DVD REVIEW
AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, AL GORE, ET.AL, 2006
Yes, Virginia there is global warming. Yes, it is a human made phenomenon. And, yes, we have to do something about it, pronto. This film lays out the scientific argument for the observations that scientists, and others, have been screaming at us about for the past couple of decades. For that alone it deserved the documentary Oscar that it won this year. However, more, much more needs to be done to spread the word, and do something real about the impending sinkhole. And that is the rub. The ruling classes and their hangers-on have severely downplayed the serious effects on the globe of current trends. There is no will to fundamentally alter the squandering of finite global resources, although there is plenty of talk.
Those who have panned the film have done so on the basis of a political belief that god, technology or just hiding one’s head in the sand will pull us through. Their main argument is that this scare-mongering about major planetary changes has occurred several times in the past and we are still here. That is a recipe for doing nothing and accepting that this capitalist-dominated world economy will find a way out. Of course by that time Kansas will be beachfront property. No, I will stand by the scientific method that underscores this film. Will some of the predictions prove unwarranted? Probably. Are there mistakes in calculations? Probably. But I like that way rather than depending on Exxon’s good graces and explanations. There was a time when the ruling classes also aspired to use the scientific method to solve societal problems at the time of the classic bourgeois revolutions like the English and more so the French. Now apparently astrology charts suffice. If that is the best to be done -move on over and let working people work on this world-historic problem.
