Ecology and Christian Theology - Essay Example

According to Oxfam Australia, storms, floods, droughts, and wildfires are occurring more frequently. Sea levels are rising and closer to home, Australia is faced with water restrictions, greater droughts and more extreme fire days; all because of climate change. The impacts of climate change if left unchecked will increase poverty. Poor people in developing countries are more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, yet they have done little to contribute to it. Australian average temperatures have increased by 0.

9°C since 1950, with significant regional variations. The frequency of hot days and nights has increased and the frequency of cold days and nights has declined. Since 1950, most of eastern and south-western Australia has experienced substantial rainfall declines. Across New South Wales and Queensland these rainfall trends partly reflect a very wet period around the 1950s, though recent years have been unusually dry. In contrast, north-west Australia has become wetter over this period, mostly during summer.

From 1950 to 2005, extreme daily rainfall intensity and frequency have increased in north-western and central Australia and over the western tablelands of New South Wales but decreased in the south-east and south-west and along the central east coast. Global sea levels rose by about 17 cm during the 20th century, and by around 10 cm from 1920-2000 at the Australian coastal sites monitored. Substantial warming has also occurred in the three oceans surrounding Australia, particularly off the south-east coast and in the Indian Ocean.

In the film, An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore begins his slide show on climate change; a comprehensive presentation replete with detailed graphs, flow charts, and stark visuals. Gore shows off several majestic photographs of the Earth taken from multiple space missions and he notes that these photos dramatically transformed the way we see the Earth, helping spark modern environmentalism. Throughout the movie, Gore discusses the scientific opinion on climate change, as well as the present and future effects of global warming and stresses that climate change "is really not a political issue, so much as a moral one", describing the consequences he believes global climate change will produce if the amount of human-generated greenhouse gases is not significantly reduced in the very near future.

Gore also presents Antarctic ice coring data showing CO2 levels higher now than in the past 650,000 years. The documentary ends with Gore arguing that if appropriate actions are taken soon, the effects of global warming can be successfully reversed by releasing less CO2 and planting more vegetation to consume existing CO2. In concluding the film, Gore calls upon his viewers to learn how they can help him in these efforts.