Blog Entry 4 - Inconvenient Truth

I had seen this film before, but it had been a while since I had last watched it. I like to think that, since becoming a bio major, I was able to take more out of the film this time. I had taken General Ecology with Professor Cross a few semesters ago, and felt that a lot of what I had learned in that class helped me understand the movie better. When so much carbon (previously sequestered in the Earth's crust, or in the trees in the forests, among other places) is released, it can be a disaster, as the planet cannot adjust quick enough to the changes. The carbon dioxide being released greatly exceeds the amount that can naturally be reabsorbed, so excess gas can build up in the atmosphere. People like to criticize Al Gore for talking about Global Warming and excessive CO2 emissions, while at the same time driving an SUV and flying around in private jets. Some people even like to write off the entire film as nonsense because of him doing these things. It raises the question of, "Well, if he's not going to change his lifestyle, why should I?" While his choice of automobile probably wasn't a particularly good one considering how much he'd like the general population to change its driving habits, I personally saw nothing wrong with him using the jet as a form of travel. While there are more eco-friendly ways to move about on the road, the same is not yet true when it comes to aircraft. Fossil fuels are the only means by which they can be powered. The only way for him to realistically be able to travel to as many places as he does to deliver those many speeches is by using an aircraft. And because of how famous he is, taking a standard airline would be not be a realistic option. In my opinion, regardless as to what people think of Al Gore as a person ("hypocrite", "liberal", etc), the least they could do is at least listen to what he has to say. If they don't believe what he says, they could easily look up & see the data he presented and make their own conclusions. However, in doing so, they may well find that there really is something to what he's saying after all.