An Inconvenient Truth

I've been meaning to watch the documentary for nearly a year now but I misplaced the DVD and then my health troubles made me forget all about it. But I found it today when cleaning my room and finally watched it, and it is brilliant, it is hard-hitting, and it is all truth. I was particularly pleased by the wonderful combination of science, data, common sense and sentiment he uses so as to touch every type of audience. Not for one minute did I find it boring, and Al Gore touched all the proper nerves.

The message of the documentary is crystal clear. The world is in denial about global warming, and if we don't do something soon, there won't be much of a world to save. I was particularly impressed by the way he countered the major arguments against taking drastic measures against global warming.

Myth. You have to choose between the economy and the environment.
Truth. How good was Hurricane Katrina for the economy?

Myth. Money spent in combating global warming would better serve us in things like fighting terrorism.
Truth. The World Trade Center Memorial site will be underwater in another 50-60 years or so due to rising ocean levels at the current rate of global warming.

Some quotable quotes:

"That is what is at stake. Our ability to live on planet earth. To have a future as a civilization."

"We have everything we need to solve the global warming problem, save, perhaps, the political will."

And a couple of screenshots:

(A graph of atmospheric CO2 levels alongside Temperature in Antarctica over the past 650,000 years. The way scientists built up this data is brilliant. They drilled into the snow and measured the dissolved concentrations of two different isotopes of oxygen. The atmospheric temperature could be calculated accurately from that ration. And, of course, they measured the dissolved CO2 concentration. Note the close correlation. Also note the current CO2 level and take a guess as to where the temperature curve is going to go.)




(A rough illustration of the major ocean current "loop" in the world. Gore gives a chilling example of how the last ice age was triggered by fresh water getting dumped into the North Atlantic, thus upsetting the salinity levels and consequently the global ocean current pattern. Demonstrates how delicate the global climate balance is.)




PLEASE DO WATCH THE DOCUMENTARY IF YOU CAN GET HOLD OF IT. I was greatly impressed by it, not that I need any more convincing regarding the gravity of the global warming situation.

Cheers,
Prashanth.