The Truth of the Matter

Author's note: I don't generally delve in to divisive (read political, religious, global, personal or controversial) issues here, this isn't that kind of blog. But I've been passionate about environmentalism for years and I want to take a moment to reflect on that topic. I encourage you to read the post and then watch the movie. I just wanted to put something out there as my way of saying "Hey, I care and I am doing something."

Last night Tim and I watched Al Gore's 'An Inconvenient Truth". I knew watching it would be hard and I knew that as much as I cared about environmentalism and global warming that it would also make me feel hopelessly inadequate. And I was right...on both counts it was hard to watch the photos of disappearing glaciers and intensified natural disasters and all of that did make me feel hopelessly inadequate; but what I wasn't counting on was how incredibly informed and empowering it could be too.

The format of the DVD is perfect, it's a very intimate style, almost conversational. It feels like Gore is in your living room giving you his slide show personally. The beauty of it is how well it translates his passion and deep caring, each shot carefully frames the intensity and utter devotion that he has for informing the public. At just over 2 hours, it never feel tedious, the segments of informative slide show are broken up with personal recollections and experiences that have become the driving force behind his crusade to inform the people and save the planet. You learn about the death of his sister from lung cancer, the accident that landed his 6 year old son in the hospital for a month, his experiences in college that opened the door to his passion for environmentalism and the places he's traveled to get the word out. He even touches on the loss of the 2000 Presidential election with a grace and humor that should be admired.

I will admit that the opening sequence had me nearly laughing in tears...a poetic side of Al Gore...who knew. But as the DVD gets going it's clear that he is not the stuffy Vice-President that people try to frame him as, he's eloquent and well spoken. He has a dry, ironic wit and is very well educated. I'll admit that I often found myself thinking in disbelief "This is the guy who LOST the election?!?" But for the most part, for this entry, I'll avoid that particular line of thought since we all know I'm not Republican.

I think the thing that would strike most people are all the photographs of dried up lakes, river beds and melting glaciers. This, to me anyway, seems like it should be enough to make most sit up and take notice. There are photos of the Amazon River, Lake Chad in Africa, Mount Kilimanjaro, the Swiss Alps, the Rocky Mountains, the Arctic Glaciers, Greenland and Antarctica over the last 15-30 years...the thing they all have in common? They ALL have a significant and startling change in appearance. Where there was once water is now cracked and dry earth and where there was once ice and snow is now bare rock. There is nothing "natural" about this, there isn't any reason that there should be this much change since the 1960's.

With a wealth of scientific research he begins to explain why the snow caps and lakes are disappearing and the information would be overwhelming if not for the calm demeanor of the presenter. Gore presents study after study and graph after graph, with the grace of a well seasoned college professor. But underneath the informative calm is a sense of desperation, he is desperate for the people to understand the situation and desperate for them to understand the gravity of what is happening around them. But mostly he's desperate for the people to take action, to force their local, state and federal governments to deal with a problem that for the most part has largely been ignored.

He completes his show with a segment on what each individual can do to make a difference, what the viewer can do to help. You should recycle everything you can, buy energy star appliances, use compact fluorescent light bulbs, purchase high-mileage vehicles or hybrids, invest in Natural Energy resources and if you can purchase CO2 offsets; but most importantly make your political representatives take notice of the problem with your voice and your vote.

So in the end it was a hard movie to watch, but it was worth it. I know what I need to do, some of it I've been doing for years, but there are few areas where I'm going to start striving to do more. Starting with encouraging everyone to see this film because it is important.

Climatecrisis.net
Stopglobalwarming.org
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