Nobel Peace Prize to Al Gore

by Bruce Simmons

Al Gore, in conjunction with the United Nations panel on climate change, had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their work on global warming education.

Gore's documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, was a well documentary, putting stats into understandable quantities, and Gore was not beholden to anyone but himself for producing information and having no restrictions on what he could present.

After An Inconvenient Truth, the constant state of denial about global warming diminished. We saw charts referencing the past, and those same charts predicting our climate's future, showing in stark and depressing data plot lines what we've accomplished with our environment through the advancement of our society and our industrial growth, with no thought to the repercussions of our actions.

I found it a riveting piece, and depressing, all at once. It convinced me that even when I slack for one moment on my recycling efforts is to bear witness to a very small piece of the larger puzzle, the very attitude that has put us here.

If we, as a whole, think any one deed, one action, has no impact on anything, consider the fact that in the U.S. alone, the estimated population is 301,139,947 people. If everyone tossed out a piece of paper out their car window the size of a paperback book page thinking that one deed would do no harm, we've thrown out the equivalent of over 1 million paperback books on the road. That is why we can't relax in turning off lights when we aren't using them, or doing our part to car pool, or other acts that are deemed simple and small, in preserving our planet.

Despite the awareness the film brings to us, the film still draws criticism:

The film has become part of the regular curriculum in countries around the world, but its content is still stirring up controversy, with critics charging that it is partisan.

British High Court Judge Michael Burton, ruling recently on an effort to ban the film from U.K. schools, said `Truth'' was ``broadly accurate.'' He said it could be shown in schools if "guidance notes'' are included that draw attention to nine different errors made in "the context of alarmism and exaggeration.''

Nine errors. Oh my. How will we ever trust the information again?

Well, it is what it is, and things can only get worse if we ignore the basic premise of the message, which, even with some factual flaws, tells us the tale we needed to become aware of.

Source that sparked my thoughts: variety