The
documentary titled “An Inconvenient truth” starring Al Gore, former Vice
president of the US, sheds light on the topic of climate change. This
documentary’s focus is to educate the public and re-energize the environmental
movement around the world. This documentary was so successful that it is the 9th highest
grossing documentary in US history. The reason behind the title is that
important topics like these are typically hidden from the public’s eyes through
politics. Lots of evidence is provided further explaining the changes of earth
and possible disasters that we foresee.
The reason
behind climate change on earth is because of all the greenhouse emissions
produced; the greenhouse gas which has the main focus is Carbon Dioxide(CO2).
Many people, especially politicians who are scientifically illiterate may argue
that climate change is not occurring but there is a lot of evidence supporting
climate change occurring. Today, CO2 levels in our atmosphere
are higher than it’s ever been observed on earth. CO2, a greenhouse
gas, helps warm up the earth by preventing radiation from reflecting back into
space off the earth’s surface, it helps keep the radiation in our atmosphere.
Lots of the ice and glaciers in the world are melting and lakes are shrinking
and drying up. Pictures of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, Africa are shown
comparing what used to be the mountain and what it is today, lots of the ice
has disappeared. Also, sea levels are exponentially increasing, over the last
40 years 1.5 million square kilometers of ice have melted. Lastly, a key piece
of evidence is that the 10 hottest years on record have occurred within the
more recent years, and as of the year the documentary was released it was 10 of
the last 14 years.
The amount of
problems are numerous and extremely serious as some the problems can cause
destruction of the earth. Ocean temperatures which are rapidly increasing with
all the melting ice is the cause behind hurricanes and tornadoes, the reason so
many destructive natural disasters are occurring in the more recent years is
because of the ocean’s warming. Temperatures over 100 degrees Fahrenheit are
becoming the normal for many locations, for example in India 122 degrees Fahrenheit was
reached the year before the documentary was released. Many species are also at
high risk as they are losing their habitat, where once averaged 40 degrees
Fahrenheit, now averages much less causing animals to go extinct.
Politicians
and people in power often try to put climate change out of our view because they
believe correcting this will ruin the economy, what they don’t realize is that
by not correcting climate change, there may not be a world for them to have an
economy. George Bush, former president of the US denied to follow the Kyoto
protocol of 1997 which stated that countries which signed it such as the US
would lower their greenhouse gas emissions. However, Bush’s logic was that the
economy would suffer, these people are our leaders and they need to become
literate of the topic of climate change.
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| Blue represents temperature, red represents CO2 concentration |
Sources
An
Inconvenient Truth (documentary)
An
Inconvenient Truth: A Review and Synopsis
World headed
for irreversible climate change in five years, IEA warns
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/nov/09/fossil-fuel-infrastructure-climate-change
