An Inconvenient Truth Review - Akshaya

An Inconvenient Truth (2006) is a documentary by former Vice President Al Gore and is about his campaign to educate people about global warming. He begins by talking of how people choose to ignore the occurrence of climate change as it is often seen as too big a challenge to face, and if it is acknowledged the necessity to make drastic changes is undeniable. Many choose to believe that there is disagreement among scientists about whether we are causing global warming and whether it is an issue. But, there is a clear majority view among scientists that global warming is a huge global issue that humanity has caused. There is also this misconception that the Earth is simply too big for humans to have any lasting impact on it, however, advances in technology have led to our ability to have an effect, especially upon the atmosphere. The atmosphere is the most vulnerable part of the Earth, therefore we are able to alter the composition of it. This has led to the enhanced greenhouse effect, due to increase in greenhouse gas emissions (especially carbon dioxide) into the atmosphere. 

 

There has been a steady increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration over the last few decades, as shown by the graph. Seasonal variation occurs due to the Earth having more land mass in the northern hemisphere and consequently more vegetation. Thus, during summer in the north (when the northern hemisphere is tilted towards the sun) more photosynthesis takes place, so more CO₂is removed from the atmosphere. During the northern winter, CO₂is released as leaves fall in the north and less photosynthesis takes place due to less vegetation in the southern hemisphere. Therefore, more carbon dioxide is present in the atmosphere.

Scientists can use ice cores to measure changes in CO₂ concentration and temperature over time, allowing them to have records going back thousands of years. This has allowed them to observe a clear correlation between 1000 years of temperature changes and 1000 years of CO2 concentration changes. Using Antarctic ice, they have been able to see how todays atmospheric CO₂ concentration compares to 650,000 years of ice ages and warming periods. The results exemplified how drastically different and unnatural this global warming is from the past and how dire the effects on temperature may be. 

Rising global temperatures is causing ice and snow to melt throughout the world. Mountains have been losing their snow, like on Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, and glaciers globally have been retreating, like the Mer de Glace in France. This has been a particular problem in the Himalayas, as 40% of the global population get their drinking water from rivers and spring systems that are fed more than half by the meltwater from the glaciers in the Himalayas. Within the next 50 years those 40% could face a very serious shortage due to this melting and glacial retreat. The thawing of permafrost has led to ‘drunken trees’ where they now lack stability in the ground, buildings collapsing and structural damage of pipelines. There has also been the melting of ice caps on Antarctic peninsula, with the Larsen ice shelf completely disappeared in 35 days

Global warming has led to warmer oceans and this subsequently leads to stronger storms. As water temperature increases, both wind velocity and storm moisture content also increases. In March 2004, Brazil experienced the first ever hurricane in South Atlantic - this was previously said to be impossible. Global warming both increases and relocates precipitation worldwide, which has led to extreme droughts in parts of the world. This is further exacerbated by an increase in soil evaporation due to the higher temperatures. Lake Chad, which was once one of the largest lakes in the world less than 60 years ago, is now dried up. 

The positive feedback loop of sea levels rising as ice melts causing a decrease in the albedo effect and thus increasing global temperatures and the rate of melting has led to the thickness of the Arctic ice cap diminishing by 40% in 14 years. The poles are most vulnerable to changes in the greenhouse effect due to this positive feedback, as an overall increase in global temperature by 5°F translates to just a 1°F increase at the equator, but a 12°F increase at the poles. This therefore changes wind and ocean current patterns, which raises many concerns regarding the gulf stream in the North Atlantic. At the end of an ice age, there was a pool of ice cold water in North America which was kept out of the ocean by an ice dam. When this dam broke, the cold freshwater flowed into the Atlantic, which diluted the cold, denser, saltwater flowing in the stream. This consequently stopped the pump that keeps Europe warm, causing another ice age. With the melting of ice in Greenland, there is a chance this may happen again. If all the ice on Greenland melted, millions of people would be displaced, with 60 million people by the Bay of Bengal and surrounding areas alone losing their homes. 

Wind and ocean current patterns, which have been relatively consistent and stable since the last ice age 11,000 years ago, are now changing. Thus, the effect on ecological systems due to shifting seasons is staggering. There are issues within food chains; the US pine beetle problem where there now fewer days of frost to kill them, thus resulting in trees dying; and many vectors for emerging infectious diseases now expanding their ranges. This has led to the emergence of new diseases, like SARS, Lyme disease and Ebola, and the resurgence of diseases as well, such as West Nile virus and Avian flu. Many cities were previously founded because they were above the mosquito line, such as Nairobi, but now rising temperatures have allowed mosquitos to move to higher altitudes. 

So how can we stop and prevent all these tragedies? Al Gore emphasises that we already have everything to stop global warming, we just need a collective effort utilising multiple strategies. Ultimately, the only thing that we are lacking is political will. 

An Inconvenient Truth has been praised for raising international public awareness of the climate crisis, however, the film has also been somewhat controversial, with some saying it was biased, inaccurate and exaggerated. Despite this, I found the documentary to be extremely interesting and enlightening, with the damaging extent of the consequences of global warming being wholly shown. More specific detail on solutions would have been appreciated, however the emphasis being on the negative effects is understandable and important, with public attention needing to be drawn to this global issue.