I have watched Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" a few too many times (on many boring Friday nights, yeah - I am that cool), and after I am finished, I always feel like I should turn off a light, walk to the store to return the movie, and never idle my car, ever, ever again. The movie also makes me wonder why, during this “era of procrastination”, we as human beings are polluting out earth so much when we KNOW that it’s terrible. After seeing the graphical data and hearing the evidence of our effects on the earth, it boggles my mind that people are still proceeding to commence their everyday activities (driving their big SUVs, creating un-recyclable waste, using toxic chemicals in factories) as they have been doing, without even keeping the environment in mind. I suppose that thought is sort of rhetorical, because I know that money is the driving force behind today’s society, and unless “going green” makes corporations money, it probably will not, at least any time soon, prevail over the materialistic life that we lead.
There are certain statistics and observations made in the video that lead me to believe that we need to start changing the way that we live. For example, the fact that rising global sea levels could rise at least 20 feet as a result of loss of shelf ice in Greenland and Antarctica – this could potentially wipe out coastal areas worldwide. Information also provided in the film includes the fact that by 2050, the Arctic Ocean could be completely ice free - very scary!
Although there is a lot of support for the information provided in AIT, there are also those who criticize and refute the arguments put forth by Mr. Gore. In one film review by Phil Hall, the film is heavily criticized and disfavored. Hall says Gore’s film is the “least riveting stand-up [routine] to play the lecture circuit” . Criticism from Hall also comes up poking fun at both Clinton and Gore because, during their time in the White House, never questioned the auto-industry’s energy efficiency standards because it was “making them money”.
On top of this comes news from Dick Cheney in an ABC interview. Cheney denies the fact that Global Warming is a direct cause of human activities and that it is definitely occuring – contradicting the information put forth by AIT.
When it comes to the assumption that AIT is “docuganda”, I am not one hundred per cent sure how I feel about that statement. For the most part, I believe this film is a solid documentary, going to places that were in need of visiting. The way Gore delivers the message of global warming is excellent, and the information put forth is backed up by educated professionals who do know what they’re talking about. In addition to that, global warming is, in my opinion, a very real thing. Therefore, I think Gore’s film is a necessary documentary with legitimate intensions of informing the general public – after all, something must be done to help prevent a total earth “melt-down”.
References for the support of AIT:
Washington Post, "Debate on Climate Shifts to Issue of Irreparable Change," Juliet Eilperin, January 29, 2006, Page A1.
Time Magazine, Feeling the Heat, David Bjerklie, March 26, 2006.
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