Gores Argument in an Inconvenient Truth - Movie Review Example

Gore’s Argument in an Inconvenient Truth Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth is a global warming documentary that provides arguments in favor of greenhouse gas reductions needed by the Kyoto Protocol. However, this film abandons the evidence that atmospheric temperature is cyclical in nature. This movie focuses on alerting individuals about some of the challenges and dangers that society faces from changes in climate and proposes urgent and immediate action be taken to deal with such issues. Undoubtedly, this documentary is a perfect illustration of how scientific information can be conversed to uninformed audience. This was one way Gore used to educate citizens on global warming and encourage them to take necessary action. But this documentary has created a heated debate as to whether it precisely grants the scientific argument that human activities are the major cause of global warming. Various scholars and climate change experts have expressed their views on the scientific validity of the claims proposed by this documentary. This paper critically analyses An Inconvenient Truth by Gore focusing on criticisms advanced against this film. Many claims proposed by Gore in his film have been criticized by many scientists. There are many criticisms that have been advanced against gore’s documentary of an inconvenient truth. First, Gore has been accused of attempting to use individual extreme events like Hurricane Katrina to provide evidence about the existence of global warming. Another critique of this film is that it mainly focuses on humans and their activities as the major cause of global warming, but it fails to address other natural causes of climate variability that also contribute to the occurrence of global warming. Gore and his supporters believe that human beings contribute to changes in the climate in various ways but mainly by engaging in certain activities (Jackson 475). The real inconvenient truth is that science is not aware of the extent to which the recent warming is natural or result from human activities. In addition, this film has been accused of entirely relying on observational evidence and minimal research. His critiques have claimed that Gore’s arguments on global warming were based on emotions (Jackson 475). Gore argues that the snowcap at the summit Africa’s Mount Kilimanjaro is shrinking as a result of global warming. On the contrary, scientists believe that the leading factor behind Mt. Kilimanjaro’s snow recession can never be established easily. Some have argued that even if the ice decrease on this mountain can be seen as the result of global warming, other factors such as deforestation of the mountain’s foothills can be a major cause of that. For instance, the absence of forests’ humidity causes the ice to evaporate in the strong equatorial sunshine. Therefore, as much as global warming can be viewed as the main cause of ice loss, deforestation also contributes largely to this. More so, Gore argues that there is glaciers shrinking in Himalayan mountains as a result of global warming but reports reveal that glaciers are growing in the Himalayan Mountains contrary to Gore’s arguments. In his global warming documentary, Gore argues that global warming leads to more frequent and severe hurricanes. However, research findings state that hurricane activity has significantly reduced now as compared to the past. Studies reveal that major hurricanes have declined over the past. Hurricane scientists have confirmed that global warming enhances wind shear necessary for preventing any increase in future hurricane activity. Gore’s attribution of Hurricane Katrina devastation to global warming had no sufficient evidence and so was not approved by the judge. Moreover, Gore attributes the increasing cases of tornadoes to global warming but the truth is, there is never been any scientific connection developed between the two aspects. Accordingly, Gore claims Greenland and west Antarctic ice sheets are at risk of melting due to global warming which is likely to increase sea levels (Nielsen-Gammon 22). He argues that the rapid melting of Greenland (Anderson 37) as one effect of global warming is a threat as it can increase the level of the sea by twenty feet. However, studies state that the Greenland ice sheet is thinning at the margins and growing inland with a limited mass gain. Further, Gore argues that polar bears drowned while looking for icy habitats that were melted due to global warming. There was no convincing evidence developed to back this claim and so in the quest of determining whether Gore’s film should be shown in secondary schools, British high court revealed that the only drowned bears were four that died as a result of violent storm. Again, he proposed that there is an exact fit between an increase in the level of carbon dioxide and an increase in temperature for a long time now. However, it was found that scientist believe that there is an association between the two but they disagree with Gore’s claim of an exact fit. British High Court judges revealed Gore’s film was misleading since over that period, the level of carbon monoxide remained low as compared to that of temperature. Additionally, Gore’s film displayed the drying up of Lake Chad was due to global warming, but this was not proved to be the case because population increase, overgrazing, and regional climate variability was the major cause of this. Lastly, Gore attributes the melting of the Antarctic ice sheet to global warming (Anderson 37). This is not the case according to various reports Antarctica has been cooling for decades. It was noted that Gore’s claim of rapid rise in sea levels by melting icecaps was overly alarmist. According to this film, the sea level could rise to high levels forcing many individuals to be displaced. Scientists confirmed that there is indeed an expectation of the rise of the sea levels, however, no such massive displacement expected. More so, Gore’s claims of rising sea levels has been refused as he does not provide the time scale and the degree to which such sea levels are dangerous (Nielsen-Gammon 23). Truly, Gore has been acknowledged for creating public awareness of man-made global warming and has also explained to individuals which increased atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases causes warming. Gore’s film contributed to the explanation and understanding of global warming (Cochran 146). However, some experts have supported this film claiming that it follows the fundamental scientific requirement and that the minor factual mistakes do not interfere with what the film intends to communicate. They have argued that even though many inaccuracies and criticisms have been advanced against this documentary, it depicts necessary scientific information needed to explain the concept of global warming and its effects in the society. More so, this film had significant impact on individuals views on global warming and it helped in raising more public awareness on the global climate change as compared to other scientific reports. Gore’s film enabled individuals to know more about the nature, cause and the possible effects of global warming (Cochran 146). In conclusion, gore’s argument in his film An Inconvenient Truth has managed to create and raise public awareness on global warming but most of his claims have been refuted. Some of the criticisms that have been advanced against his film include the focus on human activities as the main cause of global warming and abandonment of natural causes of climate variability. More so, Gore argues that snowcap at the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro is shrinking as a result of global warming, but this has been not proved as true as scientist claim that the cause of snow recession on this mountain cannot be established. Other Gore’s arguments that have been criticized include the shrinking of Himalayan glaciers; hurricanes; more tornadoes, rapid meltdown Greenland and increase in sea levels, and the exact fit between carbon monoxide and temperature levels among others. Despite the presence of these many criticisms of Gore’s film, it has been acknowledged for its contribution in global warming and its focus on taking argent action to solve this societal problem. Works Cited Anderson, Dale. Al Gore: A Wake-Up Call to Global Warming. New York: Crabtree Pub, 2009. Print. Cochran, Clarke E. American Public Policy: An Introduction. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2009. Print. Jackson, Robert J. Global Politics in the 21st Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2013. Print. Nielsen-Gammon, John W. An Inconvenient Truth: The Scientific Argument. GeoJournal. 2007. Vol. 70, pp.21–26. Read More