An Inconvenient Truth is a new documentary about the environment set for release in the US on May 24. Aside from its really cool name, the documentary also features a very somber, very serious Al Gore declaring "if you look at the ten hottest years ever recorded, they've all occurred in the last fourteen years; and the hottest of all... was 2005."
The trailer, by itself, is enough to send shivers down your spine. Images of a not-so-snowy Mt. Kilimanjaro, shrinking polar ice caps, and disappearing land masses... really scary stuff.
Anyway, I got to thinking about the movie after spending a week in the not-so-cool mountain air of Baguio City for the Supreme Court's summer sessions. It wasn't cold. During the day, there were times I had to take off my barong tagalog and work in my undershirt because it was just SO FRIGGIN' HOT. Yeah, in the mornings, it was cold. In the evenings, it was cool too. But when the sun was up, FORGET ABOUT IT. Keep your jacket at home, folks, especially if you plan on walking around the City of Pines.
My point?
Global warming has been a concept scientists and environmentalists have used to scare governments and corporations into making efforts to protect the environment. Their success has been hindered by the inability to show that global warming is a phenomenon that is affecting us TODAY, not a hundred-- not a thousand-- years from now.
This movie gives us a first-hand look at the effects of global warming, and it looks like it's going to shock a lot of people. I hope it does. Because we need to stop screwing our environment. Or it's going to screw us back.
The trailer, by itself, is enough to send shivers down your spine. Images of a not-so-snowy Mt. Kilimanjaro, shrinking polar ice caps, and disappearing land masses... really scary stuff.
Anyway, I got to thinking about the movie after spending a week in the not-so-cool mountain air of Baguio City for the Supreme Court's summer sessions. It wasn't cold. During the day, there were times I had to take off my barong tagalog and work in my undershirt because it was just SO FRIGGIN' HOT. Yeah, in the mornings, it was cold. In the evenings, it was cool too. But when the sun was up, FORGET ABOUT IT. Keep your jacket at home, folks, especially if you plan on walking around the City of Pines.
My point?
Global warming has been a concept scientists and environmentalists have used to scare governments and corporations into making efforts to protect the environment. Their success has been hindered by the inability to show that global warming is a phenomenon that is affecting us TODAY, not a hundred-- not a thousand-- years from now.
This movie gives us a first-hand look at the effects of global warming, and it looks like it's going to shock a lot of people. I hope it does. Because we need to stop screwing our environment. Or it's going to screw us back.
