An Inconvenient Truth
PostPosted:Sun Sep 03, 2006 10:45 am
Before I give my thoughts on this documentary, I want to state that I am not and have never been an environmentalist. I think they often take things too far and their "suggestions" (and I'm not even referring to some of those crazies at Greenpeace) are those that are just not realistic to the everyday people or even the corporations. I only recycle if it's convenient and only reduce my energy consumption 'cause of the cost involved (ie. I don't go for "fun" drives anymore 'cause it's just too damned expensive for gas). Also, there is no intentional or unintentional politics in this post.
What this particular documentary is about is basically a taping of Al Gore (yes, the selected non-President from 2000) at one of his speeches that he gives around the world about the dangers of global warming with some other clips of him on the road and talking about the issues thrown in. After quitting from politics (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/28/washi ... nted=print ), he decided to go on tour with this issue, something that he's been interested in for many years as a Senator (I didn't know this). His speeches are essentially a university-level seminar explained on a high-school level. He takes cold-hard scientific facts that he's collected from scientists around the world (he's visited Antarctica and talked to the scientists for instance) and essentially proves the real effects of global warming through scientific analysis (done by scientists, not him) of what's been going on in the world mainly over the last 10 years or so, although he uses scientific evidence from as long as 650,000 years ago to help prove the point (through analysis of water bubbles trapped in the ice in Antarctica).
As well, this documentary is as void of politics as you can possibly expect from a movie that showcases the ex-President elect and the controversy surrounding his subsequent dismissal (I think we can safely say this is basically fact now and not an opinion). They give lip service to his time in politics as they know they at least have to address it, nothing more. Most of the inter-cut scenes with him revolve him talking about the issues in his speeches or what he's discovered in his travels. Forget the fact that the Democratic party is trumpeting him as being a great Democrat (see the above link), it's not a politically-charged documentary.
Make the assumption that the scientific facts are true and they become shocking. Even though we've been bombarded with the whole "global warming is bad" thing for the last 15-20 years, looking at what the scientific evidence presents as the results is a little shocking, even if you take into consideration that he's trying to push his agenda and is possibly skewing the facts. If half of what he's concluding is true, the problem's a lot worse that the public has been led to believe since it hasn't really been a mainstream issue in, what, 10-12 years (I mean as an election issue)? And it's not like a lot of other libeal-minded documentaries where they take facts and then tie them together in a subjective way, even the conclusions are supported by cold-hard scientific facts, that's what makes them shocking.
He also globalizes the issue by showing clips of him with scientists from other countries as well as the same speech he's given in foreign countries. He also uses lots of scientific evidence from scientists around the world and shows the effects around the world, so it's not an American-centric documentary either.
Overall, it's a very good documentary and one that will at least make you think a bit about an old issue that's been left in the dust as an election issue in recent years. Definetely worth a watch, you won't be wasting your 1 1/2 hours.
What this particular documentary is about is basically a taping of Al Gore (yes, the selected non-President from 2000) at one of his speeches that he gives around the world about the dangers of global warming with some other clips of him on the road and talking about the issues thrown in. After quitting from politics (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/28/washi ... nted=print ), he decided to go on tour with this issue, something that he's been interested in for many years as a Senator (I didn't know this). His speeches are essentially a university-level seminar explained on a high-school level. He takes cold-hard scientific facts that he's collected from scientists around the world (he's visited Antarctica and talked to the scientists for instance) and essentially proves the real effects of global warming through scientific analysis (done by scientists, not him) of what's been going on in the world mainly over the last 10 years or so, although he uses scientific evidence from as long as 650,000 years ago to help prove the point (through analysis of water bubbles trapped in the ice in Antarctica).
As well, this documentary is as void of politics as you can possibly expect from a movie that showcases the ex-President elect and the controversy surrounding his subsequent dismissal (I think we can safely say this is basically fact now and not an opinion). They give lip service to his time in politics as they know they at least have to address it, nothing more. Most of the inter-cut scenes with him revolve him talking about the issues in his speeches or what he's discovered in his travels. Forget the fact that the Democratic party is trumpeting him as being a great Democrat (see the above link), it's not a politically-charged documentary.
Make the assumption that the scientific facts are true and they become shocking. Even though we've been bombarded with the whole "global warming is bad" thing for the last 15-20 years, looking at what the scientific evidence presents as the results is a little shocking, even if you take into consideration that he's trying to push his agenda and is possibly skewing the facts. If half of what he's concluding is true, the problem's a lot worse that the public has been led to believe since it hasn't really been a mainstream issue in, what, 10-12 years (I mean as an election issue)? And it's not like a lot of other libeal-minded documentaries where they take facts and then tie them together in a subjective way, even the conclusions are supported by cold-hard scientific facts, that's what makes them shocking.
He also globalizes the issue by showing clips of him with scientists from other countries as well as the same speech he's given in foreign countries. He also uses lots of scientific evidence from scientists around the world and shows the effects around the world, so it's not an American-centric documentary either.
Overall, it's a very good documentary and one that will at least make you think a bit about an old issue that's been left in the dust as an election issue in recent years. Definetely worth a watch, you won't be wasting your 1 1/2 hours.