Joe Kohen/Getty Images for Current TV | Jon Clark/Rancho Santa Fe Review

It's been nearly two years since Al and Tipper Gore announced their separation after 40 years of marriage, and now Mr. Gore has a girlfriend.

The Nobel Laureate and former vice president is seriously dating Elizabeth Keadle, a close friend confirms to ABC News. She's described by The Washington Post as a "well-heeled Democratic donor from Southern California in her 50s with a background in science and a devotion to environmental causes."

It's not clear when the couple first starting dating, but the two have similar interests and seem to have been running in the same circles for years.

Keadle has long been a supporter of Democratic causes, donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democratic candidates at all levels of government.  She and her ex-husband, Lyle Turner, were reportedly among the early investors in a venture that eventually became Gore's cable channel CurrentTV.

According to a 2002 San Diego Reader article, Gore attended a fundraiser held in San Diego by the Friends of Albert Gore, Jr., Inc. PAC - to which Turner and Keadle were major donors. In 2008, Keadle was one of California's electors in the electoral college pledged to the Obama/Biden ticket.

This year, according to Huffington Post's Fundrace 2012, Keadle has donated $5,000 to Democratic candidates.

Gore is perhaps most famous in his post-White House years for his environmental work, for which he won a Nobel Peace Prize. His film "An Inconvenient Truth," directed by Davis Guggenheim, won an Academy Award. Keadle, who has listed her occupation on donation forms as biochemist, is actively involved in environmental work as a member of the San Elijo Lagoon Conservancy's President's Council in San Diego County. She was one of a large group of celebrities, environmentalists and scientists who traveled with Gore to Antarctica in January this year.

For her part, Tipper Gore has been largely out of the spotlight since the split, apparently focusing on her photography and charitable work. Most recently, she was the honorary chair at an event hosted earlier this week by the Flawless Foundation, a charity her daughter Karenna is also involved in.

Despite evidently leading separate lives, the Gores have been seen together since announcing their separation, and don't seem to have taken any steps towards divorce.