l Gore, th

e host, was the vice president of the USA in the Clinton administration. He has been interested in
climate change issues since grade school and has continued to take interest in this subject as a
politician. n this documentar!, he highlights some ver! important points regarding global
warming in his discussion. "e will take a look at some of these.
Some ver! important effects include illustrations of the impact of global warming. He does this
b! first pointing out the relationship between the amount of carbon in the atmosphere and the
corresponding temperature over a #$%,%%% !ears period. &or e'ample, he indicated some pictures
of the ice melted in big (ountain in Africa called )ilimanjaro. He also talked about the increase
of the ocean *emperature that guided to man! Hurricanes and *ornadoes. *o clarif!, &lorida in
US got a ver! bad hurricane in September +%%, and that called van. *hen he focused on the Sea
levels which are rising because of the amount of ice melting in the Arctic Sea and ice shelves b!
-.$ million km+ during the last fort! !ears. &or instance, ce caps melts as the the temperature of
water raise and these can destro!ed the ice species. &inall!, He also mentioned that man! people
have died in different parts of the world because of high temperatures and heat waves. &or
e'ample, the temperature in ndia raised and about -,%% people died in +%%.. *he e'tinction rate
of man! species is increasing and more than .% diseases have appeared
*o sum up, Al Gore sa!s that although the situation regarding global warming appears dire, he
does speak ferventl! looking forward to the future with hope. His presentation concludes with
parting nuggets of practical advice as to how man can pla! a role in curbing climate change.
Al Gore/s global warming movie, 0An nconvenient *ruth,0 aims to call attention to the dangers
societ! faces from climate change, and suggests urgent actions that need to be taken
immediatel!. t is based on a slide show on climate Gore has presented to audiences worldwide
over -%%% times in the past -$ !ears, but it is not purel! a documentar!. Gore/s movie is an
advocac! piece that is part documentar!, part biograph!, and part campaign ad. /ll discuss all
three of these aspects below. n brief, Al Gore has the right idea11climate change is an urgent
issue that re2uires immediate action, and his thoughtful movie is a welcome addition to the usual
arra! of mindless Holl!wood summer fare. However, the movie has flaws. *he presentation of
the science is good, but not great11 rate it a 3, which is the rating give the movie as a whole.
*he e'cessive details on Al Gore/s life make the movie too long, and his insistence on using the
movie as something of a campaign ad detracts from its message. However, this is a ver!
important movie, as was recogni4ed in the +%%5 6scars, where it won best documentar!. t/s a
movie ever!one should see.
An nconvenient *ruth as a biograph! of Al Gore
*he creators of the movie presumabl! thought that simpl! presenting Gore/s slide show would be
too dull, so the! decided to give the movie some human interest b! interweaving a biograph! of
Al Gore/s life. Al Gore has led an interesting life, but 0interesting0 and 0Al Gore0 are not words
one can often put together. Al Gore is boring, and the +% minutes or so of biograph! presented in
An nconvenient *ruth is too much for a movie that is - hour and .# minutes long. &or e'ample,
didn/t reall! need to see the road where Al Gore totaled his car when he was -, !ears old, or a
repla! of his loss in the +%%% election. 6n the other hand, some details of his past were
interesting and relevant, such as the fact that he took college courses in the late -7#%s from
Harvard/s 8r. 9oger 9evelle. 9evelle and 8r. Charles )eeling were the pioneers in
measurements of atmospheric C6+, and thus Gore got a ver! earl! e'posure to the now infamous
0)eeling Curve0 :&igure -;, showing the build1up of atmospheric C6+. *his earl! e'posure to
the significant impact humans were having on the atmosphere deepl! affected Gore, and in the
movie he details efforts he made to call attention to the issue long before most people had heard
of it, back in the -75%s and <%s. Gore/s slide show appropriatel! displa!s man! graphs of the
)eeling Curve, as it is probabl! the most important and most famous finding in climate change
science.
&igure -. *he )eeling Curve is a record of C6+ measurements taken at he top of (auna =oa
volcano in Hawaii since -7$<.
*he science of An nconvenient *ruth
*he science presented is mostl! good, and at times compelling, but there are a few errors and one
major distortion of the truth. Gore does an e'cellent job focusing on the most important issues,
and usuall! presents them with a minimum of h!pe and distortion. *he onl! e'ception to this
comes in his treatment of global warming and e'treme weather events such as hurricanes.
3asic global warming science
Gore begins the science part of his talk with a ver! eas! to understand presentation on the basics
of how the greenhouse effect works. His speech is clear, the graphics top notch, and he spices it
up with a hilarious two1minute cartoon depicting roughneck global warming gases preventing
poor (r. Sunbeam from escaping >arth/s atmosphere. Gore addresses the argument of skeptics
who claim that the >arth is too big for humans to affect b! showing Space Shuttle photos of how
thin the atmosphere reall! is compared to the vast bulk of our planet. 0*he problem we now face
is that this thin la!er of atmosphere is being thickened b! huge 2uantities of carbon dio'ide,0 he
asserts, which is not correct. *he build1up of C6+ has virtuall! no effect on the densit! or
thickness of >arth/s atmosphere. *he correct thing to sa! would have been, 0*he problem we
now face is that this thin la!er of atmosphere is being made more opa2ue to the transmission of
infrared radiation :heat; b! huge 2uantities of carbon dio'ide.0
Glaciers
Gore shows an impressive series of 0then and now0 images documenting the widespread retreat
of man! glaciers over the past centur!. (ost dramaticall!, he shows )en!a/s (t. )ilimanjaro,
whose --,%%% !ear1old glaciers are almost gone. "hile not all the world/s glaciers have retreated
in the past centur!, Gore/s presentation is an effective and reasonable wa! to show how global
warming has affected the majorit! of the world/s glaciers. Greenhouse skeptics, including
(ichael Crichton in his State of &ear book, are fond of bashing those who use (t. )ilimanjaro
as a poster child for demonstrating global warming. *he! cite scientific research showing that the
glacial retreat on (t. )ilimanjaro is due to dr!ing of the atmosphere :?8& &ile;, not global
warming. However, as discussed at great length in a realclimate.org post, the research which
supposedl! supports the skeptics/ claims has been widel! mis2uoted and misinterpreted, and
much of )ilimanjaro/s melting can indeed be ascribed to warming of the atmosphere since -7#%.
Gore does an e'cellent job discussing the Greenland and Antarctic ice caps. Again, Gore/s
graphics are superb, and he does a nice job narrating. He shows animations of what a +%1foot rise
in sea level would do to (anhattan, &lorida, ndia, and China. A +%1foot sea level rise is what we
e'pect if all of Greenland or all of the "est Antarctic ce Sheet were to melt. Such a +%1foot rise
is not e'pected b! +-%%, and it would have been appropriate for Gore to acknowledge that the
consensus of climate scientists11as published in the most recent report b! the United @ations/
ntergovernmental ?anel on Climate Change :?CC;11is that sea level is likel! to rise between ,
and .$ inches, with a central value of -7 inches, b! +-%%. He should have also mentioned that
temperatures in Greenland in the -7.%s were about as warm as toda!/s temperatures, so the
current melting of Greenland/s glaciers does have historical precedent. @evertheless, the risk of a
catastrophic melting and break1up of the Greenland or "est Antarctic ice sheets is ver! real,
when we consider that sea level before the most recent ice age was -$ feet higher than it is now.
Gore is right to draw attention to what might happen if sea level rose +% feet.
8rought and heat waves
An e'cellent discussion of the most serious climate change issue our generation is likel! to face,
the threat of increased drought and reduced water supplies, is presented. Gore makes reference to
the e'treme heat wave that affected >urope during the summer of +%%,, and was glad to see
that he didn/t blame the heat wave on global warming11he merel! said that more events of this
nature will be likel! in the future.
Hurricanes and severe weather
*he biggest failure in the movie/s presentation of science comes in the discussion hurricanes and
severe weather events. *he devastation wrought b! )atrina is used to ver! dramatic effect to
warn of the dangers climate change presents. "e are told that )atrina grew 0stronger and
stronger and stronger0 as it passed over the warm waters of the Gulf of (e'ico that were heated
up b! global warming. "e are told that global warming is increasing the intensit! of hurricanes,
but not provided information on the great amount of uncertaint! and vigorous scientific debate
on this issue. Graphs showing recent record insurance losses from natural disasters are presented,
but no mention is made of how increasing population and insistence on building in vulnerable
areas are the predominant factors causing recent high insurance claims from disasters such as
)atrina. Gore points to some unprecedented events in +%%, as evidence of increasing severe
weather events worldwide11the record -% t!phoons in Aapan, the most tornadoes ever in the U.S.,
and the appearance of 3ra4il/s first hurricane ever. However, e'amples of this kind are
meaningless. @o single weather event, or unconnected series of severe weather events such as
Gore presents, are indicative of climate change. n particular, the ?CC has not found an!
evidence that climate change has increased tornado fre2uenc!, or is likel! to. Gore doesn/t
mention the unusuall! 2uiet tornado season of +%%$, when for the first time ever, no tornadoes
were reported in 6klahoma in the month of (a!.
6ther science
Gore presents man! other important aspects of climate change, including the threat of abrupt
climate change leading to a shut1off of the Gulf Stream current, the increase in damaging insect
infestations and tropical diseases, loss of coral reefs, loss of ice in the polar ice cap, and melting
of permafrost in the Arctic. All of these issues were presented with sound science.
An nconvenient *ruth as a campaign ad
Gore has repeatedl! said that he currentl! has no plans to run for president again, and that this
movie was created as part of his life1long passion to protect the environment. Gore undoubtedl!
does care ver! deepl! about the planet, but this movie ver! much looks like a campaign ad. "e
are shown man! scenes of Gore being applauded, Gore traveling the globe to present his slide
show, and Gore working to uncover evidence of 9epublican shenanigans to alter or suppress
climate change science. Gore is portra!ed as a humble and tireless crusader for good. f the
movie is not intended to promote his political ambitions, then it is certainl! intended to benefit
the 8emocratic ?art!. All this gets in the wa! of the movie/s central message.
Conclusion
At the end of the movie, we are presented with the same image that Gore started the movie with,
that of a beautiful river in the wilderness. *hroughout the movie, Gore emphasi4es how beautiful
and special our planet is, and he does an effective job conve!ing this. He also makes a powerful
case that something can and should be done to protect the planet, and it is worth hearing his
message, even if the science is flawed and the messenger does get in the wa! of the message.
6verall, the movie rates +.$ stars11definitel! worth seeing, but !ou might want to wait until the
8B8 comes out.
At the end of the movie, Gore presents some tips on how ever!one can contribute, and points
people to his web site, www.climatecrisis.net. However, would recommend that people who
want to get educated about climate change get their information from web sites not associated
with a politicianC perhaps the least politici4ed source of information is the latest scientific
summar! :?8& &ile; of the ntergovernmental ?anel on Climate Change:?CC;, a group of over
+%%% scientists from -%% countries working under a mandate from the United @ations in the
largest peer1reviewed scientific collaboration in histor!. t will onl! take !ou about +% minutes to
read through their conclusions, and it is something ever! citi4en on the globe should educate
themselves on.
Former Vice President Al Gore is starring in a new movie called An
Inconvenient Truth. It is a documentary about global warming. This is a
subject that ister Gore has been interested in !or many years.For the "ast
si# years$ ister Gore has been traveling around the country and the world
giving tal%s about global warming. &e has given the tal%s more than one
thousand times. ost o! An Inconvenient Truth is 'lmed at these events.
ister Gore s"ea%s to grou"s o! "eo"le with a big screen behind him.
(atellite "ictures$ scienti'c models$ gra"hs and other images a""ear on the
screen as he tal%s. The subject o! global warming has been debated !or
years. Factories$ "ower stations and vehicles "roduce carbon dio#ide and
other greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases tra" warm air in the atmos"here.
ost climate scientists believe these gases are res"onsible$ at least in "art$
!or tem"erature increases on )arth. The debate centers on the e#tent to
which greenhouse gases are res"onsible !or global warming.In the movie$ Al
Gore re"orts about the shar" increase in the amount o! carbon dio#ide in the
atmos"here in the last '!ty years. &e com"ares countries around the world
and their share o! carbon dio#ide releases. &e also shows a similar increase
in the )arth*s tem"erature.&e shows melting glaciers and huge "ieces o! ice
crashing into the ocean. &e "rovides biological e#am"les o! global warming.
&e shows tro"ical animals$ "lants and diseases on the move northward as
tem"eratures increase. And he shows a model o! rising sea levels s"reading
over southern Florida$ "arts o! India$ A!rica and other areas in the world. &e
also discusses the "o"ulation e#"losion in the world and its increasing
"roblems !or the "lanet.+ritics o! the movie say ister Gore is using the
issue o! global warming and his movie !or a "olitical cam"aign. They say he
"lans to run !or "resident again. ister Gore says he has no such
"lans.+ritics also say ister Gore*s warnings about what...