The truth about Al Gore

After several failed attempts, today I finally got an opportunity to go see "An Inconvenient Truth". I have featured the film's trailer before in some of my previous posts, so I won’t do it again, but I urge you to go see this documentary.




It would be useless for me to go over all the information provided by this film, but I want to share with you a few important elements that made an impression on me.




1) In the trailer, there is a moment where Al Gore seems to point to Antarctica and says, “If this were to go … sea level worldwide would go up twenty feet.” What he is actually pointing to is the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which is 15-20% of Antarctica (See Above). In 2002, to the surprise of my scientists, a large portion of the Larsen Ice Shelf just fell into the sea (Below). I firmly believe that this will be the first of many surprises.




2) The film also discusses the effect global warming has on precipitation and its worldwide dispersion. As the climate heats, rain is highly concentrated in some areas (floods) and denied to others (drought). Midway through the film, a map is shown where the rain will tend to be concentrated, and you start to see all the places that are starting to experience serious flooding. (New Orleans included) Then your eye is drawn to where the rain is slowly being taken away. The largest area is a thick strip right through the center of the African continent.




In 2000, I had a chance to visit Morocco on business. I was able to spend some time in Marrakesh and Casablanca. Even then, one of the main subjects of general conversation was the desertification of the surrounding area. The subject came to my attention again recently when I was reading a blog called ”The View From Fez”. I honestly was shocked by the actual amounts. Due to lack of rainfall there, some 22,000 hectares (55,000 acres) of arable land disappears under the desert every year in Morocco. Abdeladim El Hafi, high commissioner for water and forests there, was once quoted as saying, "Between 90 and 93 percent of Morocco is affected by aridity and other forms of drought.” He blames, among other things, climate change.


3) At one point in the film, Gore makes an analogy to a frog in hot water. If a frog is placed in a pot of hot water, the frog will jump right out, but if you put a frog in a pot of cool water and gradually raise the temperature, the frog will just sit there, not noticing the increasing danger until it's too late.

This is true of human nature as well, and it is applicable to most things. We don’t care about the effects of smoking until we have a respiratory sickness. We don’t care about the calories of the ice cream until we can’t fit into our pants. In this case, the consequence of not looking down the road could have irreversible effects.

4) The last thing I think this film demonstrates is how decent a man Al Gore really is. The film certainly centers on the arguments that support the facts of global warming, but they are alternated with personal facts about the man himself. They add a human element to the film and they show a side of him that is really very important.

I am writing this post to encourage each and every one of you to take the time to see this well made documentary. If I can get ten of you to go, perhaps you will in turn tell ten friends, and then we can make our own little Faberge shampoo commercial.

If you feel, like I do, that Al Gore should run for President of the United States in 2008, perhaps you will want to sign one of the petitions.

I leave you with this. There has only been one very special person who ever knew more about weather than Al Gore.

To read more about this important subject, here is an LA Times article from June 25th, 2006