An Inconvenient Truth

In An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore presents the issue of global climate change. As Christians, we know it is very important to take care of the earth. As God said in Genesis 1:26, man is supposed to rule over the earth. This doesn’t mean we can rule it however we want; we ought to imitate God in this sense. God rules over us by caring for us and doing what is good for us; we need to mirror with care for the earth.

That being said, there are what I perceive as flaws in the film. First, Gore shows that carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are directly proportional to global temperature. However, he doesn’t sufficiently prove which variable is the independent one and which is the dependent one. Furthermore, while he accurately shows that the carbon dioxide level is far higher than it has been before, this has been true for some years now. The temperature is not any higher than during other carbon dioxide spikes. There could very well be a “cap” to the global temperature.

Another aspect of the film I didn’t like was its gross overuse of pathos. Gore tries to use emotions to get us to believe him and to rally with him for his cause. For example, he complained about the 2000 election and how according to the ballots at one point he was president. He also talked about the death of his son, even though that was completely unrelated to the issue at hand. For extra pathos, Gore compared certain aspects of global warming to issues like smoking, World War II, and the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. While the comparisons connected in a sense (Churchill was warning the citizens of Great Britain that they need to be prepared for German invasion, just like the residents of earth should prepare themselves against global warming), they were not entirely applicable.

Finally, Gore didn’t give us any ways that we can stop the climate change. He seemed to tell us it is hopeless. He tries to scare us instead of telling us how we can prevent it. Overall, however, it is an eye-opening film that is definitely worth seeing.