 It seems like everyone has seen the movie, “An Inconvenient Truth,” however it’s apparent there are still people out there who haven’t seen the film. One woman was quoted saying, “What is it about? It sounds like it’s about war. Are we going to war?” In a way, yes, we are going to war, but it’s not the typical war with soldiers, battlefields, and guns. It’s a war against time, a war against ourselves.
If you haven’t seen this documentary, it’s time to go out and get it now. Al Gore stars in the film and wrote the companion book, “An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It.” It focuses on global warming, the science behind it, what might happen, and what we can do to stop it.
A recent study showed that 65% of Americans were unable to accurately describe global warming. It is astonishing that two-thirds of our citizens can’t define the term. As the Encyclopedia of Earth defines it, “the phrase global warming refers to the documented historical warming of the Earth's surface based upon worldwide temperature records that have been maintained by humans since the 1880s.” The same source also differentiates global warming from climate change, as the two phrases are often used synonymously or interchangeably.
“Global warming is the combined result of anthropogenic (human-caused) emissions of greenhouse gases and changes in solar irradiance, while climate change refers to any change in the state of the climate that can be identified by changes in the average and/or the variability of its properties (e.g., temperature, precipitation), and that persists for an extended period, typically decades or longer.”
“An Inconvenient Truth” focuses on global warming. Gore created a nifty PowerPoint presentation that is highlighted throughout the film, providing visual aids to increase the impact of facts, and graphs to help make sense of some of the statistics.
The information is relevant and very important, although Gore exaggerates a bit from time to time. The facts are still accurate, but his hand gestures or tone of voice, at times, can reflect a greater disaster than it might actually be. Despite the slight exaggeration, Gore’s information is based on science.
After seeing this documentary, you will gain a wealth of information that every American should be aware of. Gore points out that the majority of scientists believe we have just ten years to avert catastrophe. This documentary is powerful and a bit frightening, but in a way that inspires as well. We must act now, and this documentary conveys that message very strongly.
“An Inconvenient Truth” is stunning and every American should be required to see it. As the cover states, this documentary is “funny, engaging, open and downright on fire.”
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