An Inconvenient Truth

Went and saw An Inconvenient Truth this evening. It's a movie in which Al Gore tries to sincerely describe the climate change - née global warming - problem that is facing the world, ostensibly without motive. It works and doesn't work, and let me tell you why.

In favor of the movie, it addresses the issue of global warming, makes you feel that something should be done, and does so in an entertaining enough way that you won't fall asleep.

Opposed, the interlude cuts between the main material seem a little too eager to establish Mr. Gore as a "regular guy" and are just the sort of nonsense you'd expect from a politician. Also, while there are lots of graphs shown and statistics quoted, these are rarely attributed to real scientists, much less mouthed by them. Instead they arrive on a PowerPoint screen voiced by Mr. Environmentalist, and seem suspect in that way, even though they are indeed valid.

This may sound, on balance, like a condemnation of the movie. It would be, except that the subject matter is too serious to be a flaky critic about it. At least Al Gore is talking about the problem, not pretending it doesn't exist like the current administration. In the end, it's the seriousness of the issue that recommends this movie more than anything else.

On the other hand, if you are interested and have a little resourcefulness, check out David Attenborough's recent 3-part series on climate change or the documentary called The Selfish Green, which presents a filmed debate between Richard Dawkins, Attenborough, Jade Goodall, and Richard Leakey. The latter program is one of the best ways to spend an hour of your life, in my opinion. There is some theorizing from on high, but also down-to-earth suggestions which anyone can follow to do their part to minimize damage to the global ecology.

And, most importantly, it imparts an urgency that something must be done, in any case. That is the strength of all these films - simple awareness of the issues. Some such film should be required viewing for every citizen of this planet - if we want to leave it usable for our kids and grandkids, that is.

(picture courtesy of NASA, used without permission)