An editorial writer and land developer, he was senator for Tennessee from 1985–1993. In the 2000 presidential election, he received more votes than George W. Bush but, after a protracted legal controversy that was only resolved by the Supreme Court, he lost to Bush in the electoral college. Since this defeat he has campaigned actively on climate change. His documentary film on this subject, An Inconvenient Truth, won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature in 2007; in the same year he shared the Nobel Peace Prize with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.