Recommended Film: An Inconvenient Truth

[queenlives]

folks,

we saw An Inconvenient Truth today and think it's worth viewing.

here's what "theregister.com" had to say about it:
"Film triggers global warming to Al Gore
An Inconvenient Spiel
By Ashlee Vance in Palo Alto
Published Monday 5th June 2006 19:06 GMT

Review As An Inconvenient Truth started, our worst nightmare seemed all too near.

The movie opens with Al Gore's nasal drone serving as the voice over. Images of a river and forest dominate the screen as Gore becomes consumed with cheesy hokum and talk about his long lost days sitting on the riverbank, chewing cud and communing with the mystic.

Our movie companion started gyrating, as she tried to hold in the laughter. Our concerns were more desperate. We'd actually waited in line for an hour to see this thing, and were now doubting that we could take more than 10 minutes of the film. Surely, it could not continue like this. Someone would make Gore stop.

Well, Gore doesn't stop, but the movie does get much, much better.

Broadly, An Inconvenient Truth is the most polished PowerPoint (Keynote, actually) presentation you're going to find. During the majority of the movie, Gore rolls out a dressed up version of the global warming spiel he has been giving across the globe for years.

The basic science of global warming is delivered via a decently funny animation. Countless images of melting ice caps and glaciers pepper the screen. Charts galore show the dramatic rise in carbon dioxide over the past forty years and the accompanying dramatic rise in temperature. More charts show how no real scientist disputes the global warming trend, while more than 50 per cent of journalists do raise objections to the "theory."

The photos prove the greatest selling point for Gore's agenda, while the statistics and projections will likely scare the hell out of you.

It's rare to see dry information presented in such an entertaining way.

The movie is by no means a "movie" in the traditional sense, and it suffers because of it. A true documentary may have been more gripping. That said, this really is about the best stump speech for global warming that one can imagine, and it's well worth the ticket price. Even nay-sayers should drive their Hummers to the theaters if for no other reason that gaining material for taunting hippies.

Of course, the hippies will dominate attendance for An Inconvenient Truth and only become more convinced about how awful things are. Few folks in the pro global warming camp will see this film, largely because Al Gore is involved. The producers really should have talked Britney Spears into taking on the main role with Gore serving more as a coach.

We were shocked to find a massive line outside of the local theatre for An Inconvenient Truth, which happened to be showing on two screens. We were even more shocked to find Al Gore likable. We never would have voted for Gore before this movie but would consider it seriously now. The man is human. Very human. Who knew?

We give An Inconvenient Truth 4 out of 5 duck-rabbits."

when i googled the title, i was taken to the domain, and being a curious sort, i viewed "the science" landing pages (although i confess i didn't view the others).

http://www.climatecrisis.net/thescience

very disconcerting.

 

[NeoNSX]

Thanx for the recommendation: what was your own personal opinion of the film though?

Global warming is a theory; some scientists say our planet is now actually cooling down. Others believe this warming/cooling effect may be part of a natural cycle. Believe what you want -- we all need to be more environmentally considerate... although excessive nsx driving is ok.

 

[queenlives]

Thanx for the recommendation: what was your own personal opinion of the film though?

Global warming is a theory; some scientists say our planet is now actually cooling down. Others believe this warming/cooling effect may be part of a natural cycle. Believe what you want -- we all need to be more environmentally considerate... although excessive nsx driving is ok.

my wife and i thought it was an excellent presentation of a great deal of scientific data & information.

(although we drive a hybrid and bicycle as transportation more than most americans) we don't consider ourselves as "tree huggers" or "environmentalists" and because of our relative lack of exposure to scientific data as well as pre-defined positions on various environmental issues, we felt it was time and money well spent.

in the final 20 mins (or so) the film very specifically addresses the cyclical / cooling thinking and provides what appears to be (perhaps our uninformed eyes) data that pretty clearly illustrates the cycle's aren't cycling as they have in the past - for many reasons.

again, we thought it was very well done and recommend it to others.

hal

 

[Juice]

Scientific data? Better start doing a background check on all that data. Yet another "word war" for our politicians to burn money over. Result = 0.

 

[flaminio]

My notes:

I put the movie into my Netflix queue. I'm not going to go out of my way to find a theater to watch it, but if it shows up at my door I'll pop it into my DVD player.

I'm not sure if the Earth is getting warmer or cooler.

Even if it is getting warmer, I'm not sure if this is a long term trend, or something that will reverse in a decade or so.

Even if it is getting warmer, I'm not sure this is an entirely Bad Thing. I've read some reports that a slightly warmer Earth would turn Siberia into a breadbasket, producing more than enough food to Feed The World(tm).

Whether or not Global Warming is real, it still seems to me to be a Good Idea to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants. Living in Silicon Valley, it's a rare day where the air is transparent.

 

[Tantheman]

I also heard the moon is moving farther and farther away from Earth where eventually it will cause the earth to flip its axis and cause all kinds of havoc on Earth's climate. more stuff to freak out and get paranoid over..

Tan

 

[NSX-Tuner]

Back in 1970, environmental scientists said we where heading toward another ice-age. Also, this year there have been reports that icecaps are melting... while others are growing... ???

I've also heard the sun will eventually burn itself out...

BTW, I've read some reviews which suggest that the proper name for this film should be "A Convenient Lie"

EDIT: ran across this interview:

I believe it is appropriate to have an over-representation of factual presentations on how dangerous it is, as a predicate for opening up the audience to listen to what the solutions are, and how hopeful it is that we are going to solve this crisis.

(source: http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2006/05/09/roberts/)

A Convenient Lie
The word is out... Al Gore says it's OK if he "over-represents" the facts (ie, lies about them) in his movie An Inconvenient Truth, because his heart's in the right place:

From the "alpha male" himself: lying's OK, folks. Especially when countless footsoldiers in the eco-nazi camp are breathlessly waiting to listen to your lies and presumably repeat them ad nauseam. Hey, the end justifies the means, right?

 

[queenlives]

Scientific data? Better start doing a background check on all that data.<snip>

hey, i'm glad you've seen the movie and know what i'm talking about. that being the case, it'd be great if you could provide the refuting evidence to the data he provided.

otoh, if you haven't seen the film / reviewed the data (hey, i'm willing to call it "alleged data" if you like), then you're just kinda flappin' your lips cause the info he presented doesn't agree with your particular viewpoint.

come to think of it, the presentation he uses is probably available for download and updating with your counter-data.

as i said, i had no particular position on this issue (except i like using less energy / polluting less when possible), so please - enlighten me... heck, all of us.

 

[queenlives]

<snip>
Whether or not Global Warming is real, it still seems to me to be a Good Idea to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants. Living in Silicon Valley, it's a rare day where the air is transparent.

agreed... although the air was pretty crisp and unusually cool today - a nice day for a bike ride down the los gatos creek trail in the early morning.

 

[TyraNSX]

From the "alpha male" himself: lying's OK, folks. Especially when countless footsoldiers in the eco-nazi camp are breathlessly waiting to listen to your lies and presumably repeat them ad nauseam. Hey, the end justifies the means, right?[/QUOTE]

Good thing he didn't lie to start an unprovoked, unnecessary, undeclared war, conduct illegal wiretaps or let 2 terrorists escape capture for almost 5 and 3.5 yrs (Osama & the anthrax mailer, respectively), or your panties would really be in a bunch.

 

[queenlives]

Back in 1970, environmental scientists said we where heading toward another ice-age. Also, this year there have been reports that icecaps are melting... while others are growing... ???

I've also heard the sun will eventually burn itself out...

BTW, I've read some reviews which suggest that the proper name for this film should be "A Convenient Lie"

EDIT: ran across this interview:

I believe it is appropriate to have an over-representation of factual presentations on how dangerous it is, as a predicate for opening up the audience to listen to what the solutions are, and how hopeful it is that we are going to solve this crisis.

(source: http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2006/05/09/roberts/)

A Convenient Lie
The word is out... Al Gore says it's OK if he "over-represents" the facts (ie, lies about them) in his movie An Inconvenient Truth, because his heart's in the right place:

From the "alpha male" himself: lying's OK, folks. Especially when countless footsoldiers in the eco-nazi camp are breathlessly waiting to listen to your lies and presumably repeat them ad nauseam. Hey, the end justifies the means, right?

to put your excerpt in context...
"question There's a lot of debate right now over the best way to communicate about global warming and get people motivated. Do you scare people or give them hope? What's the right mix?

answer I think the answer to that depends on where your audience's head is. In the United States of America, unfortunately we still live in a bubble of unreality. And the Category 5 denial is an enormous obstacle to any discussion of solutions. Nobody is interested in solutions if they don't think there's a problem. Given that starting point, I believe it is appropriate to have an over-representation of factual presentations on how dangerous it is, as a predicate for opening up the audience to listen to what the solutions are, and how hopeful it is that we are going to solve this crisis.

Over time that mix will change. As the country comes to more accept the reality of the crisis, there's going to be much more receptivity to a full-blown discussion of the solutions."
i don't read misreprensentation (lie), but am capable of visiting dictionary.com, where this definition is provided for over-representation:
"o·ver·rep·re·sent·ed Audio pronunciation of "over-representation" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (vr-rpr-zntd)
adj.

Represented in excessive or disproportionately large numbers: “Some groups, and most notably some races, may be overrepresented and others may be underrepresented” (Scientific American). "

so my take is he provided a lot of one-side info during his presentation... i'm sure none of us have ever done that while presenting our side of a discussion.

as i said in an earlier post on this thread, i'd love to see the counter data / positions to gain a more "balanced" perspective on the issue.

please post some countering facts to his specific datapoints.

 

[Sig]

I also heard the moon is moving farther and farther away from Earth...... and cause all kinds of havoc on Earth's climate.

Tan

This is in fact a scientific fact

For the most part, the public is ignorant to the enormity of the moon's influence on our climate.

 

[NeoNSX]

I also heard the moon is moving farther and farther away from Earth where eventually it will cause the earth to flip its axis and cause all kinds of havoc on Earth's climate.

So long as it doesn't further delay the HSC, i'm not worried. :biggrin:

 

[Carguy!]

Interesting read:

http://www.canadafreepress.com/2006/harris061206.htm

I would much rather read information from actual scientists than politicians anytime!

 

[NSX-Stalker]

I did a report on global warming back in the 8th grade. Probably in 75 or so. Found what was basically a paper, not really even a book in a library. I've read things about it ever since, but not a scholar on the subject.

My opinion is that most of the hype we see (like this movie) is just more politically correct BS. We're just seeing a overblown PC wave that is making it a popular subject.

Take my friend. When gas went to $3 he was all babble about global warming and how we have to do something. When gas was under $2 he had no problem going out and buying a Harley. Well when gas got expensive it ate into his tight budget. He drives an old Ford Exploder 20 miles each way to work. So he wants to buy a Prius. We talk about it. He's willing to pay the $2k over MSRP because it gets 60 mpg on the highway! Well it gets less on the highway than in town. So he got his numbers backwards. It doesn't get 60 in town either, closer to 40. Anyway, I go on to ask him why he wants to get this car. Is it to save money on gas or be more "green". He says he wants to pollute less so I tell him to get rid of the Harley. You don't buy a Harley to cruise around just for the fun of it when you want to be Mr. Green.

Personally I think we're just in a normal warming trend that is occuring after a cold spell that ended at the end of the 1800s.

Sorry Al Gore, the sky isn't falling, it's just more trendy PC BS.

NSX-Stalker

 

[ericwgnsx]

Good thing he didn't lie to start an unprovoked, unnecessary, undeclared war, conduct illegal wiretaps or let 2 terrorists escape capture for almost 5 and 3.5 yrs (Osama & the anthrax mailer, respectively), or your panties would really be in a bunch. [/QUOTE]

Funny how, no matter what the topic, the libs always attempt to shift the discussion back to their hatred of the Pres.

PS: All of your "points" about the man you hate so much are just more leftist propaganda.

 

[queenlives]

Interesting read:

http://www.canadafreepress.com/2006/harris061206.htm

I would much rather read information from actual scientists than politicians anytime!

likewise. i just read a brief snippet about this story on slashdot, will try to read in its entirety tomorrow.
hal

 

[TyraNSX]

Good thing he didn't lie to start an unprovoked, unnecessary, undeclared war, conduct illegal wiretaps or let 2 terrorists escape capture for almost 5 and 3.5 yrs (Osama & the anthrax mailer, respectively), or your panties would really be in a bunch.

Funny how, no matter what the topic, the libs always attempt to shift the discussion back to their hatred of the Pres.

PS: All of your "points" about the man you hate so much are just more leftist propaganda.[/QUOTE]

Could you please point out where we have: 1) Officially declared war against any other country since 1941?
2) Captured/killed Osama?
3) Arrested/captured/killed the anthrax mailer? 4) Given the office of President a Constitutional authority to ignore those laws that he finds "inconvenient"? Of course, these questions & their answers are just more propaganda.

Reality sure has a liberal bias

 

[Zennsx]

Liberalism is the greatest threat this country has...

 

[Juice]

Man, I've been away for a while. Nice to know I was attacked while I was gone. My point was to simply check the "data" that Gore "presents". I in no was was being slanderous or deserving of retribution. But I digress, the mere fact is that what you saw was a movie. Nothing more, nothing less. It was designed as propaganda to create concern over a matter that humans play a very minute part in.

I believe that we as humans can do our part to care for the enviroment, but the global warming mythology has just grown to become an irritant. This movie changes nothing, and all the human effort in the world would change nothing. If you really care about the enviroment, take up a study on WASTE. Medical waste, biohazardous wast, recyclable waste, etc.. Here, we as humans are the sole cause. Or look into energy preservation. We are responsible for that too. But global warming? An inconvenient truth indeed. It has already wasted too much of my time.

 

[95EagleAWD]

Global Warming is quite the sham right now.

It's not really happening; ice caps aren't melting, seas aren't rising and glaciers aren't melting.

Do you know how many glaciers there are in the world? And how few we actually moniter? Almost 85% of Glaciers in Iceland are growing.

There's over 400 glaciers....

In California

Until I see proof of Global Warming, I'll treat it as just another theory tossed out there... which is exactly what it is.

 

[VBNSX]

Just for arguments sake... here's another perspective:

http://www.canadafreepress.com/2006/harris061206.htm

haha.. same link as above. doh!
x

 

[queenlives]

Just for arguments sake... here's another perspective:

http://www.canadafreepress.com/2006/harris061206.htm

x

wow, as fate would have it, the author of this piece is the head of a canadian law firm that has an extensive energy practice. go figure. this from their website:
"Oil & Gas

Members of our Oil & Gas Group have extensive experience in all aspects of the energy industry representing clients involved in exploration, development, production and processing, storage, transportation, pipeline construction and downstream marketing. We have advised on the purchase and sale of producing properties; have acted for lenders in financings and restructurings; and have represented energy companies in corporate reorganizations. Our particular focus is on oil and gas facilities and transportation, and related environmental issues, for clients who include a large number of national and international oil and gas producers, transmission companies, and marketers, as well as lenders to the industry.

We have a great deal of experience in the regulation of all aspects of the oil and gas industry. The matters in which we have been involved include applications for approval of all types of oil and gas facilities (pipelines, processing plants, heavy oil projects, oil sands development projects, coal developments, wells), tolls and tariffs (including utility cost of capital), and related authorizations (enhanced recovery, rateable take, gas removal permits and export licences, and surface rights matters).

The Oil & Gas Group works closely with both our Corporate and Competition Groups in representing participants in all aspects of M&A transactions involving energy companies. In addition, our oil and gas practice has a significant international dimension, advising on foreign investment in the Canadian energy sector, cross-border trade in energy resources and participation in international energy projects.

For more information about our Oil & Gas Regulatory expertise, please click here."

before you flame me, i'm wondering if anybody here can point an interested reader to a relatively unbiased provider of scientific data on this subject? if so, groovy; if not, i'll rummage about the internet on my own.

hal

 

[ericwgnsx]

Funny how, no matter what the topic, the libs always attempt to shift the discussion back to their hatred of the Pres.

PS: All of your "points" about the man you hate so much are just more leftist propaganda.

Could you please point out where we have: 1) Officially declared war against any other country since 1941?
2) Captured/killed Osama?
3) Arrested/captured/killed the anthrax mailer? 4) Given the office of President a Constitutional authority to ignore those laws that he finds "inconvenient"? Of course, these questions & their answers are just more propaganda.

Reality sure has a liberal bias[/QUOTE]

Watch out libs, here comes another lashing!

1)If you are referring to the Iraq War, you most certainly forgot that the House and Senate both overwhelmingly passed resolutions authorizing the President to use force.(including Kerry and Hillary Rotten Clinton) Kerry actually said Saddam was a nuclear threat! Also, the American Public supported the war by something like 80%. And also, after 9/11/01, the president vowed preemptive action on any nation that was perceived to be a threat. Furthermore, Saddam violated terms of the 1991 cease-fire agreement of the first Gulf War.

2) I guarantee as soon as we do kill/capture Osama, all the libs will say how he is only one guy, not that important, blah, blah, blah....just like they did with the leader of Al Quaida in Iraq (Zarqawi), and Saddam Hussein too.

3)Please let me know what paranoid conspiracy theory is behind you presumably thinking that the President is, in some way, hindering or blocking the investigation into the anthrax bomber.

4)Both Clinton and Carter claimed the authority that you speak of.

 

[TyraNSX]

Could you please point out where we have: 1) Officially declared war against any other country since 1941?
2) Captured/killed Osama?
3) Arrested/captured/killed the anthrax mailer? 4) Given the office of President a Constitutional authority to ignore those laws that he finds "inconvenient"? Of course, these questions & their answers are just more propaganda.

Reality sure has a liberal bias

Watch out libs, here comes another lashing!

1)If you are referring to the Iraq War, you most certainly forgot that the House and Senate both overwhelmingly passed resolutions authorizing the President to use force.(including Kerry and Hillary Rotten Clinton) Kerry actually said Saddam was a nuclear threat! Also, the American Public supported the war by something like 80%. And also, after 9/11/01, the president vowed preemptive action on any nation that was perceived to be a threat. Furthermore, Saddam violated terms of the 1991 cease-fire agreement of the first Gulf War. Yes, we have used lots of military force in the past 61 yrs. Ask the families of 58K dead in Viet Nam about it. However, NOT ONCE has a war been formally declared. If Bush wants to claim wartime powers, let him march his redneck ass over to the capitol & ask for a Declaration of War. Oh wait, that might involve using the Constitution for something besides toilet paper & Congress actually doing their jobs.

2) I guarantee as soon as we do kill/capture Osama, all the libs will say how he is only one guy, not that important, blah, blah, blah....just like they did with the leader of Al Quaida in Iraq (Zarqawi), and Saddam Hussein too. Close to 5 years now & NO progress. Bush's # of accomplishments must be in the zillions now, right?

3)Please let me know what paranoid conspiracy theory is behind you presumably thinking that the President is, in some way, hindering or blocking the investigation into the anthrax bomber. Not hindering, doing nothing. Same as nailing Osama.

4)Both Clinton and Carter claimed the authority that you speak of.[/QUOTE] And got how far with it? Typical right wing crap. Why bother with today's transgressions when we can just rewrite the rules & blame a predecessor.