Review: An Inconvenient Truth — DVD
Tonight we watched An Inconvenient Truth on DVD. We’d been meaning to for a while since we’ve heard so much about it — for and against.
What did I think? It’s excellent. The case for global warming is made in a clear, straightforward manner backed up by graphs, photos, and scientific evidence. I doubt if I’ve seen the evidence as clearly and concisely presented in this form. I’d expected to see some of what people have complained about — exaggerations and soft and mushy science. Not there. I’m afraid the nay-sayers have been misleading the public again. There is very little that is stated in the movie/slide show that is not backed up by scientific fact. The bits that are opinion or reminiscences are clearly delineated and if viewers can’t tell the difference, I doubt they’d recognize the difference between truth and fiction anyway.
I was doubly impressed with the short segment on automobile gas mileage requirements in various countries. In this segment, it shows the US against many other countries, and that we have the worse mileage rules regarding what our automobiles should be getting per gallon of gas. Then it listed California’s proposed standard for cars and the fact that automobile companies in American complain that this would require them to, in eleven years time, meet the current Chinese standards. He then showed a chart of the profitable car manufacturers worldwide. Guess what? The US big three car companies were in the red on that chart. Now years later and our big 3 are in critical trouble. While the rest of the world was at least taking a interest in helping the environment (if not just conserving their own oil reserves), we, in the US, put short-term profit over all other considerations and we lost — big time.
Gore also tries to deal with the major objections used by those that try to poo-poo Global Warning. His data blows most, if not all, of those objections out of the water. The few that aren’t totally torn down are left to be merely rumble-strips to be dealt with but not deal breakers. The fact is, all reputable scientist accept that global warming is real and caused, in whole or in part, by our actions. The only disagreement is on what is going to happen as a result, and how soon its going to happen.
We’re in trouble. Our environment is our environment. This Earth is all we have and if we don’t start doing everything in our power to help stabilize or reduce the impact of Global Warming, we are looking at worldwide catastrophes that are going to change the shape of the world, our societies, and our way of life.
Everyone should have to see this film and think about the changes that have happened during their lifetimes and what changes are coming in the next fifty years. Then we need to not just think about our place in this world but what we can do to help. That help can be changing to compact florescent lighting, improved insulation, lowering our thermostats (I have and I’m cold), recycling, properly inflating our tires, getting a more fuel efficient car or hybrid, recycling (we have to actually take our stuff to a recycle center it isn’t picked up for us). Individually, we really don’t need to do that much, but what little we can do, needs to be done.
If we all do our part and make our elected representatives understand that our environment is as important an issue (at least as important as the economy because many of the problems with our economy spring from environmental issues), and act for the good of the Earth, not just their state — it will be a good thing. Why? Because it will be good for the states and the country in the long run and thus good for all the citizens. We’ll all be better off, remember it is not like we can go live somewhere else, Earth is currently all we have and that’s not going to change anytime soon so we have to take care of our home planet.