When Al Gore told Grist.org, in an interview last month, that “it is appropriate to have an over-representation of factual presentations on the dangers of global warming,” his critics pounced. Those who don’t believe the Earth’s climate is changing as a result of human behavior took his comments as evidence to back their claim that the whole thing is a conspiracy of the left. (“Gore says it’s okay to lie about global warming,” read the typical response on one right-wing blog.) But Gore had a point: some overstating of facts is sometimes necessary in order to get people to care.