An Inconvenient Truth

I just saw An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore's movie about global warming. He did a great job of convincing me that not only is global warming definitely occuring, but it's happening at a far greater rate than most people imagine.

One of the most shocking parts of the movie is where he presents strong evidence of the polar melting that, if not slowed, will cause sea level to rise about 20 feet in 50 years or less. 20 feet doesn't sound like much until you see maps of what regions like Beijing, Shanghai, Florida and the Netherlands would look like after the melting; vast amounts of land disappear and approximately 100 million people would be displaced.

By the end of the movie, I was appalled by how long the evidence has been dismissed by governments in an attempt to appease industries that would be harmed by environmentally sound policies. Fortunately, many countries and individual states are waking up to the real and present danger, so there is hope that this crisis can be averted.

If you haven't seen the movie yet, I highly recommend it.

Follow up: This article is an interesting rebuttal to Al Gore's arguments. It is indeed a tough thing for an observer of this debate to get to the heart of the matter. My stance is that regardless of the confusion, reduction of pollution is a good thing, and the sooner we deal with it, the better. When the stakes are this high, there's no time for screwing around.

Another follow up: This thread on Slashdot discusses the movie and the rebuttal I mentioned above. After reading the thread, I'm more convinced than ever that Gore's argument holds water.

Comments

[jennifer rice]

so it sounds like this is more serial than manbearpig. Thanks for the recap. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=manbearpig

[Jim Bender]

Graham,

Our buddy Albert Gore, Jr. is a fine fellow, and he has got himself a movie that matches his current message.

This issue is a bit more unsettled than you might portray it:

http://www.irishpennants.com/archives/2006/06/here_courtesy_o.php

I have been following the climatologists writing at Tech Central Station, as well, and they are worth reading.

There is a great Henry Payne cartoon about the two movies: The Da Vinci Code and An Incovenient Truth, but it is not available, since it appeared in May.

This is still around, from June 1st:

http://www.comics.com/editoons/payne/archive/images/payne2006305340601.gif

Regards,

Jim

[Dan Hatfield]

You might want to check out Michael Chrichton's book, State of Fear.
Not for the story necessarily, which wasn't his best stuff --- but for the extensive research he did on the subject (he lists his long list of references).
I thought he covered both sides fairly...

[jesse]

you sound like an intelligent guy. what i don't understand is how you can possibly bye into this whole "global warming" arguement? tell me if i am wrong, but isn't global warming based on an excess of co2 into the atmosphere? explain to me what all of humanity can do to let's say, stop breathing, since we exhale it thousands of times per day. here's another question i can't figure out. if the ice caps are going to melt and raise the elevation of the ocean, why are we re-building new orleans? if we thoght katrina did a number on it, just wait. (the reason new orleans is relavant is that al gore supports the re-building of the city.) respectfully, jesse from wisconsin

[Upaj Os]

Jesse, you ought to get outdoors more often, and take a few deep breaths of air to help clear your head. While you're outdoors, you may notice that the world is a big, big place, and that even a few billion people exhaling carbon dioxide all day long, to say nothing of our livestock, wild animals and trillions upon trillions of insects, aren't enough to make much of a difference. Don't worry, be happy.

[Graham Glass]

Hi guys,

If all people did was to walk around, hunt when they got hungry, and otherwise respected nature, you might have a point. However, mankind does not behave that way. We are currently massively overfishing the ocean, cutting down huge amounts of forest, belching enormous amounts of pollution in the air and environment, and otherwise behaving in a very short-sighted way.

I recommend you read more about this subject before trivializing it in the way you have.

Graham

[Wm. Taylor]

In support of Al Gore's stance you say

"My stance is that regardless of the confusion, reduction of pollution is a good thing, and the sooner we deal with it, the better. When the stakes are this high, there's no time for screwing around." !
Al Gore claims CO2 , produced by every breath we take, is a pollutant. Let's all stop breathing NOW. No, wait, you go first.

[Mike Erickson]

Although I agree that reduction of pollution is a good thing, I think that the current "Global Warming" crowd has hijacked the environmental movement. Many things that are well within our capability to fix are being largely ignored while Climate Change takes center stage. For some good information about Al's movie check out www.ecoworld.com/home/articles2.cfm?tid=411