Nightmare of Global Warming This paper attempts to make a critical analysis of the movie “An Inconvenient Truth”. It is a documentary film directed by Davis Guggenheim in 2006 regarding the former United States Vice President Al Gore’s campaign to convey the dangerous of climate change as well as the disastrous effects of global warming. Gore employs multimedia presentation in terms of data, charts, pictures, and graphic to illustrate the negative effects of global warming and its possible outcome across the United States and around the world.For such kind of presentation, he has conducted for more than one thousand times.
The theme of the film is that global warming is real and caused by human being, and it eventually will become catastrophe. Gore strives to alert all people in the world about the disastrous result of climate change and awaken people and authorities concerned to take prompt action to stop and reverse it. After making research and deliberate consideration, I agree with Gore’s points of view. The documentary is derived from a public speech Gore has been developing for six years with the employment of a comprehensive slide show.The public image of Gore is a stiff and humorless person. However, his performance starts with a humor greeting to an audience.
``I'm Al Gore," he said. ``I used to be the next president of the United States" -- laughter, applause -- ``I don't find that particularly funny. " Gore then starts his speech from here. During the presentation, he tries to utilize few jokes to make the speech more vivid and less boring as well as to draw the attention of audience to focus on his talk.
With the aid of computerized charts, photos, archival footage, and even cartoons; he introduces the nightmare of climate change regarding its formation, influence and the ultimate ending. He stands in an insulated auditorium before a small crowd, and pointing at the charts and pictures on the large screen behind him from time to time. Through the visual aids, Gore demonstrates that global warming is not a hypothetical issue. It already exists and evidence is shown everywhere in the floods, droughts, and hurricanes. If no appropriate actions are taken, it will be a calamity.
The world won't 'end' overnight in 10 years," Gore said. "But a point will have been passed, and there will be an irreversible slide into destruction. " The main cause of global warming is due to the burning of fossil fuels by human beings. People consumed energy from gas, oil, and coal. They are discharging it to a great amount rapidly that have been saved over million years.
It creates pass-along effect and global warming. It is because the sunlight reflected by glaciers and snow is absorbed by the sea water. In this regard, the melting of ice will lead the sea to store more sun’s energy.Gore guides the audience to tour the mystery of the earth and interprets global warming is equivalent to trees, oceans, weather patterns, and populations to a certain extent.
He anticipates that the planet will achieve a climax and commence to slide towards the ruining of our civilization and majority of other species on the planet in around 10 years’ time. Gore stresses that everybody and country should have moral obligation to protect the earth from being attacked by global warming and perform in some ways to eliminate the greenhouse effect.To educate the audience with the greenhouse effect, Gore employs a clip from Futurama episode “Crimes of the Hot”. Really, greenhouse effect plays a critical role of forming global warming that the earth experiences the rise in temperature for certain gases in the atmosphere trap energy from the sun. Following the rise of temperature, it will lead to wildfires, droughts, hurricanes, and melting of ice, that elevates sea levels and wipe out coastal areas.
Gore points out that Hurricane Katrina is a warming signal that the disaster will be coming. Gore provides plenty of data to support his central theme.He displays a number of majestic photographs of the Earth taken from several space missions. By means of the photos, viewers have a clear picture of the Earth and help activate modern environmentalism. He uses the Keeling curve to measure CO2 from the Mauna Loa Observatory.
The retreat of numerous glaciers is displayed in a series of photographs. Gore makes use of the research results from Physics Institute at the University of Bern and the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica indicating that carbon dioxide concentrations higher than before during the past 650,000 years.He presents the well-known photograph of “Earthrise” taken by the first American astronauts from the space. With it, the audience is aware of glaciers and lakes are dwindling, snows are melting, and shorelines are withdrawing. He utilizes the temperature record since 1880 to illustrate the ten hottest years in history were in the last fourteen years. Gore quotes the survey conducted by Naomi Oreskes of 928 peer-reviewed scientific articles on global climate change in 2004 signifying that they either supports the argument of global warming is caused by human performance or make no comment.
After showing the audience of the survey, "There is no controversy about these facts," Gore said. "Out of 925 recent articles in peer-review scientific journals about global warming, there was no disagreement. Zero. ” In doing so, Gore provides relevant data, examples, fact, and statistics to develop logical appeal to the audience in order to convince them in line with his argument.
Guggenheim, the film director, discloses Glore’s tragedies and frustration regarding his sister’s death from lung cancer, his son’s death from near-fatal car accident, and the close loss of the 2000 presidential election.However, these disappointments make him more energetic and focus on educating people of the nightmare of global warming and inspiring them to take appropriate actions. While Gore was studying at Harvard, he had been influenced by the Professor Roger Revelle, early climate expert, to commit in overturning global warming. He presents his speech all over the United States and abroad. Since he foresees the destructive outcome caused by the global warming, he is devoted to alerting people all over the world of its existence.Gore defends and opposes against those who criticize the validity of global warming.
He uses scientific evidence, reliable data, and well-known facts to make the latter silent. When Gore was the Vice President during the Clinton Administration, he pressed to enforce carbon tax to promote energy efficiency diversify the choices of fuel; and it was partly carried out in 1993. In the end of documentary, Gore stresses that global warming can be combated by releasing less carbon dioxide and planting more vegetation to put away existing carbon dioxide.He makes a conclusion by saying: "Each one of us is a cause of global warming, but each one of us can make choices to change that with the things we buy, the electricity we use, the cars we drive; we can make choices to bring our individual carbon emissions to zero. The solutions are in our hands, we just have to have the determination to make it happen.
We have everything that we need to reduce carbon emissions, everything but political will. But in America, the will to act is a renewable resource. At the end of movie, there is a pops up on screen encouraging audience to suppress climate change at home by recycling, speaking up in community, buying a hybrid vehicle, and referring this movie to people. After watching the “Inconvenient Truth” and doing a research work, I consider the film is the most realistic documentary.
Gore did made dramatic visuals during the presentations to prove the validity of his thesis —— global warming is real and caused by human being, and it eventually will become catastrophe.Being a rational person, I only believe in fact and professional opinions. Nobody can deny the harmful effect of global warming after viewing his multimedia show that is made up of a combination of scientific data, startling photographs, statistics, and cartoons. I notice that the Associated Press conducted a survey with more than 100 climate researchers about the reliability of Gore’s speech and all 19 climate scientists who had watched the movie confirmed that Gore makes only few scientific errors.The levels of the atmosphere’s carbon dioxide displayed on the chart further strengthen my belief in dreadful global warming. The release of high level of carbon dioxide cause high temperatures both in the air and water that finally result in rapid melting and formation of stronger storms.
Hurricane Katrina is created due to the result of warmer waters and it is a siren of forthcoming awful global warming. There are a lot of scientists and well-known scholars support Gore’s viewpoints.
