AlternateRoute

There is a lot of doom and gloom in environmental news right now. By all accounts the Earth is going to hell in a handcart and it is a highly charged topic that has great scientific, economic, political and of course environmental implications.
“An Inconvenient Truth” follows Al Gore as he gives his global warming slide show to hundreds of people around the world. The arguments presented in the documentary are compelling although there are a few cringe moments. Al gets a little self indulgent at times, particularly when talking about the events that led to his epiphany. The claim that there are no scientific papers in the last few years that oppose the theory of climate change needs to be double checked, particularly if the likes of Bjorn Lomberg and the people behind “The Great Global Warming Swindle” are to be believed. (Though I have neither read nor seen these two counter arguments).
Although informative and well presented, there was little in the show that was new to me and  so the forehead slapping shock value that accompanied the release of this film did not occur with me.
In the last year or so both the Australian and US governments have started to take climate change a bit more seriously and I am sure that Al Gore will take credit for som of this.
It seems that the independent documentary is playing an ever increasing role in a society where our news programs and newspapers are heavily compromised by the politics of the owners and the concerns of advertisers. Whether you believe the message of this film its influence is likely to be up there with SuperSize Me and some of Michael Moore’s work.
I’d give it 3.5 out of 5.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 3rd, 2007 at 1504 and is filed under Environment, Films. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.