See the Truth

2006_05_arts_gore.jpgWe know that watching a movie that consists of Al Gore giving a slide show presentation doesn't sound that intriguing. However, the former Vice President has got a lot to say, and it's all kind of...scary. After writing his book, Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit, the man decided to lead us all in a save the world campaign.

He put together a slide show and traveled around the country, telling whoever would listen about how CO2 levels in our atmosphere are rising, how our oceans are getting hotter...and how 45 million of us will lose our lives if this doesn't stop. The only number decreasing is the amount of time we have to change our ways, only about 5 to 10 years!

Luckily some of those people who caught his presentation decided to make a documentary of it so that more people could get informed. Among those who made this in to a movie are Laurie David (Larry's wife) and Davis Guggenheim (the director of Deadwood). The movie, An Inconvenient Truth, is opening tonight in New York. So grab a friend and see the truth. (There's also a blog).

Showing @ Landmark's Sunshine Cinema 143 East Houston St and AMC Loews Lincoln Square 1998 Broadway

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Comments (26) [rss]

Dealing with Global Climate Change and Peak Pil are the major challenges of our generation. If you're not familiar with Peak Oil, just google it. We've got a lot of work ahead of us. Kudos to Gore for making the film.

Dealing with Global Climate Change and Peak Oil are the major challenges of our generation. If you're not familiar with Peak Oil, just google it. We've got a lot of work ahead of us. Kudos to Gore for making the film.

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My prediction: 40 comments on this post by 3 PM.

There's more evidence to predict something like that than there is for global warming.

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To #3: Claiming that there's no evidence for global warming is simply saying that you've never read any scientific reporting on the issue and take your viewpoint directly from corporate America. If I'm wrong, tell me where you get your information. And no, blogs and conservative talk-radio hosts don't count.

WE have a lot of work to do? Unless you are an engineer you should shut up. Blogging about global problems does nothing.

Al Gore probably burns more fossil fuels flying to Apple computer board meetings each year than I consume in a decade. And the ipod is the poster child for the "throw away" society.

You don't have to be an engineer - although I'd love to see more engineers working on rebuilding the national rail system, installing solar panels, building wind farms, etc.

Everyone can make a difference by making good choices - shopping at local food greenmarkets, switching to CFLs instead of incandescent lighting, taking mass transit, biking or at least carpooling. In many cases helping the environment also helps your bottomline. Especially with gas over $3/gallon.

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Not saying there is no evidence for global warming, but there certainly is more evidence that pointless comments on Gothamist tend to be ignorant and abundant. Jack, your comments are proof positive of my theory.

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If this is such an important issue is there a reason they're not distributing it for free on bittorent or something? I doubt there were many production costs to recover. It's just a documentary of a powerpoint presentation.

Global Warming may be happening, but it's not our fault. Not to say we can't do anything about it, but it's hardly happening strictly because of human intervention (hint: it's the sun):
http://tinyurl.com/3vqhj


When I see a liberal like Gore or Laurie David stop traveling by private jet and sink some of their own money into a start-up company and actually risk something I suppose will be the day pigs fly. Government need not be the first, last, and only hope. And someone tell Clooney that luxury condos in Las Vegas is hardly helping the cause.

And all the conservation in the in the US gets almost immediately offset by population increase. At least Europe is on the verge of shrinking!

i always get my peak oil and gold standard newsletters mixed up. the demographics don't completely overlap.

Government need not be the first, last, and only hope.

I see. So the private sector is going to come up with a way to stop the private sector from destroying the environment?

I'm intrigued. Do explain how we can get the necessary effects of environmental regulations without involving the government. You could get a Nobel for this.

Mike B.,

Did the government invent the Toyota Prius, the solar panel, or the windmill? End of discussion. I win. You lose.

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Jack, Kojack, S.D.:

What are your thoughts on this?

Not like you guys to be so quiet!

Whenever you mention the word 'liberal' in the negative hillbilly sense it belittles your argument. Stop watching Fox News.

As for Peak Oil... The market and the emergence of new technologies will handle that. Its just that the Oil and motor companies control most of its development and funding and won’t splurge $ on it until their cash cow runs dry.


In my professional opinion, I don't think we're downloading enough pornography. Agreed this has nothing to do with the topic under discussion, but I thought it would be a good idea to bring it up at this moment.

a note to the overly credible:

the problem with peak oil is that the same people who are predicting it for "any time now" have been predicting it for "any time now" for the last twenty years. although -obviously- there will come a time when oil production peaks, its not going to be tomorrow. and its not going to be next year. which is unfortunate, really, bc oil inpires so many stupid policy ideas from all over the political spectrum.

w/r/t this movie: come on guys, models aren't real and predictions are never accurate, or at least are always exagerrated when those that are making the predictions (and the models) have the most to gain in terms of money, recognition, and power, from pessimistic predictions.

don't any of y'all remember all of those predictions in grade school about how we'd all be out of oil, air, and water now? not to mention mass world-wide famine from human overpopulation?


#1 -

This whole peak oil thing. I just don't get it. Higher gas prices help would in turn lower the usage of gas (remember the ole supply/demand curve?), which in turn would have these side effects:

* less usage of automobiles
* (long run) more compact and urban development
* (long run) more local usage of products, as transportation costs rise
* less global dependence on oil producing nations leading perhaps to less global strife.

And yet, the poeple that bitch the most about peak oil and high gas prices are democrats who arguably stand to benefit the most from it. You generally support higher gas taxes!! how is that any different than a market increase in the price of gas??

perry,

its because market fluctuations aren't controlled by an expert for the consumers own good. the technocratically inclined (read as The New Philosopher Kings) find dynamic systems and spontaneous order abhorrent. the problem so much with the ultimate outcome, but rather how people came to it.

that's not to say the democrats have a monopoly on technocracy or authoritarian behavior, but the idea that all the things we find aesthetically difficult can (and needs to) be solved by government policy seems to be more prevalent on that side of the fence.

"Did the government invent the Toyota Prius, the solar panel, or the windmill? End of discussion. I win. You lose."

- And how has that slowed global warming? I'm sure those few Prius's driving around are going to magically reverse the trend of the US using 40% of the worlds oil.

Global warming, and other "tragedy of the commons" problems are EXACTLY when the government should step in.

This ISNT meant to be jerky I'm just curious...how does shopping at local greenmarkets help global warming.

"how does shopping at local greenmarkets help global warming?"

Less fossil fuels are needed to transport the food from the farm to your mouth.

Al Gore is also speaking at Town Hall tomorrow night as part of a Wired roundtable. Tickets on Ticketmaster.

"This whole peak oil thing. I just don't get it. Higher gas prices help would in turn lower the usage of gas (remember the ole supply/demand curve?)"

Perry - The problem is that the demand destruction that will occur will be a huge decrease in the standard of living. I hope you are right that we will make an orderly transition to a lower energy consuming way of life, but I have large doubts that will happen in many places.

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"And the ipod is the poster child for the "throw away" society."

#5, that's one of the dumbest claims i've heard in quite some time. with an ipod, there is no media packaging (paper, plastic and metal films) and the polluting industrial processes required to produce that media are erased. the device itself uses less material than a typical cd player and far less packaging. it is small and lightweight and requires fewer shipments. there is drastically reduced transport (less carbon emmissions) since the product is delivered electronically. explain yourself.

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