Gore in the Balance

I would love to send Al Gore back to New York City in the 1840s, have him smell the air in which the average person could barely breathe due to the thousands and thousands of wood stoves and the thousands of tonnes of horse manure that literally lined the streets for as far as the eye could see. The fellow always talks about the "environmental balance" that our forefathers used to enjoy (never mind the fact that our forefathers dropped dead at age 40) and wouldn't it be a wonderful thing if he himself were able to enjoy it for at least a little while?