electric

an inconvienent truth

recently i saw the lesser known and little publicized movie: an inconvienient truth. this movie is former presidential nominee al gores traveling slide show treatise on global warming.

epa reference on global warming

for me personally, seeing the movie was a little like the colloquialism preaching to the choir, as i have understood the impact of human beings (and for the most part northern americans) on global ecology since i was quite young. retrospectively, i am not exactly sure how i began to intuit this information about the state of the earth when i was still in grade school, yet nevertheless i did. im reasonabley certain there was very little material presented on environmental concerns in my education at that time.

when i went to see the movie i did so with a good friend, who i believe was something of a doubter as to the reality of this phenonmena. from him there was the standard response of well the earth naturally heats up and cools off over time protestingto wich i will mention the movie addresses this point as it is a very common response from people. i endured a little bit of naysaying on his part and apprehensive skeptisism, yet i persisted in following through with seeing the film. after the movie i must make note that my good friend thanked me for my perserverance in making him go to the movie wich was a very nice feeling. perhaps his eyes were opened a little

as to the movie itself, i felt it was very compelling as well as effectively executed. it is quite honorable to me that al gore has declined to run for presidency in favor of crusading on the crisis of global warming to the world. this man travels the world giving his slide show relentlessly in what must be an excrutiatingly exhausting schedule. although there was something of al gores personal life presented in the movie wich was a little bit dichotomous in the overall relevancy of the material, it did not really serve to offend me. although i could see how that might be interpreted as democratic party propaganda. i was on the alert for any sort of politcal slant or opportunites in that vein, and i detected very little. this is not a partisan issue this is a global moral issue. this is not about profits or loyalties. this is very very basic. life as we know it is at stake here. it cannot be broken down any more simpley.

politics aside, conversely i would also not be surprised to see al gore return to presidential nominee in 2008. it will be an interesting election certainly.

the movie was interesting on several accounts. the information was presented very systematically for those who do not understand the very rudementary science involved. i am not sure about the education of others, but i learned the basics presented in the movie at about the 5th or 6th grade level. additionally, the movie attempted to be entertaining while educating and for that there is certainly merit in it. however, what does cause me considerable concern is thisthe people that really need this information presented in very stark basic terms most likely wont hear or see it. there are no hollywood style explosions in it, no exciting special effects and it has little to no sex appeal. so i wonder will the possibley very limited attention span of the general populace be able to sit though something like this? time will tell and we are quickly running out of that if it isnt already too late.

where i felt the movie was a bit disappointing was on outlining effectively what the average ordinary citizen can do to help. at the end of the movie after generating a good deal of concern (and i will add standing ovation from the audience where i saw it in my reasonabley liberal neighborhood) and respect, it fell a bit flat. i know this is a complex issue with no easy answers as to solutions, however the very end of the film only deflected to the movies website as to what the ordinary citizen can do. this is a bit weak to me as the domain they gave out http://www.climatecrisis.com has mostly information about the movie. i wondered if the movie goers would actually remember this website information by the time they got home and sat down at thier computers maybe many hours later. also, you have to dig a bit there to find information on how to help. nevertheless, i did find something useful featured on the site wich i will post here:

10 simple things you can do and how much carbon dioxide youll save doing them:

1) change a lightreplacing one regular light bulb with a compact fluorescent bulb will save 150 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.

2) drive lesswalk, bike, carpool or take mass transit more often. youll save one pound of carbon dioxide for every mile you dont drive!

3) recycle moreyou can save 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide per year by recycling just half of your household waste.

4)check your tireskeeping your tires inflated properly can improve gas milage by more than 3%. every gallon of gasoline saved keeps 20 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere!

5)use less hot waterit takes a lot of energy to heat water. use less hot water by insallinging a low flow showerhead (350 pounds of co2 saved per year) and washing your clothes in cold or warm water (500 pounds saved per year).

6)avoid products with a lot of packagingyou can save 1,200 pounds of carbon dioxide if you cut down your garbage by 10%.

7)adjust your thermostatmoving your thermostat just 2 degrees in winter and 2 degrees in summer you could save 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year with this simple adjustment.

8)plant a treea single tree will absorb one ton of carbon dioxide in its lifetime.

9)turn off electronic devicessimpley turning off your television, dvd player, stereo, and computer when youre not using them will save you thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide a year.

10) spread the word! encourage your friends to see an inconvient truth.

11)( wich i will add of my own accord as it is my own suggestion) get involved. get inspired. write your congress person, and support legislature that is in favor of emissions regulations and protecting wildlife and find other creative ways to actively help.talk to each other about all of this.