An Inconvenient Truth

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Within the general population there is a tendency to put off until later those things that are not critical. It’s human nature, and it doesn’t mean that we’re slackers rather that, until we see flames licking up the living room wall, we’re not likely to call the fire department. An Inconvenient Truth, the documentary of Al Gore’s climate crisis presentation, might just prompt you to dial 911.

There is indisputable evidence that the earth is warming up. What Gore does is place the majority of the blame squarely where it belongs; on a growing world-wide population that is flooding the atmosphere with vast amounts of Carbon Dioxide, and on the United States; where it’s considered legitimate policy to give tax breaks to those buying eight-mile-a-gallon behemoths. Anybody see flames in the living room yet?

In 2002 the Larsen B ice shelf separated from the Antarctic. This event, that set a 1,250 square mile (think Rhode Island) ice flow adrift, has been directly attributed to the warming atmosphere. More alarming is proof that it is also due to the rising temperatures in the oceans of the world. Receding glaciers, separating ice sheets, devastating floods and growing droughts are all related to Carbon-dioxide increases that are higher than anything in recorded history, and that record, proven with ice-core samples, goes back 650,000 years! Does it seem warm in here to you?

At one point, Gore stands on a motorized platform that rises slowly up a wall-size chart toward a skyrocketing spike in CO2. As he rises so does your awareness of the critical issue at hand. This is only one of numerous strategies in the film that are used, like heat-seeking missiles, to target the emotional/moral side of the issue. These hit with accurate, hard science and enough factual documentation that the detractors (think Ford, GM, Exxon, Shell etc.) will have a difficult time disarming this documentary.

There are going to be those who will call this film a political ploy, and yes, there are few swipes at the current administration, but Gore clearly points out that he has been singing this same song for twenty years and has yet to gain full support from any administration.

To his credit he sticks to the message and the imminent danger.

It’s not all doom-and-gloom as Gore offers common sense solutions that we can take as a nation, what each of us can do personally and the time that we have left to affect change. He points out the Ozone crises as an example of a successful world-wide effort to avoid calamity. Me, I’ve already done some of what’s been suggested, now I’m contacting my congressional representatives and I’m asking if each of them will hold a town meeting for our New Mexico grandchildren where they will explain why the world’s forest and seas are dead and dying, and why there is no Artic, no Florida, no Shanghai, and no Holland. Maybe they can also explain why it’s so damn hot all of the time.