DATE: July 5th
NETWORK: CNBC
PROGRAM: "The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch"
Time: 10:00pm - 11:00pm ET

The following is the unofficial transcript of a CNBC interview with former Vice President Al Gore on CNBC's "The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch." The interview will air tonight, 7/5 at 10pm and 1am ET on CNBC.

During the interview, Gore discusses his political future, business vs. the environment, replacing the payroll tax with a carbon tax, solving the climate crisis, and the Live Earth concerts this weekend, among other topics.

On running for President in the '08 election, Gore says, "I don't expect to be a candidate, you know. I... Well, but I--and it's, you know, it's safe language, because it captures the nuance that I want to convey to you. But--and I see no need to make a so-called Sherman statement.... Anyway, I'm really focused on this, and I have kind of fallen out of love with politics. What politics has become in the soundbyte era, and the television commercial--the 30 second commercial era, demands talents that I don't think I necessarily have in abundance; a tolerance for manipulative, repetitive messaging and so forth. I really like the challenge of delivering what I deeply believe to be the truth about our situation, and trying to bring about change that we need worldwide."

The following is the full transcript of the interview. Please source all references to CNBC's "The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch."

DONNY DEUTSCH, host:Well, Mr. Vice President, welcome to THE BIG IDEA.

Mr. AL GORE: Well, it's great to be here, Donny, thank you.

DEUTSCH: I know you're very, very busy, appreciate you taking the time. You are the poster boy of what this show is all about, which is finding your passion, which is--everybody that comes on the show, talks about a big key to success. And also, coming back from adversity. So I want to--you smile—I want to start with you at frankly the low point, for lack of a better term, in terms of coming out of 2000. And I want you to pick it up at a Shoneys for me, a restaurant. Because to me, that's the beginning of you getting on your passion track.

Mr. GORE: Well first of all, thank you. I love your show.

DEUTSCH: Thanks.

Mr. GORE: And I tell this story often, but--and it's a true story. Tipper and I were driving to a little farm we have east of Nashville, and we walked into a Shoneys restaurant, sat down at the table, and the waitress--I usually say the waitress came over and made a big commotion over Tipper, which is true also. And she went to the couple in the booth next to us, and she lowered her voice a little bit, she said, `You know, that's former Vice President Al Gore and his wife, Tipper.' And the man said, `He's come down a long way.' Oh my gosh. It was--it was a real Epiphany.

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