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'An Inconvenient Truth'
A Review of Al Gore's Movie: Last weekend I saw 'An Inconvenient Truth,' Gore's documentary about global warming and his quest to inform people about it.
This film is really well done. I agree with other reviewers who say "where was this Al Gore in 2000?" He has lost the stiff candidate demeanor and instead is funny, self-deprecating, sincere and personable. We see Gore on the Tennessee farm where he grew up and helped raise cows and tobacco; we see him as a congressman in the 1970s, holding hearings about carbon dioxide levels and rising temperatures; and we see him after the 2000 election, moving on after his defeat.
The movie alternates between Gore showing us the scientific evidence and data related to global warming and Gore talking about his past and how he became inspired to learn about global warming and warn others about it. He is convincing in both areas, because he explains the issue extremely well (in a non-technical way) and because he's not running for office.
Gore has the ability to show us the effects of global warming because he was vice-president and he has access to visit research teams all over the world. He went to the Arctic and Antarctica, China, the Amazon rain forest, deserts in Africa -- he travels around the globe and shows us the story in all parts of the world.
The chart he showed that made the largest impact on me was one that graphed the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere over the last 650,000 years, as well as the temperature over that same period. (I believe the data came from ice cores taken in Antarctica.) The temperature graph tracks the carbon dioxide graph almost exactly. Gore explained that carbon dioxide did not go above 300 parts per million (a kind of atmospheric tipping point) during those 650,000 years -- until now. The projection is for CO2 and average global temperature to keep rising over the next 50 years. The consequences could be dire.
Gore believes that climate change/global warming is a moral issue, that we have a moral imperative to take action to slow global warming and reduce its impacts. He says at one point, "We should be concerned about this as well as terrorism."
He clears up the popular misconceptions about global warming and declares that if we do the right thing, we will create wealth and jobs -- in other words, we don't have to choose between the economy and the environment. After all, he says, if we don't have a planet, we won't be making money...
Gore does offer some solutions, ways the United States can reduce its carbon emissions significantly. But the main impact of his film is to inspire, to move people to action. Can Americans make sacrifices to fix the problem of global warming? We led the way to fix the ozone hole problem, he points out. And Americans have a history of taking on big issues and creating change: We fought and won the Revolution, the Civil War, World War II; we cured polio; we sent men to the moon.
Gore acknowledges that global warming is a different kind of issue, but he feels we can -- and must -- tackle it. I agree.
Go see this movie to learn about this issue in an engaging way and to get inspired to act.
Related links on AOL:
- 'An Inconvenient Truth' Unscripted: Al Gore and Davis Guggenheim interview each other.
- Moviefone: 'An Inconvenient Truth' -- Showtimes and Tickets
- Focus on Global Warming (AOL Research & Learn)
- Calculate Your Impact (and learn how to reduce it)
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If OLD OWL,Clintons,and most of the democrates would shut their mouth Global Warming would not be a problem.I would
write my dogs name in for president before i would vote for any
of them.I do not have a dog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.Read the BIBLE,it tells
you all about what is happening,no human or thing has a solution for this 'truth'.If they really want to make a difference
clean out the forest and replant the trees.
GOD help us all if these people get elected,because he is the only one that can. -
the LOSER algore is at it again!! lol what a JOKE!
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Yeah yeah Al, Americans under Bush are the reason for global warming...if Al would crawl back in his cave we could save the atmosphere. Asia is the area that needs to do something about emissions if anything and we as Americans can do nothing. It has been happening for a million years and our little lives are not going to change anything. Al and michael moore should just join forces and try to defeat the GOP on policy, not fiction. So long AL, get over it...Dubya kicked your ass in 2000 and best of luck in the Amazon saving the rainforest.
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Global warming!!!! To put it bluntly. It's all "political nonsense!!!!!!
Only the uneducated may beleive this kind of drivel.
It's only a theory and that is all it is! A THEORY!
DO NOT LISTEN TO BLOCK-HEADS LIKE AL GORE.
JJ
2/26/07 4:46 PM