An Inconvenient Truth

I have just now returned from seeing Al Gore's movie 'An Inconvenient Truth', and WOW. It is horrifying!

My first impressions are that if I thought I hated the States, and more specifically the Bush family before, I loathe them now! However that is not really the aim of the film at all, so I am going to try hard not to focus on that side effect of watching the film, too much. **

I am still reeling from the facts revealed, and am determined not to, as he says in the film, 'Go from denial straight to despair, missing that all important step in between which is to DO something'.

Although there is much more I can, and will be doing, I am proud to report that all light bulbs in our household are already low energy bulbs, and I have also recently replaced my car with a very fuel efficient, and low emission model. I use water sparingly, and make a point not to be wasteful in general as much as possible. I also re-use shopping bags multiple times. I am going to try to build further on this and do more recycling, as we only do paper recycling through the school at the moment, and will try to use less processed and over-packaged goods. It is important for everyone to start doing their small part, because each small contribution can and does help. Additionally, each of the things you can do to help save the planet ALSO save you money. I mean d'oh how hard can making that choice really be...?

Admittedly, I did not know very much about Al Gore before, but I am hugely impressed by him. He is a warm, intelligent, articulate and principled man - all of which clearly counted against him in his election campaign. Although it is not directly stated, or even really implied, in the film, it is clear to me that the election results the year he ran were totally rigged. The debacle with the Florida recount was to swing the vote, as they couldn't possibly have a free-thinking principled environmentalist running the country(!) in place of the village-idiot puppet oil-heir.

The main website for An Inconvenient Truth is here. Go take a look at it.

The Brittish version is here.

For reviews of this movie look here:

"Will likely make you admire Al Gore a little more than you already do, worry about the planet a lot more than you already do, and finally, leave you with as many questions as when you started. -Michael Booth"

"I can't think of another movie in which the display of a graph elicited gasps of horror, but when the red lines showing the increasing rates of carbon-dioxide emissions and the corresponding rise in temperatures come on screen, the effect is jolting and chilling. Photographs of receding ice fields and glaciers — consequences of climate change that have already taken place — are as disturbing as speculative maps of submerged coastlines. The news of increased hurricane activity and warming oceans is all the more alarming for being delivered in Mr. Gore's matter-of-fact, scholarly tone.

He speaks of the need to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions as a "moral imperative," and most people who see this movie will do so out of a sense of duty, which seems to me entirely appropriate. Luckily, it happens to be a well-made documentary, edited crisply enough to keep it from feeling like 90 minutes of C-Span and shaped to give Mr. Gore's argument a real sense of drama. As unsettling as it can be, it is also intellectually exhilarating, and, like any good piece of pedagogy, whets the appetite for further study. This is not everything you need to know about global warming: that's the point. But it is a good place to start, and to continue, a process of education that could hardly be more urgent. "An Inconvenient Truth" is a necessary film. - By A. O. SCOTT"

Another good review is here.

I urge everyone to see this movie. It should literally change your life. Honestly.

** I can NOT understand why the good people in the States do not DO something about the insanity they are living in and with. Perhaps they are like the frog analogy Al Gore uses, and are just too complacent to jump, even though the water is starting to boil around them. (See the movie to understand this)