A Movie for all Humanity

Documentaries are mostly a difficult sell for modern cinemas, but the new tour de force An Inconvenient Truth starring former Vice President Al Gore should have no trouble finding an audience. Davis Guggenheim has taken Al Gore's presentation on global warming and given it a cinematic style that enables the viewer to connect with the former presidential candidate and experience his driving passion to remedy the many wrongs enacted against our environment. The Al Gore of this movie is thoughtful, impassioned, and provacative in his powerful explanation of Global Warming and it's impending consequences. If after seeing this movie you are not outraged, inspired, and deeply troubled then you didn't get the message. The bottom line is the time for action to save our planet is now. If we do not take advantage of the information provided in this film, as an entire global community, we are dooming all of humankind to extinction.

I am currently in the middle of On Death and Dying by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross and I was struck by how similar the denial was for some people diagnosed with terminal illnesses. The very same denial about the fact of Global Warming could make it too late for us to have any true impact on the problem that was set in motion by CFCs, fossil fuels, and other pollutants. Will our denial and the denials forced on us by our government who wants to see Global Warming as theory instead of fact be so great that it will doom the planet to another ice age?

One of the more troubling aspects of this film is that Gore has given his presentation on humanity's effects on the planet more then 1,000 times. My sense of disbelief at hearing this number and feeling as if I were seeing NO true changes at least here in America was a mixture of disbelief and anger. America is one of only coutries that is a large emitter of Greenhouse Gases, but has chosen not to ratify the Kyoto Protocol due to negative effects it may have on the economy. However, I am proud to note that several states have implement their own adherance to the Kyoto Protocol with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and are working to cleanup the environment with or without the Federal Government.

If you only see one movie this year, this is the one. For yourself, for your love of your children, and for our dependency and adoration of this planet, please do yourself a true service and seek to understand what is going on each and every day right under our noses. I assure you, it is an hour and 40 minutes that will change the way you look at the Earth.