Global Warming Predictions - Main Menu
3. Al Gore - An Inconvenient Truth
An Inconvenient Truth is an Academy Award-nominated documentary film
about climate change, specifically global warming, directed by Davis
Guggenheim and starring former United States Vice President Al Gore.
An Inconvenient Truth is also the title of a companion book by Gore,
which reached #1 on the New York Times bestseller lists of July 2 and
August 13, 2006, and again during several months on the list.
The film premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and opened in New
York and Los Angeles on May 24, 2006. It is the third-highest-grossing
documentary in the United States to date. Both Gore and Paramount
Classics, the film's distributor, have pledged proceeds from the film to
further educational campaigns about climate change. The film was released
on DVD by Paramount Home Entertainment on November 21, 2006.
A documentary film, An Inconvenient Truth explores data and predictions
regarding climate change, interspersed with personal events from the life
of Al Gore. Through a Keynote presentation (dubbed "the slide show") that
he has presented worldwide, Gore reviews the scientific evidence for
global warming, discusses the politics and economics of global warming,
and describes the consequences he believes global climate change will
produce if the amount of human-generated greenhouse gases is not
significantly reduced in the very near future.
The film includes many segments intended to refute critics who say that
global warming is insignificant or unproven. For example, Gore discusses
the risk of the collapse of a major ice sheet in Greenland or West
Antarctica, either of which could raise global sea levels by approximately
20 feet (6m), flooding coastal areas and producing 100 million refugees.
Meltwater from Greenland, because of its lower salinity, could halt the
Gulf Stream current and quickly trigger dramatic local cooling in Northern
In an effort to explain the global warming phenomenon, the film
examines annual temperature and CO2 levels for the past 600,000 years in
Antarctic ice core samples. An analogy to Hurricane Katrina is used for
those familiar with the 30-ft to 45-ft (9 to 14m) waves that destroyed
almost a million homes in coastal Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, and
The documentary ends with Gore noting that if appropriate action is
taken soon, the effects of global warming can be successfully reversed by
releasing less carbon dioxide and growing more plants or trees. Gore calls
upon viewers to learn how they can help in this initiative.
Gore's book of the same title was published concurrently with the
theatrical release of the documentary. The book contains additional,
detailed information, scientific analysis, and Gore's commentary on the
issues presented in the documentary.
Scientific opinion on climate change
Gore's basic claim—that global warming is real and largely
human-caused—is supported by current research.
Gore presents specific data that supports the film's thesis, including:
The retreat of numerous glaciers is shown in before-and-after
photographs (see Retreat of glaciers since 1850).
A study by researchers at the Physics Institute at the University of
Bern and the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctic presenting data
from Antarctic ice cores showing carbon dioxide concentrations higher than
at any time during the past 650,000 years.
A 2004 survey by Dr. Naomi Oreskes of 928 peer-reviewed scientific
articles on global climate change published between 1993 and 2003. The
survey, published as an editorial in the journal Science, claimed that
every article either supported the human-caused global warming consensus
or did not comment on it.
The Associated Press contacted more than 100 top climate researchers
and questioned them about the film's veracity. Because this was at the
time before the film's general release many of those surveyed had neither
seen the movie nor read the book, but all 19 climate scientists who had
done so said that Gore conveyed the science correctly. The U.S. Senate
Committee on Environment and Public Works, chaired by Sen. Jim Inhofe, a
global warming skeptic, issued a press release criticizing this
article. Inhofe's statement that "global warming is the greatest hoax
ever perpetrated on the American people" appears in the film.
RealClimate, a group blog maintained by eleven climate scientists,
lauded the film's science as "remarkably up to date, with reference to
some of the very latest research."
Michael Shermer, science historian and founder of The Skeptics Society,
wrote in Scientific American that An Inconvenient Truth "shocked me out of
my doubting stance".
However, in a June 26, 2006 editorial in the Wall Street Journal,
climatologist and global warming skeptic Richard Lindzen criticized the
movie and questioned its claims. A response to Lindzen's piece
disputes the basis for his claims as allegedly not supported by currently
Gore discusses the possibility of a sudden rise in sea level of 20 feet
if a major polar ice sheet collapsed. This should not be confused with the
more certain, gradual and moderate rise due to non-catastrophic ice
melting and the thermal expansion of water. The IPCC's Third Assessment
Summary estimates the latter as between 0.1 to 0.85 meters (0.3 to 2.8
feet) by the year 2100, but notes that "this range does not allow for
uncertainty relating to ice dynamical changes in the West Antarctic ice
sheet." The Antarctic as a whole contains enough ice to raise sea
level by an estimated 60 m (200 ft) if it were to melt entirely and
the collapse of the grounded interior reservoir of the West Antarctic ice
sheet alone would raise sea level by 5-6 m (16-20 ft).
- ^ New York Times
lists book as #1 Paperback Nonfiction, 02-Jul-2006,
- ^ New York Times
lists book as #1 Paperback Nonfiction, 13-Aug-2006,
Documentary 1982-Present (film rankings by lifetime gross). Box
- ^ Voynar, Kim.
"Sundance: An Inconvenient Truth Q & A - Al Gore on fire! No, really."
"Cinematical." January 26, 2006.
- ^ Remnick, David.
"The Talk of the Town." New Yorker." April 14, 2006.
- ^ Booth, William.
"Al Gore, Sundance's Leading Man." "Washington Post." January 26,
- ^ Alex Steffen (May
Interview: David Guggenheim and An Inconvenient Truth.
Atmospheric Methane and Nitrous Oxide of the Late Pleistocene from
Antarctic Ice Cores Science,
- ^ Naomi Oreskes, [http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/306/5702/1686
BEYOND THE IVORY TOWER: The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change],
- ^ "Scientists
OK Gore's Movie for Accuracy",
AP INCORRECTLY CLAIMS SCIENTISTS PRAISE GORE’S MOVIE. U.S. Senate
Committee on Environment & Public Works (June
Al Gore’s movie. RealClimate (May
The Flipping Point: How the evidence for anthropogenic global warming
has converged to cause this environmental skeptic to make a cognitive
Scientific American (June 2006).
- ^ Richard S.
There Is No 'Consensus' On Global Warming Wall Street Journal,
- ^ David
Lindzen needs a reality check on climate change, Notes from the
IPCC's Third Assessment Summary See the chart on page 14 and the
- ^ [http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc_tar/wg1/412.htm#tab113
Climate Change 2001: Working Group I: The Scientific Basis] accessed
- ^ Michael
Geological Influence on the Onset of Fast Moving Ice accessed
'Last Stand' delivers IMDb,
BIFF EXCEEDS ALL EXPECTATIONS (Adobe Reader format) accessed
Documentary Movies Box Office Mojo, accessed
Housewife addresses climate conference Flanders News, dated
Governing Council The Alliance for Climate Protection,
An Inconvenient Truth Chicago Sunday Times, accessed
- ^ Ronald Bailey
Gore as climate exaggerator Reason, dated
2006 HUMANITAS Prize Winners. the HUMANITAS prize (2006-06-28).
Stanley Kramer Award: An Inconvenient Truth. Variety.com
(2007-01-18). Retrieved on
2007 Nobel Peace Prize Nominations. MSNBC (2006-02-02). Retrieved
Full text of David Cameron's speech to the Conservative Party
conference, Guardian Unlimited,
- ^ Richard Black.
blamed for Climate Change",
- ^ Laurie David.
a la Joe Camel", The Washington Post,
- ^ Gerald
Statement on November 26 Washington Post Op-ed "Science à la Joe
- ^ Robert McClure
& Lisa Stiffler. "Federal
Way schools restrict Gore film",
- ^ KNDO. "School
Delays Viewing of Global Warming Documentary",
- ^ David Leask. "All
secondary schools to see Gore climate film",
- ^ "Gore
promotes his 'ultimate action movie'", Chicago Sun-Times,
A Terrifying Message from Al Gore. YouTube.
Scientist to CEI: You Used My Research To "Confuse and Mislead".
Up is Down. onegoodmove (June
* * *
Related Links and Resources
Global warming is near its tipping point - Tim Flannery,
author of The Weather Makers, cites string of evidences to Salt
Lake City audience and calls for a reasonable and doable change of human
behavior. (Salt Lake Tribune; Apr. 9, 2006)
Up with the Weather: Global Warming - PBS' NOVA/Frontline
educational site addresses the debate, evidence in the ice, what would
be submerged, fossil fuel alternatives
Global Warming - CBS News' interactive covers the
greenhouse effect, discoveries and global action, Kyoto Protocol; charts
and maps of CO2 emissions; history of Earth's climate; growing danger.
ancient climates suggest Earth is now on a fast track to global warming
- Human activities are releasing greenhouse gases more than 30 times
faster than the rate of emissions that triggered a period of extreme
global warming in the Earth's past, according to an expert on ancient
climates. (PhysOrg; Feb. 17, 2006)
All you ever wanted to know about Global Warming - Frequently Asked
Questions - Introduction to global warming, from New
Scientist magazine. Includes theories about positive and negative
Scientists urged to spread word on global warming - Global
warming is real, dangerous and ignored at great risk to the planet,
says. Professor James Gustave Speth, Dean of Yale University's School
of Forestry and Environmental Studies, urging the scientific community
to make its case to the public, which remains unconvinced of the crisis
despite decades of first-rate science and policy analysis. (PhysOrg;
April 12, 2005)
Consensus on Global Warming - Science Magazine analyzed the last
ten years of published scientific articles on the subject of global
climate change. Of the 928 papers, 75% accepted that global warming was
caused by human activities. 25% made no mention either way. Not a single
paper asserted otherwise." (Slashdot; Dec. 8, 2004)
Global Warming consequences heads list of year's top 100 discoveries
- Global warming topped the 2004 list compiled by Discover magazine's
Year in Science issue, Jan. 2005. (PhysOrg; Dec. 13, 2004)
Shutdown of circulation pattern could be disastrous - Researches
predict that if global warming shuts down the thermohaline circulation
in the North Atlantic Ocean, the result could be catastrophic climate
change. (PhysOrg; Dec. 13, 2004)