Film:
An Inconvenient Truth
Former Vice-President Al Gore wants people to wake up to the serious dangers of global warming and actively change their lifestyles to become more environmentally conscientious. He makes a whopping impact for his case by unleashing some sobering facts and statistics about the ramifications of dumping carbon dioxide into the Earth’s environment in his hot button film documentary An Inconvenient Truth. The buzz on this film has exploded like a meteor. Recently his wife, Tipper Gore, quipped about the sudden change in her husband’s media rising profile: “I went to sleep with a recovering politician and woke up with a movie star.”
Climate scientists back up Gore’s concepts; the science is correct. “The whole key for us is learning about global warming and become a conscious consumer,” said Gore. So strong is this impassioned environmental crusader that 100% of the profits from his film and eponymous titled book will go to a non-profit bipartisan effort to support bold action to confront global warming.
British Physicist Stephen Hawking, author of the world wide best seller “A Brief History of Time” has done ground breaking research on black holes and the origins of the universe. He noted to the Associated Press in Hong Kong, “Life on Earth is at the ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster, such as a sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other dangers we have not yet thought of.”. He feels if we as a human race want to continue to survive for generations, we need to find new homes like space settlements that can continue without support from Earth, relocating to a permanent base on the moon or a colony on Mars, because there’s an increasing risk that a disaster will destroy Earth.
Sound far fetched? Consider the fact that over two thousand scientists in 100 countries pulled together research in a 20 year period forging a dangerously real climate crisis consensus. One that suggests all the nations on Earth must work together to solve the crisis of global warming if we want to continue any future quality of life on our planet.
Gore articulated through a savvy slide show presentation some key factors that have produced such climate threatening evidence:
Mark Twain’s famous aphorism expresses this sentiment as well:
The late Carl Sagan was famous for saying, “If you had a globe covered with a coat of varnish, the thickness of that varnish would be about the same as the thickness of the Earth’s atmosphere compared to the Earth itself.” Gore says that we have grown so enormously and our technologies have advanced so vastly that we are capable of having major influence on the Earth’s thinning atmosphere, particularly altering the concentration of its molecular components. Since we’ve increased the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, they thicken and trap infrared radiation that would otherwise escape the atmosphere and continue out to the universe. The result, the Earth’s temperature of its atmosphere and oceans are getting dangerously warmer.
What’s really infuriating about this climate of chaos and horrific deterioration of our precious environment is that our United States government is ignoring it in favor of supporting the fat profits of oil dependency. Gore alluded, “By ignoring scientific consensus on critical issues such as global climate change, [President Bush and his administration] are threatening the Earth’s future.” On June 21, 2004, 48 Nobel Prize-winning scientists accused President Bush and his administration of distorting science.
As impassioned as Gore is about his subject matter and tireless dedication to championing his cause since losing the presidential election in 2000, one senses his heart and soul are in the right place when watching this absorbing documentary tightly directed by Davis Guggenheim. What’s puzzling is though he cites references to scientists like Roger Revelle, none are interviewed. I don’t doubt his credibility. Just check out his in depth book version of the documentary. Replete with gloriously detailed graphics, stunning photography and numerous sources cited that back Gore’s claims; the book satiates the inquisitive mind far richer than the film does. The screen version would benefit greatly by visiting some perspective scientists and climatologists, getting inside their heads on this subject matter. Here we get just Gore and his crafty slide show.
Climatologist Mark Seeley Offers His Thoughts on ‘Truth’
U of M Climatologist Mark Seeley talked after the preview screening of An Inconvenient Truth at Landmark’s Edina 4 Theatre. His reaction to the film, “Uff da,” he replied. Quite concerned about global warming’s effects, he elaborated, “Eight of the last nine winters have been in the top 25% of warmest weathers.” He suggested just this year that the climate models in our first three months changed in whole numbers. Our memorial weekend also had disturbingly inflated dew point values. As Gore pointed out that the climate is getting wetter, Minnesota also shows numbers on the rise with wetness since our last dry spell, which was the summer of 1988.
Q & A Session followed with film attendants
Question: “What is it like to speak in such clear terms about issues like global warming?”
Seeley: “Mr. Gore is not a scientist but he’s been at it for a long time. We need to exercise our passion of this issue. It’s a matter of ethics. There’s not a lot of science in this movie. I’m put off by the science in this movie. Science is about trying to define with confidence and certainty… I think the human race has a philanthropic gene. We want to do right by our environment. I have a long term history of studying observational evidence. Faith based communities are trying to cope with this issue. They’re guided by their faith. Ethics, emotions and politics need to be weaved in when we talk about global warming.
Question: “Temperatures have been increasing on Mars like the Earth. Is global warming a hoax?”
Seeley: “Labeled contrarians have been personally attacking this idea but the vast majority of people are accepting global warming.”
Question: “What do you see as definite signs of global warming?”
Seeley: “There is global warming. Land transformation, the Earth’s atmospheric composition, and human related climate drivers are all reasons to take action. It’s important to have these discussions, especially with our children.”
Question: “Doesn’t science require a proof theory?”
Seeley: “Science is not our only tool to dealing with this. It’s a moral issue.”
Audience Comment: “Regarding world population balance, please don’t have as many children as your parents did. Why didn’t Gore emphasize we today are having too many children.”
Question: “Scientific credentials should speak loudly on these issues. Instead of ‘The British are coming; The British are coming’ it’s become ‘The British might be on their way.’ What things would you change in the science of the film?”
Seeley: “It’s a moral problem but then he [Gore] doesn’t talk about what the morals are. Gore is advocating on a personal and political level. We all have our individual philanthropic passions. Mine are what has happened to my family. [Note of interest regarding Mark’s quote here. Gore’s impetus for his life long passion to global warming stems from a near fatal car accident his son experienced.] I expend my energies on multiple sclerosis. It affects me personally. I can’t always be steered in the direction someone would like to steer me in.”
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