Inconvenient Truth

I have wanted to see An Inconvenient Truth for a long time, and this reaction paper gave me a reason to watch it. I was curious as to how Al Gore sparked the interest of Americans and people all over the world for this production to be in the list of top ten documentaries of all time. I actually watched the show three times; I fell asleep in the first two, and finally watched the entire show in my third sitting. I know the reason I fell asleep was the flashback of Al Gore's childhood memories, which was presented to be nostalgic, yes maybe for Al Gore and his family, but in a boring manner for me. Maybe Al Gore used the flashbacks as a way the viewers could relate to him, but for me, it only showed how different his childhood was from an ordinary person. I mean, only a fraction of Americans own their own farm, and his presentation of his childhood showed how he was born in a very wealthy family. I was annoyed because I felt that he wanted to rub in our faces how good his childhood was, and

that global warming could deprive his grandchildren the comfort he had. Ha, sorry but this is only the cynical side of me speaking. In truth, as an open minded individual, I know that he only wanted to portray the consequences of global warming if we don't do anything. The next generations will be hit harder, and the problems that they'll be facing will be worse if we do not initiate change.

In the first part of the documentary, he gave a quick illustration of the effects of greenhouse gases in a cartoon. I was really confused, because I thought the reason for global warming was that the ozone layer had holes, and that these holes allowed the sun's rays to penetrate the earth without the filter that the ozone layer is. In his presentation, global warming was caused by the greenhouse gases that trap the sun's heat in the earth's atmosphere, which is why it is called the greenhouse effect. This confusion in me just proves to show that there is a lot that I think I know very well...

An Inconvenient Truth is a documentary, which explores the world's current climate crisis, lead by former United States Vice President Al Gore. The film is a collection of presentations given by Gore around the world. Gore's "slide show" has brought a huge awareness to global warming and calls for more government action in regard to the climate. The film contains a copious amount of fascinating information. Personally, the aspects which stand out most to me are: the examination of annual temperature and CO2 levels for the past 650,000, the melting ice caps of Antarctica and Greenland, and Philip Cooney.

The most visually striking and memorable element of the film was Gore's impressive graph of the Earth's temperature and CO2 levels for the past 650,000. The chart not only illustrated the past but an alarming future. Using ice core samples scientists conclude CO2 levels have never gone above 300 parts per million. As of 2005, there were approximately 380 parts per million. (Brook 2005)

The documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, by Al Gore is an eye opener and also a wake up call for me. I have heard about global warming before, but I knew a little about it or I only knew the meaning of the term global warming. The documentary gave me a deeper understanding of what global warming really