrinking snow pack on Mount Kilimanjaro that is expected to melt completely in 15 years; rising carbon dioxide levels that are expected to double in 50 years—partly due to massive deforestation occurring in the developing world; an increase in the number and intensity of hurricanes and other weather-related disasters; mounting weather-related claims filed by the insurance industry; Greenland ice that has been melting at 40 percent over the past 40 years; the shrinking ice shelf in Antarctica; and the probability that the Arctic icepack could completely disappear during the summer in another 50 years.

Gore's message of pending environmental disaster is paired with an equally passionate challenge to the next generation's business leaders to do what they can to change the status quo. "It's a privilege to be alive at a time of such fantastic challenge and opportunity," Gore says. "We are at a turning point, and so deciding to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem is critical."