I was pretty surprised that I was in a packed theater on a Sunday afternoon in New Jersey to see “An Inconvenient Truth”. The film showed only briefly in Providence, so I was unable to see it until today. I was certain that not enough people cared (especially on the weekend) to sit through an hour and forty minutes of Al Gore lecturing them on global warming.
My heart was warmed to see I was wrong.
Al Gore became unfairly mocked in the media as an unintelligent person in the 2000 election, but those who know anything about him know he’s anything but stupid. This film only confirms that. By carefully explaining each detail of the global warming phenomenon both throughout history and today, he paints an accurate picture of the state of our climate situation.
The first slides of his presentation are beautiful and hopeful. He begins with the first-ever photograph of Earth, and then the most recent. We are awestruck by the beauty of our habitat. Then he shows what has been going on over the last few decades; Kiliminjaro, known for its mountain snows, 30 years ago crowned by majestic white flakes, and today... a barren, brown plain mountain. “Within the decade, there will be no more snows of Kiliminjaro,” he ruefully announces. This image is followed by countless other mountain glaciers that are depleting or are already gone.
The next hour or so is simply terrifying. Graphs showing history’s CO2 emissions, their peaks and valleys consistent with the seasonal shift in greenhouse effects; however, in 2005, CO2 emissions were many, many times higher than ever before. Within 50 years, they will have tripled. Temperature increases match those CO2 emissions. We will not be able to survive the increase in temperature that continued greenhouse gas effects will cause.
Arctic ice shelfs collapsing. Greenland melting. “Tony Blair’s science advisor has informed him that the world’s maps need to be redrawn because how much of Greenland has melted. If even half of Greenland were to go, sea levels worldwide would increase 20 feet. Just what kind of impact would that cause?” Most of Florida: underwater. Shanghai, Calcutta, and Bangladesh: underwater. The outer coasts of Manhattan: underwater.
“The scientific consensus is that we are causing global warming.” He explains that there is not controversy; a study was done of scientific reporting of global warming, and a random sample of over 900 articles was checked for dissent. How many said that global warming is not real?
0.
This is all just the tip of the iceberg.
If you care about your children, or their children, you must see this film. Then, you must act, while you still can, to help reverse this. I have not been so profoundly moved out of feeling helpless ever. I want everyone I know to see this film, so they too will be stirred to action.
“Our ability to live is what is at stake.”
Monday, July 17, 2006
A Global Warning
