[PAA-Discuss] Roger Ebert reviews An Inconvenient Truth

[ChasMauch at aol.com]

AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH
By Roger Ebert
dailykos.com
June 2,  2006

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/6/2/19318/43872

I want to  write this review so every reader will begin it and finish it. I
am a  liberal, but I do not intend this as a review reflecting any kind  of
politics. It reflects the truth as I understand it, and it represents,  I
believe, agreement among the world's experts.

Global warming is  real.

It is caused by human activity.

Mankind and its governments  must begin immediate action to halt and reverse
it.

If we do nothing,  in about 10 years the planet may reach a "tipping point"
and begin a slide  toward destruction of our civilization and most of the
other species on this  planet.

After that point is reached, it would be too late for any  action.

These facts are stated by Al Gore in the documentary "An  Inconvenient
Truth." Forget he ever ran for office. Consider him a concerned  man speaking
out on the approaching crisis. "There is no controversy about  these facts,"
he says in the film. "Out of 925 recent articles in peer-review  scientific
journals about global warming, there was no disagreement.  Zero."

He stands on a stage before a vast screen, in front of an  audience. The
documentary is based on a speech he has been developing for six  years, and
is supported by dramatic visuals. He shows the famous  photograph
"Earthrise," taken from space by the first American astronauts.  Then he
shows a series of later space photographs, clearly indicating that  glaciers
and lakes are shrinking, snows are melting, shorelines are  retreating.

He provides statistics: The 10 warmest years in history were  in the last 14
years. Last year South America experienced its first  hurricane. Japan and
the Pacific are setting records for typhoons. Hurricane  Katrina passed over
Florida, doubled back over the Gulf, picked up strength  from unusually warm
Gulf waters, and went from Category 3 to Category 5.  There are changes in
the Gulf Stream and the jet stream. Cores of polar ice  show that carbon
dioxide is much, much higher than ever before in a quarter  of a million
years. It was once thought that such things went in cycles. Gore  stands in
front of a graph showing the ups and downs of carbon dioxide over  the
centuries. Yes, there is a cyclical pattern. Then, in recent years,  the
graph turns up and keeps going up, higher and higher, off the  chart.

The primary man-made cause of global warming is the burning of  fossil fuels.
We are taking energy stored over hundreds of millions of years  in the form
of coal, gas and oil, and releasing it suddenly. This causes  global warming,
and there is a pass-along effect. Since glaciers and snow  reflect sunlight
but sea water absorbs it, the more the ice melts, the more  of the sun's
energy is retained by the sea.

Gore says that although  there is "100 percent agreement" among scientists, a
database search of  newspaper and magazine articles shows that 57 percent
question the fact of  global warming, while 43 percent support it. These
figures are the result, he  says, of a disinformation campaign started in the
1990s by the energy  industries to "reposition global warming as a debate."
It is the same  strategy used for years by the defenders of tobacco. My
father was a Luckys  smoker who died of lung cancer in 1960, and 20 years
later it was still  "debatable" that there was a link between smoking and
lung cancer. Now we are  talking about the death of the future, starting in
the lives of those now  living.

"The world won't 'end' overnight in 10 years," Gore says. "But a  point will
have been passed, and there will be an irreversible slide into  destruction."

In England, Sir James Lovelock, the scientist who proposed  the Gaia
hypothesis (that the planet functions like a living organism), has  published
a new book saying that in 100 years mankind will be reduced to "a  few
breeding couples at the Poles." Gore thinks "that's too pessimistic. We  can
turn this around just as we reversed the hole in the ozone layer. But  it
takes action right now, and politicians in every nation must have  the
courage to do what is necessary. It is not a political issue. It is a  moral
issue."

When I said I was going to a press screening of "An  Inconvenient Truth," a
friend said, "Al Gore talking about the environment!  Bor...ing!" This is not
a boring film. The director, Davis Guggenheim, uses  words, images and Gore's
concise litany of facts to build a film that is  fascinating and relentless.
In 39 years, I have never written these words in  a movie review, but here
they are: You owe it to yourself to see this film.  If you do not, and you
have grandchildren, you should explain to them why you  decided not to.

Am I acting as an advocate in this review? Yes, I am. I  believe that to be
"impartial" and "balanced" on global warming means one  must take a position
like Gore's. There is no other view that can be  defended. Sen. James Inhofe
(R-Okla.), chairman of the Senate Environment  Committee, has said, "Global
warming is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on  the American people." I
hope he takes his job seriously enough to see this  film. I think he has a
responsibility to do that.

What can we do?  Switch to and encourage the development of alternative
energy sources: Solar,  wind, tidal, and, yes, nuclear. Move quickly toward
hybrid and electric cars.  Pour money into public transit, and subsidize the
fares. Save energy in our  houses. I did a funny thing when I came home after
seeing "An Inconvenient  Truth." I went around the house turning off  the
lights.

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