An Inconvenient Truth

[abcdefz]

...figured I'd start a thread in Beastie Free for the movie, since:

1) It's a discussion of the film, first, and

2) I think it's a social issue more than a political issue.


Anyway. I got to see the film yesterday, and it's really good. It is a little dull or long, maybe -- one person lecturing for two hours is hard to do, despite whatever nifty graphics you have, etc. -- but it's worth watching. It kind of cements the fact that global warming is more of an urgent issue than we might think.

What's pretty startling are the many side-by-side photos -- a glacier forty years ago, that glacier (mostly melted) now; the largest inland sea in Asia then, the dry bed now (littered with abandoned boats, which seemed kind of odd; it's not like the sea dried up overnight, right?). But, anyway.

I do think that a bunch of the cutaways to "how Al Gore became concientious about this" are self-serving, and that part hurts. Really, I mean -- his sister dying from lung cancer is the stuff of pathos, to be sure, but it's definitely shoehorned onto the table when the discussion is ENVIRONMENTAL CATASTROPHE, no?

Still: definitely worth a look.

B+.

[adam_f]

I'd rather see X-Men again.

[enree erzweglle]

I'd rather see X-Men again.
I definitely want to see it. It'll be awhile before my city's movie pool is deemed dry enough and viewers desperate enough for a movie that's not The Omen or The Benchwarmers or some animated something to make it even close to here. It'll probably just show at one maybe two of the art houses.

God, The Da Vinci Code is showing on 3 of the 4 screens in my neighborhood theater and meanwhile United 93 is already at the dollar place. :rolleyes:

[adam_f]

I don't want to see it because Al Gore's an asshole. Not because he's a Democrat and I'm not, but simply because if he were my neighbor, he'd probably be a dick and not give me my basketball back should I make a horrible shot, which could happen frequently because my inside game is a lot better than my outside anymore.

[beastieangel01]

although Al Gore may not be your favorite person, the facts may be worth watching/finding out about.

[adam_f]

If I ignore the problem, it'll go away like the black Spice Girl.

[Bob]

al gore's supposedly a cool guy, actually. he did some voicework for futurama and he really got into it. his daughter is a writer for the show.

but that's not what this thread's about, i just had to defend al gore's honor

[adam_f]

If he's so great, why did he let Futurama get cancelled?

[abcdefz]

That's interesting -- he uses a clip from Futurama in the movie, and I was kind of wondering where that came from.

[Bob]

because he lost in 2000, so he didn't have the clout to keep it around

[adam_f]

According to most black people, he did not lose in 2000. Apparently you're glad that their votes didn't count, aren't you Bob?

[Waus]

We'll see about this. I hate watching movies that expect you to come away with a certain opinion of things that are debatable. I get the feeling global warming is not something we have much of a real grasp of.

Al Gore is just kind of dull. I don't doubt that he might get into doing Futurama voices or whatever...some people are just boring despite their interests.

Besides - I heard that this movie over-emphasized certain things that bordered on lying, but Gore defended it saying 'the ends justified the means' sort of a thing.

[abcdefz]

You should give it a shot before pre-judging it.

I figured it would be more propaganda than science and wound up thinking it looked pretty irrefutable.

Part of the movie even addresses the common perception that global warming is "debatable," even though surveys among scientists say that it's established fact.

[DandyFop]

Yes, it's basically just a lecture, but it's very very good. Another wake-up call film that nobody will do shit about.

[steve-onpoint]

although Al Gore may not be your favorite person, the facts may be worth watching/finding out about.

I concur, beastieangel01.

I share some alternative ideas about our entire political system, but I feel this information's relevant.

It's important for this to get to you now.

http://www.climatecrisis.net/

[adam_f]

IF WE ACKNOWLEDGE GLOBAL WARMING, THE TERRORISTS HAVE WON.

[enree erzweglle]

I come from academia where I see a lot of powerpoint presentations and hear a lot of lectures. Too many and 99% of them: awfully dry.

This movie was not that--it was excellent. Nearly non-stop facts & figures & stark illustrations to support the argument, and those were presented in a fairly stylistic and entertaining way.

I found myself wondering hard where the world would be today had things gone differently for the 2000 elections.

Every person who has access should see this movie and stay through the credits to read the verb statements.

[enree erzweglle]

I do think that a bunch of the cutaways to "how Al Gore became concientious about this" are self-serving, and that part hurts. Really, I mean -- his sister dying from lung cancer is the stuff of pathos, to be sure, but it's definitely shoehorned onto the table when the discussion is ENVIRONMENTAL CATASTROPHE, no?He told that story to illustrate cause-effect-action. He spoke to how it sometimes takes awhile to, as he put it, connect the dots (realize the cause-effect relationship) in a situation and then to extend that to do the "right thing" (take action).

The cause-effect-action parallel: in his family's lives, tobacco caused a death and it forced reflection; their own connecting the dots ultimately caused his family to take action (get out of the tobacco industry). How that relates to global warming is only to illustrate another cause-effect-action path: people must see the causes of the problem, realize the personal and global effects of it (connect the dots), and then do the right, moral thing.

[GreenEarthAl]

My girlfriend Heather and I saw it on Thursday. There were lots of new perspectives and all, but for the most part we were looking at one another like "Um, this is news?"

I think that Joe Lieberman was Gore's running mate so that no matter who won an arch conservative could run the White House from the Veep seat. Just like 1980 all over again. (And 1984, youknowhatahmsayin)

[DroppinScience]

How was Walter Mondale a right-wing Vice-President? :confused:

[enree erzweglle]

My girlfriend Heather and I saw it on Thursday. There were lots of new perspectives and all, but for the most part we were looking at one another like "Um, this is news?"For a lot of people, sure it will be news and for some people, it will continue to be science fiction or the work of some sort of liberal-agenda conspiracy.

Here, it's showing in a fairly left-of-center city neighborhood, so probably anyone who sees it or even sees its title on the marquee likely already knows about the issues (although maybe they didn't have well-articulated facts to support it and this movie provides just that).

I doubt that the majority of people in the U.S. will ever hear of this movie let alone see it. It should have been produced sooner and blasted across theater screens, the internet, college campuses, cinema-in-the park venues, and PBS a month or two before the 2000 elections.

[GreenEarthAl]

How was Walter Mondale a right-wing Vice-President? :confused:

I sort of mixed points there. I meant to say in 200 they had both bases covered. They had an arch conservative to be the shadow president no matter who won. A tactic they found to be useful in 1980 when a shadow president was elected Veep. I wasn't trying to make any point about Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale's administration.

Recently I saw a Jimmy Carter campaign speech from 1980. It was saying a lot of "if Ronald Reagan is elected [this will happen and that will happen and then more of this will happen and also some of that will happen]" It was AMAZINGLY accurate in terms of what has happened in the last 26 years. It was as though he had the script in front of him for the next 28 years. He certainly had the next 8 years pegged.

[GreenEarthAl]

I worry that it's subtlely priming people to get them accept big Carbon Recapture Public Works projects. They only mentioned that in passing for one breif moment, but something about the way he said something like "And Carbon Recapture can be another 5% of the solution, you're going to be hearing a lot more about that in the future" sort of sent shivers down my spine. Like, we've gotten to this point because we're cool with just doing any damned thing without much regard to what could go wrong so long as there's profit to be made, and now we're fixin to roll out a profit based man made band-aid solution sort of like "We can still keep cutting down all the trees now, we've figured out how to sequesture carbon ourself. Look at us, we're even better trees than real trees. You've really got no other choice. Huge tax dollards are going to need to be collected to recapture the carbon emmissions since we can't stop driving, use less paper or stop chopping down trees to put more cow pasture under cultivation for McDonald's"

I wanted the movie to start talking about what we're going to do about population proliferation. It brought the issue up, showed its causality and then just started going on again about how Al Gore's the lonely eco soldier of planet Earth and what not.



For a lot of people, sure it will be news and for some people, it will continue to be science fiction or the work of some sort of liberal-agenda conspiracy.

Here, it's showing in a fairly left-of-center city neighborhood, so probably anyone who sees it or even sees its title on the marquee likely already knows about the issues (although maybe they didn't have well-articulated facts to support it and this movie provides just that).

I doubt that the majority of people in the U.S. will ever hear of this movie let alone see it. It should have been produced sooner and blasted across theater screens, the internet, college campuses, cinema-in-the park venues, and PBS a month or two before the 2000 elections.