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An Inconvenient Truth
The Gotham Gal and I saw Al Gore's movie last night. It was pretty much what I expected, part Al's slide show which I've seen parts of over the years, part campaign film, and part an impassioned plea to change.
I would recommend everyone who hasn't seen the slide show go see this movie. It's an excellent packaging of the facts and science surrounding the climate change situation.
But unfortunately the film exposes two of Al's greatest problems and why so many people don't want to listen to him. First, he wraps the whole story in a "save the world" mantra that isn't accurate. Clearly the earth is not at risk, but life as we know it is. I wish Al would make that point the right way.
Second, Al's ego is wrapped up in this. He is way to melodramatic about the whole thing. I would prefer cold hard facts without all the preachy stuff. It does him such a disservice.
The bottom line for me is that we had better heed his and other's warnings. This is real and its not going away.
I'd love to see someone take this 100 minute movie and edit it down to 30 to 40 minutes. A mashdown. It would be an excellent film for all of our schools to show our kids.
Comments (11) | Posted July 8, 2006 in Politics
Comments
i agree about the preachy, "save the world" attitude.
at this stage i believe there is a very good chance he will "answer the call of the people" and run as the democratic candidate in 2008.
what do you think?
Posted by: Avner Ronen | Jul 8, 2006 7:22:15 AM
Fred,
I would agree to a certain degree. However, one of Al's biggest liabilities over the years was his robotic and sterile recitation of facts. While 'thinking' people have no issue with the "just the facts" approach, it tends not to be appreciated in the flyover country. Unfortunately, it takes melodrama to sometimes get people to pay attention. With that said it most certainly does open up the avenue for attacking his points- but at least there is dialog on the subject.
I personally do not know what it will take to get past the fundamentalist rhetoric on the subject. They say "the verdict is still out- hey we have scientists that disagree with the concept of global warming." People buy this. Somehow people do not think anymore. I just met someone that graduated from Univ of Michigan with a MS in Engineering tell me this. Are we becomming that myopic? Are we becomming a culture that refuses to analyze things critically?
Again, if Gore can spark someone to start to think, then some good has come from it. Gore is just accepting a sad reality of our times. Things have to be slick to be noticed; absent that, no one notices and more importantly no one cares.
Good post.
Posted by: Ted | Jul 8, 2006 10:09:30 AM
As long as certain very rich businessmen and politicians continue to make money on petroleum based energy you will find 'scientists' who are happy to bend the facts.
The fact is we're doomed, nobody cares enough to change. I don't see too many people making the kind of drastic changes required by everyone in order to save human life on earth.
It's going to be nano-tech that will save us, if anything at all.
Posted by: jackson | Jul 8, 2006 11:29:32 AM
Lawrence Lessig had a great story on "Where The Truth Lies" in this month's Wired:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.07/posts.html?pg=6
Posted by: Jarid | Jul 8, 2006 11:49:50 AM
fred - could not agree more.
it's the most important film of the decade...absolutely.
but, it's not the best film. 45-60 minutes would have been better. for wide distribution on TV and in schools, they should produce an edited version.
Posted by: don loeb | Jul 8, 2006 1:40:49 PM
Possibly the real inconvenient truth is that we have as much chance of doing anything about it as an alcoholic in PJ Carney's.
Any economic scenario short of us all being wiped out by bird flu means global emissions will continue to increase.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13723897/site/newsweek/
Until all the fossils fuels are consumed and the CO2 is back in the atmosphere.
Whence it presumably orginally came, until it was turned into organic matter, deposited, and eventually cracked into hydrocarbons.
Posted by: curmudgeonly troll | Jul 8, 2006 5:17:49 PM
Honestly, I have to disagree, I saw the movie two nights ago and I though it was impassioned , accurate and necessary. The only excess (IMHO) was Al's personal references. The election had no relevance to the movie. I know he was setting up why he wanted to attack the subject, but the cold, hard facts are persuasive enough as it is.
Posted by: Eddie LeBreton | Jul 9, 2006 12:57:03 AM
mashdown. heh ;) sweet.
Posted by: Dave McClure | Jul 9, 2006 2:09:16 AM
I believe that a good dash of skpeticism is required about the entire topic and some real science is required prior to panic.
How about we look at "State of Fear", Michael Crichton to start.
Posted by: Tom Labus | Jul 10, 2006 3:33:16 PM
Tom -
State of Fear was an entertaining enough book (though I could have done without the Martin Sheen character's face-eating scene), but "real science"? Hardly. This is a good start for debunking many of the "facts" Crichton presents as conclusive.
I've long enjoyed Crichton's thrillers, but his interpretation of his facts (while passing the interpretation off as nothing other than objective truth) smacks of the same hypocrisy he claims to be offended by in the environmental movement.
Posted by: Rick Klau | Jul 10, 2006 4:03:20 PM
The "we have as much chance of doing anything about it..." line caught my eye. I have to agree in part. Yes, of couse we CAN do plenty. Will we? I doubt it. We have become dangerously ego-centric & terminally lazy. If saving the planet involves one ounce of effort on MY part...forget it! is the attitude. Think Homer Simpson whinging the guy in the bed beside him has an iron lung, why does he have to breath on his own?
As for melodrama? It's VITAL. My 13yr old daughter sat beside me with her "I'm suffering through this crap because of my mother" face on until the polar bear drown. (It was a cartoon polar bear, to soften the blow) She broke up, broke down, bawled her eyes out. Melodrama is essential to break through our "care/compassion/give a shit about fatigued" brains.
The political stuff unneccessary? How about trying to get people to recognize that the guy running the US is a liar & a cheat who doesn't give a rats if we all barbque? All of us should have to spend a week in a reality Hyperdome simulation. Now THAT would be a wake up call. It's true, the planet is not in danger. Just us. I don't know if there is a name for the mental illness of being too lazy to make an effort to live. But I do know what evolution does with those organisms.
The personal stuff is necessary to get people to identify with Al as a father, brother, son, neighbour. Those we know & identify with we believe. Is he scoring a few personal/political/ego points along the way? Yes. So what?
Posted by: helenlee | Nov 2, 2006 6:17:31 PM
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