i just came from this movie, narrated and in large part brought about by al gore. it puts “things” into a very interesting, precarious light. things being: the state of the union (not at all what the administration makes it out to be), things being the links that connect us (humans) to the great earth, or, as the movie points out, the small pixel in the vast expanse of space that surrounds us. the things being: again, all these automobiles, products, foods, and services, exported and transported across this nation, across seas, things like EGGS, shoes, computers, everything… brought to us by petrolium and non-renewable resources; our houses, apartments heated by things like COAL (old W has facilitated the formation of 17 new coal energy plants in this country since 2000), these things that we are not concious of or about. so, in an indirect way you’re capturing the notion of the film: what is the gross effect of carbondioxide emissions on the planet? the gradual warming of the earth. in the past history of meteorology, begun sometime in the middle of the 19th century, the HOTTEST ten years on record have occurred in the last 14 years and the hottest on record was the year 2005. it is only getting hotter. the film has a great cadre of visual representations of what this warming trend means: glaciers all over the earth are retreating, from alaska and canada to patagonia, from nepal to the snows of kilamanjaro (which will no longer exist in the next decade). ice shoals are breaking off of the north pole cap, greenland and antarctica: there are vast lakes building up in the ice caps that warm with sun and channel into the glaciers, creating underground runs (moulins) of water that separate the ice from the bedrock they’re perched upon (where applicable: not all the ice is connected to land; where it is not, the ice simply shears from the greater body of ice), as the ice melts, there is no longer an icy reflective surface to redirect the sun’s rays into the atmosphere and it its place there is WATER: the water retains the heat of the sun and causes the further warming of the remaining ice, which, as it melts, eliminates the cooling capabilities of the poles on the globe. as the waters of the earth heat up, it increases the capacity for jet streams to generate storms upon the water, greater humidity in the air, increased wind velocity…. the history of devastating storms is similar to that of the temperature changes in the last 150 years: the ten worst have been in the last ten years. likewise, as the glaciers slough into the seas, the sea level rises: it is possible that if these moulins become strong enough, and as greenland and antarctica melt, vast populated regions will become submerged, resulting in catastrophies that make katrina and new orleans look easy, even with proper federal planning for disaster (which was obviously not in place in new orleans). YET the movie is not a doomsday proclamation, it is simply the occasion for us to change. this change must happen. we must adopt and support engineering of alternative fuels, alternative energy, use of light rail, mass transit, consumption of renewable and local resources, energy audits of homes and buildings. because otherwise we are SCREWED. and i have the feeling that that unfortunate eventuality would occur in my lifetime. your lifetime. let’s garden, buy nice recycled shoes, drive biodiesel, engineer businesses and companies to look more like nature than a two headed beast clothed in the Reaper’s gown, building a glass palace on a hill perched over a seething multitude of slaves with cell phones and car payments. (not that those things are “bad”… it’s just that there are good ALTERNATIVES.) so one of the precepts of the film is to tell your friends to go see it. i know this is time sensitive, but: GO SEE IT: an inconvenient truth. which is funny because i have the sense that in some ways it might actually be convenient that al gore was not elected, or did not become president despite the fact that he actually was elected… because now he is raleighing all over the world for this very critical change. extreme props to him. more soon.
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