global warming

  • Judge Posner:
    The most serious drawback of the carbon-offsets movement is that it is likely to make the problem of excessive carbon emissions more rather than less serious, and this for three reasons.
    Read on. I think his argument his sound, but I disagree with him on the public awareness issue he discusses in the final paragraph. (9) #
    12/2/2007

An Inconvenient Truth

Last night, I was faced with An Inconvenient Truth, mediated by the soothing drawl of Al Gore. Here's why you should see this movie:

  • It's not boring.
  • Seriously, it's quite visceral and compelling.
  • It presents the Global Warming problem using elegant and thorough infographics.
  • It unquestionably settles three issues which have unfairly been considered as in scientific doubt:
    1. This is an alarming problem right now, not just 100 years from now.
    2. There is incredibly strong evidence that not only does Global Warming exist, but that the "nature is cyclical" argument is frighteningly not comforting in our present situation.
    3. Some believe that since the planet has seen extreme temperatures in the past, there's no need for us to change our way of life to avoid what's inevitable. Gore particularly emphasizes that this perspective is both immoral and unethical. By not taking measures now, we will be in effect responsible for future Katrinas, and on a much grander scale.
  • Al Gore is a funny and informative lecturer.

The film could've used 10% fewer shots of Al Gore pondering, contemplating his past, etc., but the point of these scenes got across: Gore has spent a significant part of his life on this issue, he truly cares about it, and he thinks you should, too.

Wed, 06/21/2006 - 9:38am