Film: An Inconvenient Truth

[ChrisC]

I searched the archives but couldn't find any mention of this film. Has anyone else seen it?

Although there may be some wiggle-room within the facts (although I don't know enough to know whether this is true), I found this movie to be a wake-up kick in the posterior regarding the perils our planet and each one of us faces with reference to global warning. It also explains this concept in conversational and easily understandable terms, using clear graphics and examples. (So easy even a Caveman can understand it.)

I'd be interested in hearing your opinions on the substance of this film (but not necessarily whether you love or hate Al Gore and his politics--I think the topic supercedes the man).

Did you see it and if so have you made any changes in your personal energy consumption? There's a cool website the film mentions: www.climatecrisis.net which provides lots of energy-saving ideas and notes how much money and energy costs are saved by implementing even the simplest ones.

[STR1KER]

I've been meaning to rent it, but every time I goto the store, it's rented out already.
I heard it's pretty much dead-on.
LMFGDAO @ the caveman remark! HAHA Those commercials are a trip!

[sidhe]

Yep, it's certainly a wakeup call, or should be....... not much that I didn't already know on some level, just presented in a very easy to understand way. Yea, so easy even a Caveman could get it. Unfortunatly the folks that need to watch it, won't!! I own it, be glad to lend it out........or...... we could do a "movie night" with discussion after.

[ChrisC]

Yes, a movie night with the movie followed by a discussion group is a great idea! Let's check out the responses to this thread to determine the level of interest. Thanks for your offer to lend out the film, too.

[LeoTheLion]

It's in my que on Netflix! Even my conservative hubby wants to see it, so don't give up on all of them!

[STR1KER]

Movie night sounds fanstastic! :)

[Nanuk]

The most frequent and credible criticism I've heard about it is that Al Gore cherry-picks his facts, and while the ones that he uses to support his rather dubious claims are pretty much true on their face, they don't necessarily point to his conclusions as solidly as he says, and he omits of course any fact that doesn't support his theory, no matter how true or relevant.

It's definitely geared towards people who already believe or want to believe that somehow there's a great man-made environmental catastrophe just a few years off and it ignores that fact that this planet is over 4.2 BILLION years old, and it's seen and survived a lot more than little old us, who have only been around in an industrial capacity for about a hundred and fifty years.

[Chutney Daftcraft]

quote:Originally posted by Nanuk

The most frequent and credible criticism I've heard about it is that Al Gore cherry-picks his facts, and while the ones that he uses to support his rather dubious claims are pretty much true on their face, they don't necessarily point to his conclusions as solidly as he says, and he omits of course any fact that doesn't support his theory, no matter how true or relevant.

Yes, unfortunately, cherry picked facts to back up a claim is quite common. I would probably choose to leave out certain biological facts, especially the one's that could confuse the pretext, such as "the earth goes thru these periods" because people would easily just use that as a simple cop-out, because it IS an Inconvenient Rruth...

It's definitely geared towards people who already believe or want to believe that somehow there's a great man-made environmental catastrophe just a few years off and it ignores that fact that this planet is over 4.2 BILLION years old, and it's seen and survived a lot more than little old us, who have only been around in an industrial capacity for about a hundred and fifty years.


What I've put in bold says it all.

The industrial age is VERY recent, considering the age of the planet. A period on a sentance in a large, large book. Regardless of any hyping that has been done, you HAVE to realize that changing the chemical composition of our atmosphere most definately will change the planet. How will it change? I'm not sure. I do know that everything in nature is interlinked, and if you throw off one aspect, it will cause a ripple effect thro almost everything else. Keep in mine that us humans are part of nature.

At the end of the day, reducing our emissions should be a top priority, regardless of reason. I enjoy that this movie has made global warming something that everyone is aware of now. Those who champion for change will be recognzed by history, while those that say "it's a myth" just to walk away from the subject, will be recognized by history in other ways. And the one that has any global warming conclusions stripped from government research projects will be severely criticised by history, especially if you have to carry your own oxygen supply on your person in the future.

[Jenniffer]

I've only seen it twice, but I do recall him bringing up criticism of the data and refuting it with counter claims. He did bring up the "cyclical" argument, for instance, and show the data that hilights the fact that nothing like this has happened in recorded history (both human recording and the data from ice core drilling).

[Chutney Daftcraft]

Apparantly they have "smoking gun" proof:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070123/ap_on_re_us/warming_climate_report


quote:Andrew Weaver, a Canadian climate scientist and study co-author, went even further: "This isn't a smoking gun; climate is a batallion of intergalactic smoking missiles."

[sidhe]

Nanuk, have you seen the film? I'm not worried about the survival of the earth, it will survive. It's us and our children that are in danger. While you're at it, watch Millennium.. 1989 Kris Kristofferson and Cheryl Ladd.... Goofy sci-fi but.... something to think about. Can't find my copy must have loaned it to someone, Amazon, here I come.

[Nanuk]

I was wondering where this thread went.

No, I haven't seen it. I won't put money into the pockets of Al Gore or anyone else associated with his propaganda film. It'd be like going to see a Michael Moore film; I'm not going to pay good money to be misled by half-truths and innuendo.

(I did see Being Caribou once when it was free though, so I am on record as having watched a propaganda film.)

The climate has changed before and it will again? Remember the four separate glacial advances? And natualr volcanic activity puts far more greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere than we people do.

Films like this appeal mostly to well-intentioned people (like City) who already believe that we're destroying the planet and want support for those beliefs. But we're not, it hasn't been proven, and frankly I don't care if the sun supernovas three days after I die--it won't affect me in the least.

BTW City... you still driving that SUV?

[Chutney Daftcraft]

quote:Originally posted by Nanuk

I was wondering where this thread went.

No, I haven't seen it. I won't put money into the pockets of Al Gore or anyone else associated with his propaganda film. It'd be like going to see a Michael Moore film; I'm not going to pay good money to be misled by half-truths and innuendo.

Damn, Ann Coulter just lost one future book customer, huh?

(I did see Being Caribou once when it was free though, so I am on record as having watched a propaganda film.)

The climate has changed before and it will again? Remember the four separate glacial advances? And natualr volcanic activity puts far more greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere than we people do.

OK, so that makes it OK. We can just go further, right? Let's just keep burning oil then. Lord knows that oil never causes any problems... [rotfl] Hell, with that kind of logic, we should just all take out catalytic converters off our cars since they don't use them in other places...

Films like this appeal mostly to well-intentioned people (like City) who already believe that we're destroying the planet and want support for those beliefs.

Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I give a fcuk about... air.

But we're not, it hasn't been proven, and frankly I don't care if the sun supernovas three days after I die--it won't affect me in the least.

Which is why we are where we are. People like you. That's ridiculously selfish. That "only care about me" view means you should bow out of arguments that affect the distant future since you simply and admittedly don't care about it. Also, where's Jesus going to come back to so he can claim all the heavenly souls if the planet's barren and dead.

BTW City... you still driving that SUV?

Nope. How about you?

[Nanuk]

City, the fact that nature has ALWAYS produced greenhouse gasses through volcanic activity and natually-occurring forest fires shows that the planet can handle that. Those particles don't stay in the air forever--rain brings them right back to earth again. And it's significant to note that even though we now contribute somewhat to greenhouse emissions, we've balanced it in large part by extinguishing naturally-ignited forest fires that in times past would have burned unchecked for months, thus eliminating them as a source of greenhouse gasses.

Fact: America still adheres to some of the strictest environmental standards in the world for air and water pollution. If you really "care", go protest in China, the planet's #1 polluter, or India, the second-worst offender.

And yes, I still drive my SUV. Probably always will. And it's "people like me" who created and implemented the technology that you now hate even though you avail yourself of all of it's benefits. I don't see you forsaking modern convenience and going off to live in the woods without electricity or internal-combustion engines. Like most tree-hugging hypocrites, you only want to blame others for the results of your own choices and actions. You want to impress me and make a real difference? Sell your house and cars and move to within walking or biking distance of your job instead of living way out here and driving back and forth in your polluting automobiles every day.

Until you actually make some sacrifices on behalf of the environment, I'll thank you not to accuse me or people like me for being the cause of whatever your problem du jour is.

[sidhe]

No one is asking you to put money into Gore's pocket, I won't charge you to watch the film, I promise. I just find it irritating when people make statements based on what someone else has said or some pre-concieved notion, watch it and make your own judgement. If you still disagree with, that's fine. Don't know about City, but I'm not blaming anyone for the state of the world environment...... we all are guilty. "You did the best you knew how to do, when you knew better, you did better". I won't name the author of that quote..... but that is how I feel about the environment....... we did a lot of stupid things before we knew better... I remember as a little kid putting a penny into the x-ray machine and looking at the bones in my toes, the machines were all over the place, kinda like gumball machines..... no one knew how dumb and dangerous that was, when they figured it out, the machines went away. We did tested our nukes in the deserts, do we do that anymore? We didn't know, we do now, there is nothing wrong with learning and adjusting our behavior accordingly. It doesn't have to (and won't) happen overnight. Humans are creatures of habit.... "I've always done it this way". I'm as guilty of that as anyone else and I've been dragging my feet but "evolving" all of my life and evolution is a slow thing. If we weren't open to change, we'd still be doing the horse and wagon thing. When autos first began to make headlines, it was said that the the human body couldn't take speeds of 30+ mph..... or however fast a horse can run, I don't remember. Well.... so much for the oldsters, guess they were wrong, try it before you make carved in concrete statements.

[Nanuk]

Sidhe, I appreciate the offer, but I just can'r respect Gore as an authority. And this isn't political. In fairness to Gore, I actually forced myself to read his earlier book "Earth in the Balance" about how the internal-combustion engine is going to destroy the planet, and it managed to be both shrill and incredibly dull. I didn't care for the way he wrote down to his readers and after reading the whole book, I understand why it was so thoroughly debunked by the real experts.

My problem with Gore as an enviromentalist icon: he's no more an authority on the environment than any Hollywood celebrity is. He doesn't possess any degrees in this area, hasn't published anything that was submitted to peer review, and never worked in or studied the field. I'm sure that he believes what he says, but he lacks the expertise to sway me and his writing style in that book really put me off.

And that's a nonpartisan critique. If George W. Bush wrote a book on something nonpolitical tomorrow, I'd have just as difficult a time taking it as anything more than a compilation of a layperson's personal opinions.

[Jenniffer]

"I just can'r respect Gore as an authority"

What happened to that whole "know the enemy" thing? ;)

[sidhe]

I don't see Gore as an authority so much as a messenger. When the degreed scientists start talking, most of us either go looking for a dictionary or go to sleep. The numbers he's speaking about, aren't his...... he quotes his sources, check them out yourself, find the numbers that contradict them. The pictures aren't airbrushed, they're real, I've seen them in other publications. Gore is just reaching a larger audience than the scientists can. He reminds me in a way of Carl Sagan who put physics and astronmy into words that this regular person could understand. He got a lot of flack from his colleagues who wanted the "secrets" to remain secret. One could only "know" if one "earned" the knowledge. I feel that this subject is much more important for the common man to be made aware of... what's happening here on the earth is much more important than what's happening in the far reaches of the universe. Whether man is responsible for global warming or not.... it is happening, if there is something we can do to slow it down, well, maybe we ought to at least be given the knowledge and opportunity to do so. The main premise of the film is that the "cycle" is happening a lot faster and much more dramaticly than ever before. Keep 'em fat dumb and happy. What happens with the earth isn't really going to affect me personally... not in this lifetime anyway. My time remaining here is a whole lot less than time already served. I do think about my kids and grandkids though. If I were of childbearing age now, knowing what I do, I wouldn't have children. Kinda selfish, huh?

[Jenniffer]

In the news today:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/02/02/climate.talks.ap/index.html

[Jenniffer]

Stephen Hawking, considered the most brilliant scientific mind of our time, is worried, too:

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2006-06-22-hawking-warming_x.htm

"Asked about the environment, Hawking, who suffers from a degenerative disease, uses a wheelchair and speaks through a computerized voice synthesizer, said he was "very worried about global warming."

He said he was afraid that Earth "might end up like Venus, at 250 degrees centigrade and raining sulfuric acid."

The comment is a pointed one for China ? which is the second largest emitter of the greenhouse gases that are blamed for global warming, after the United States. Experts warn that if emissions aren't reduced the world's glaciers could melt, threatening cities and triggering droughts and other environmental disasters."

[Jenniffer]

An Inconvenient Truth won 2 Oscars last evening:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/02/26/gore.oscar/index.html

[sidhe]

yeaaaaaa

[sidhe]

I'd still be more than willing to loan or show the film. Also, a few others that I've come across...... war related. Iraq for Sale, self expalanitory Sir, No Sir, the soldiers protesting and helping end the Viet Nam "conflict, and the Ground Truth.... more soldiers, Iraq this time.