Review of An Inconvenient Truth (2006) by Paul Z — 27 Dec 2010

Al Gore is a Liberal, a Democrat, but he does not intend this movie as a manifestation of politics. It exposes and demonstrates the truth as it represents agreement among the world's experts.

Why people would avoid assessing how they feel about facts like global warming being real, that it is caused by human activity, that humankind and its governments are obliged to launch high-priority action to stop and overturn it. Is there any true merit to avoid these concepts because you didn't vote for Al Gore? If we do nothing, in about 10 years the earth could arrive at a "tipping point" and begin a slide toward devastation of our civilization and most of the species on this planet. After the planet touches that peak, it will be too late for any chance of halting or reversing it.

These facts are stated by Al Gore. Disregard that he ever ran for office. Regard him as an alarmed person going to great lengths and efforts around the world to speak out about the impending destruction. He stands on a stage in front of a sizable screen, before an audience. The documentary depicts him giving a demonstration he had been developing for six years, substantiated by remarkable visuals. He shows the famous photograph taken from space by the first American astronauts, then a series of later space photographs, noticeably signifying that glaciers and lakes are dwindling, snows are melting, shorelines are receding.

He presents figures and data: The 10 hottest years in the history of our existence were all recent. Hurricanes are hitting places that have never suffered hurricanes before. Pacific typhoons are setting records. Katrina went from Category 3 to Category 5. Cores of polar ice show that carbon dioxide is much, much higher than ever in the past 250,000 years. It was once thought that such things went in cycles, but Gore stands before a graph showing them over the centuries. Yes, there is a cycle, but lately, the graph keeps going higher and higher, off the chart.

The key man-made root of global warming is the burning of fossil fuels, taking energy stored over hundreds of millions of years as coal, gas and oil, and discharging it rapidly. This initiates global warming, and seeing as glaciers and snow mirror sunlight but sea water soaks it up, the more the ice melts, the more of the sun's energy is hung on to by the sea.

Gore says that although there is "100 percent agreement" among scientists, a database search of newspaper and magazine articles shows that 57 percent question the fact of global warming, while 43 percent support it. These figures are the result, he says, of a disinformation campaign started in the 1990s by the energy industries to "reposition global warming as a debate." It is the same strategy used for years by the defenders of tobacco, and to some extent, those of the pharmaceutical, alcohol and meat industries.

The director, Davis Guggenheim, uses words, images and Gore's concise litany of facts to build a film that is fascinating and relentless. Everyone owes it to themselves to see this film. If you have children and grandchildren, you owe it to them, too. Yes, I am implying that you should feel guilty if you deliberately avoid this movie. I think that to be objective and fair on the issue of global warming necessitates that one has to take Gore's view. There is no other position that can be supported. The Republican chairman of the Senate Environment Committee has said, "Global warming is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people." Whether you dislike Gore and favor the aforementioned Senator or vice versa, consider the evidence. Consider which stance can be defended.