Saw “An Inconvenient Truth” last evening.
You get to see Mr Gore in full professorial mode, as well as in more casual atmosphere, thanks to faux film grain and ‘shaky cam’ techniques (to me, a little old-tech). I itched to edit it more tightly with different camera angles, but I adored the wide screen presentation he uses as backdrop ... I’m dying to know how many video projectors were used, and how they were configured. You may not fully appreciate Mr Gore’s background; perhaps you have to have experienced living in Tennessee. His morality is that of a fine Tennessee country gentleman, his intelligence an up-to-date modern construct grafted atop. I kept thinking, during the movie ... we could have had someone who was this articulate for President.
I did some Googling, on “debunk Gore” and various other search terms, finding only right-wing think-tank and energy industry hacks posting various logical fallacies, attempting to sow ‘reasonable doubt’. I’ve done quite a bit of searching for facts in my spare time since last evening, and barring a very little stage-drama on Mr Gore’s part, every part of his presentation is verifiable in scholarly sources such as Science. Take a subject, do a search, read the abstracts. Everything’s there, including fascinating depth of subject matter that a film can’t portray.
My own observations are not ‘scientific’, but the way I look at things is to build from local effects to extrapolate continental ones. In looking at the local New Mexican weather patterns and effects on the flora and fauna, one can’t escape the fact that we’re in a very severe and unpredictable trend. Temperatures are up, weather is more severe. The almost-unprecedented drought has allowed bark beetles to devastate the local piñon population ... we all drive past hundreds of thousands of dead trees every day, a constant reminder of major climate change. We take advantage of water that is stored in the form of snowpack, which has been in a downward spiral since the 50’s ... this last winter gave us virtually none. Many local wells rely on snowpack, and are dry. Our yearly ‘monsoon season’ never showed up last year, first time I can ever call that happening. Too many ‘firsts’, too fast. New Mexico isn’t alone, from what I read these days.
When Mr Gore talked about ‘planting trees’ to mitigate problems, I had a tragic laugh. We can’t plant trees ... no water, it’s too hot. The indigenous trees, the ones I’ve never ever had to water, are maximally stressed at the moment; the junipers that are left are slowly and steadily browning right now. We’re in Stage 2 water restriction due to the poor winter snow, so ‘saving’ them is virtually impossible [I have an acre and a half of stressed junipers; everyone’s invited to come over and spit on my trees]. Some indigenous plants are being prevented from flowering due to the unseasonable heat.
Ultimately, “desertification” is the eventual dire result. If this trend continues, Santa Fe will be Phoenix within the next ten years, and Phoenix will be unlivable. How many other locales will lose the ability to counterbalance CO2 with greenery as the temperatures rise, the weather patterns change, etc. etc. ad nauseam? I wonder. Frog-in-the-boiling-pot syndrome.
Just in today’s news: Global Warming Surpassed Natural Cycles in Fueling 2005 Hurricane Season, NCAR Scientists Conclude. Another debunker’s bunk debunked.
Mr Gore made his case, I applaud the effort. I’m convinced. If you see the movie, I’d suggest posting local climate effects you’re seeing as well. Perhaps Mr Gore will read them, and aggregate it into something useful. After all, if he ‘invented’ the Internet, he must read it too (grin).
I highly, highly recommend the film, and do get there in time for the previews. Some interesting ones. Here’s a link to the site, but turn down your speakers.
Later: I forgot to mention that during the film, there were very vocal reactions to some of the information presented. I would expect that most people would know of recent environmental events, but I have come to the conclusion that weblogging current events puts us ahead of the game. The swift degradation of the Antarctic ice shelves brought great reaction from the audience.
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