An Inconvenient Truth

"The Era of Procrastination, of Half-Measures, of Soothing and Baffling Expedients, of Delays, is Coming to its Close.

In its Place We are Entering a Period of Consequences."

-Sir Winston Churchill

I strongly, STRONGLY urge everyone to see An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore's documentary on the effects of global warming. Everybody refers to it as Al Gore's documentary, but it's actually directed by Davis Guggenheim. My son asked me last week what global warming was, but I did not feel that I had enough information on it to give him a good enough explanation. Enter the previously viewed section of Blockbuster....one of my favourite places to pick up documentaries. I cannot begin to tell you how convincing Gore is at pointing out the urgency in reducing our CO2 (don't know how to make that little 2) emissions. He gives a lot of scientific evidence, but presents it in visual pictures and in language that everybody can relate to and understand, of the changes that have taken place in a very short amount of time. Pictures of the difference between various mountains now and thirty years ago, rivers that have all but dried up, melting glaciers are all evidence that we are causing all this damage to the earth.


He also points out that as long as global warming continues, the hurricanes will be more frequent and increase in ferocity. There is also a trend caused by global warming which creates floods in areas and droughts in others. He also shows future projections of the cities that will be underwater if current conditions continue, which include New York City, most of Florida, Shanghai, and Beijing. The most depressing thing being that the U.S. government is doing nothing to help, with Gore pointing out that one of the people Bush appointed as the environmental guy was also a lobbyist for the oil companies previous to his appointment. It really is scary to watch, but at the same time Gore is so engaging and surprisingly entertaining. The film is based around Gore's multimedia presentation on climate change, interspersed with clips and anecdotes from his personal life. Such as his sister's life long cigarette smoking habit and their family's decision to stop growing tobacco after her lung cancer diagnosis. The message being, we need to stop the behavior that will eventually kill us.

The film however does end on a more uplifting note, being that we can help to change things. By reducing our CO2 emissions, getting energy efficient appliances and light bulbs (we already have them and it sure made a difference in our power bill), reducing our dependence on foreign oil, getting hybrid cars (if you can), recycling, finding alternative sources of energy, and getting on your government's ass about their environmental policies. Visit www.climatecrisis.net for more information.

I cannot stress this enough, SEE THIS FILM NOW. My son is already making posters to bring to school to let other kids know what they can do.

More ramblings to come.....