An Inconvenient Truth

June 6, 2006 - Tonight Jason and I went to see "An Inconvenient Truth", a new documentary on global warming featuring former US Vice President Al Gore. I have heard lots of good things about the documentary and after seeing a trailer for it, I knew it was something that I just have to see. I was definitely not disappointed.

While poverty, war, and diseases are topics that are often discussed when we talk about "what's wrong with our world", not too many people mention global warming and climate change. But yet, it is global warming that will affect all life form on the planet, regardless of geography, race and culture. An Inconvenient Truth is the story of how Gore became interested in the issue while in college over 30 years ago and how he now devotes his life in getting the message out and educating the public on the effects of global warming. Travelling all over the world, he has this amazing powerpoint presentation, full of multimedia graphics and animation, designed to challenge anyone who doubts that global warming is a non-issue. Gore shows facts, figures, scientific records that indisputably correlates CO2 emissions with rising temperatures, melting ice caps, drought and rising sea levels. In between it all, the movie also tells how Gore struggled to define his purpose after the 2000 elections.

Two things that anyone reading this blog should remember:

Global warming is real.

It is caused by human activity.

There shouldn't be any controversial about this. As Gore mentioned, out of 925 recent articles in peer-review scientific journals about global warming, ALL agreed that global warming is real and is caused by human activity. So why is there still a debate?

According to Gore, a database search of newspaper and magazine articles shows that 57 percent question the fact of global warming, while 43 percent support it. These figures, he says, are the result of a disinformation campaign started in the 1990s by energy industries to "reposition global warming as a debate", just like what the tobacco industry did for smoking years ago.

But global warming is not a debate. Each year, our summers get hotter and hotter. A look at the ten hottest summers on record would find that almost all of them occurred in the last 10 years.

Why isn't our government doing anything about it? Look where the US president is from (Texas) and look where our own prime minister is from (Alberta) - they are from large oil producing states that rely heavily on public consumption of oil. Their economy (and the politicians' success) depends on it. So why worry about an issue that could come back and bite you on your ass?

If we do nothing though, Gore says, in about 10 years, our planet may reach a tipping point and begin a slide toward ecological destruction. By then it may be too late to do anything.

The movie is not boring - it uses fascinating images, humour, and intelligence to how just why global warming is well, an inconvenient truth. I am advocating on Gore's behalf for everyone to see it and then do something about it (Note: Jason bought energy efficient lightbulbs 2 days after watching the movie). I'm not saying we should all abandon the car and live in trees - but simple things like turning off the lights at home, taking public transit, use energy efficient appliances - these are all things that all of us can do.

After all, my future also depends on what you do today. Go see the movie.