An Inconvenient Truth

[desoto_hia873]

I asked for Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth for Christmas, but no one gave it to me. So I bought it for myself and watched it tonight.

Wow.

We are so doomed. We're living on Easter Island and cutting down our last trees to make big heads, and no one's asking, "Wait. Is this really a good idea?" Well, no one except Al Gore, perhaps.

Go, see it for yourself. If you look, you can find it on bit torrent sites. Somehow, I don't think he'd mind if you watched it that way.

And then imagine what the world might be like now if he'd won that damn election.


ETA: If you're looking for similar material to read, try A Short History of Progress by Ronald Wright. It's not just about global warming--it's about how civilizations do themselves in time after time.

Comments

[mbangel10.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen it yet, but I will soon. Also, I voted for Gore and every time that GB does something that ticks me off (which is most every day) I think about what it would have been like if Gore won and I swear it would've definitely been better than this. Sigh.....

[desoto-hia873.livejournal.com]

I'd been meaning to see it for ages and felt slightly remiss for having left it so long. It's pretty hair-raising.

[yourlibrarian]

Over the Christmas holiday two of my relatives were discussing how they thought the whole global warming issue was a crock. I could only listen and think "Yep, we're all going to die off thanks to folks like you." But that might have been a bit of a conversation stopper.

[desoto-hia873.livejournal.com]

Hee, yes, that wouldn't have quite fit in with the whole Christmas spirit thing. :-)

It's interesting how little controversy there is among researchers and how it's presented differently in the media.

[yourlibrarian]

It's not hard to figure out where the "controversy" aspect comes from. Chrysler has launched a fierce attack on "quasi-hysterical Europeans" and their "Chicken Little" attitudes to global warming

[desoto-hia873.livejournal.com]

That's just... wow. I'm speechless.

[deathisyourart.livejournal.com]

It is a real eye-opener for those who don't know, or are in denial about global warming. I went back to school this year for Environmental Science, and we even have people in our classes who don't really GET IT.

And on CNN the other day they were taking about the ice shelf off Elsmere Island that went a few months ago, and the announcer actually said that this shelf going "Might mean that this global warming thing is actually real"...I almost DIED!

[desoto-hia873.livejournal.com]

I should have been more up on the topic than I was--I have lots of background in environmental science, but have paid more attention to pesticides and various other pollutants and collapsing cod stocks in the last few years. I feel like a bit of a schmo now. I have a PhD in atmospheric science, ferhevvinssakes!

There are just TOO MANY environmental crises!

[deathisyourart.livejournal.com]

I started off in a double major Physics and Atmospheric science... then I burnt out in year 3, LOL!

The movie opened my eyes to a few things, because I have been watching the changes in mammal populations and behaviour as a result of the changes North of the 60, and I really should be reading more on ice core samples. There is so much to know, and so little time left.

[desoto-hia873.livejournal.com]

Hey, my undergrad was in physics! ::Twilight Zone music:: I felt pretty burnt out by the end of it, too.

What kind of environmental science are you studying?

[deathisyourart.livejournal.com]

Currently it is just a general first year core in Enviromental Science at York U., but I am transfering to Concordia for next year and will be specilizing in the Ecology stream (they also give the option of a Geoscience, and a Hydrosphere stream).

[st_salieri.livejournal.com]

This is exactly why I can't bring myself to watch it - because I know it will depress the hell out of me. I love me some Gore, but...I can't watch! I'm such a wuss. This kind of stuff just leaves me so upset.

[desoto-hia873.livejournal.com]

It was rather alarming, frankly. I've been more involved in environmental chemistry and fisheries stuff lately, and wasn't aware of how much cumulative evidence of global warming there was. He did try to end the film on an up note, by saying that he thought we could still rectify the problem, but it does seem a bit of a long shot.

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

Not to mention the fact that the Brazilian rainforest is going away at a rate that will destroy water, air and many other resources all of us depend on. And, of course, nobody in the area gives a damn.
"sigh"

[desoto-hia873.livejournal.com]

And fisheries around the world are in trouble, and pesticides are baaad news, and there's no end to the number of other chemical contaminants out there and and and...

It's rather overwhelming.

[archbishopm.livejournal.com]

no one's asking, "Wait. Is this really a good idea?"

...

I'm no-one. Who are you?

[desoto-hia873.livejournal.com]

I'm the one whose attention has been paid to pesticides and collapsing fish stocks, and feeling rather like a dunce for not having paid much attention to this lately. ::flogs self::

Maybe the Cylons are right about humans.

[archbishopm.livejournal.com]

That we are sexy and should be forced to make out with Callum Keith Rennie? Yes, yes they are.

[desoto-hia873.livejournal.com]

Heee. OK, that too.

[ezagaaikwe.livejournal.com]

...imagine what the world might be like now if he'd won that damn election.

Gore did win the election, and so did Kerry. Chimp is nothing but an illegal occupant of our highest office.

[desoto-hia873.livejournal.com]

Chimp, hee. My father detests Bush--he tried to contribute to Kerry's election campaign and discovered that you can't actually do that if you're Canadian.

[ezagaaikwe.livejournal.com]

Good for your dad! *claps* For all our sakes, I'm sorry. I wish I were Canadian. I'm so close--I've been within paddling distance of Ontario, up in the BWCA (which abuts your Quetico.) I want to move there. *sigh*

[redeem147.livejournal.com]

I need only to go outside to our lovely January spring weather. Supposed to snow tonight for the first time (I'll believe it when I see it) but be up to 8 again by the end of the week.

[desoto-hia873.livejournal.com]

It's such a strange January. Peterborough is still pretty much snow-free. We keep getting rain when everyone else gets snow.

[jwaneeta.livejournal.com]

I have to be honest with you... I have no hope. At least I don't have children, so I don't have to agonize over their fates.

And things are at a fine pass when that's the only positive aspect to a situation.

[desoto-hia873.livejournal.com]

I can't say that I disagree with you. I think things will probably be a lot different in 10 or 20 years. The ozone hole issure was averted because giving up CFCs didn't mean giving up cars. This one isn't going to be so easy.