An Inconvenient Truth

A documentary by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, on Global Warming

Review by Kim Taylor

An Inconvenient Truth is a movie about what global warming is, what it's doing, why it's happening, and how we can stop it. It's very interesting, has a slight touch of humor, and best of all, it's 99.999% fact. The movie is also very convincing.

Gore explains that global warming is being caused by the fact that humans are dumping millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every day. Because carbon dioxide affects temperatures, the temperatures worldwide are going up, and are far higher than they have been in the past 650,000 years.

The increase in temperature causes more and stronger storms, such as hurricanes and tornadoes. The snow on top of mountains is melting, causing flooding in various areas, which will be followed by drought when there's no more snow to melt. Many areas are already in drought. The numbers of disease-carrying insects is increasing (warm weather again), spreading diseases like malaria.

Gore also explains that there are ways to solve these problems. People that realize that global warming is on the move sometimes go from ignorance to despair, and never stop to look at what can be done. However, there are many proactive examples in the movie.

An Inconvenient Truth also has very, very many interesting facts. For example, when Gore visited one of the polar ice caps, he watched a team of researchers drill down into the ice and bring up an ice core. They can then look at the bubbles of air inside the ice and figure out the temperatures and carbon dioxide levels of the past, and do so accurately. If you go to the right spot, you can see that the ice has rings, like tree stumps - and can be read much the same way. This is only one of the many things you can find out about in this movie.

There are many charts and pictures in the movie, which are visually appealing, and help make sense of what he's saying. There's a lot of humor, something I find unusual for a documentary, and it's very entertaining, all in all. I noticed that Gore uses a shock effect to help get his message across - and it works very well, believe me. I suggest seeing this at least twice - once to get the message across, then again to grasp the facts a bit better.

The movie starts and ends on a positive note, which is definitely a plus. What Gore says is very clearly worded, and enhanced with pictures. He also explains why this causes this, which causes this, and why it might end up like this if we don't take better care of the planet.

Once you see the movie for yourself, you should take your friends and family to help spread the message around. Just a precaution: The movie briefly shows the effects of hurricane Katrina, including a few dead bodies. But it is brief - you could have a small child cover their eyes during that part. I would give this movie five out of five stars and more.

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GHF - ID #130553