An Inconvenient Truth

Most of the reviews for An Inconvenient Truth begin by saying how surprising it is that a movie that centers around a lecture by Al Gore could be interesting. But it is. Heck, even USA Today deemed the movie "highly watchable."

The film begins and ends with the image of a lazy river. In between, we get facts and figures about environmental destruction, as well as compelling pictures of glaciers and ice caps melting. Although I've never been one of those people who doubted global warming, this movie was useful in clarifying for me why it's not reasonable to believe we're merely in a natural cycle of warming. Watching the movie, I was even more frustrated that we have to endure nearly three more years of an administration that chooses to ignore the nation's top scientists. The "debate" over global warming, it turns out, is much like the "debate" over evolution: in peer-reviewed scientific journals, neither is in dispute.

Although in places the movie started to feel like a campaign ad, it always returned to the central theme: the destruction we are causing to the environment. The movie's web site provides a list of steps you can take to minimize your personal impact, as well as a calculator that will tell you how much carbon dioxide you are responsible for releasing into the atmosphere each year. (For the record, I'm average.) Seeing the movie even led me to google hybrid minivans, since more than likely a minivan will be our next vehicle--but it turns out they're sold only in Japan. Come on, automakers! Didn't you read Newsweek's cover story about how American consumers want ecologically sound products?