Whereupon I Pretend to be Roger Ebert

Went to see Al Gore's Campaign Commercial An Inconvenient Truth last night. I'm glad I went, although I have some mixed feelings about the film as a whole. I was concerned going in that it was going to be the equivalent of a Michael Moore picture, full of sanctimony and disingenuous use of information, but happily this is not the case. While the film is very much about its creator, it is NOT about its creator's self-righteousness a la Mr. Moore.

Mr. Gore's dry sense of humor helps to lighten the tone somewhat (fans of Futurama will also appreciate the "None Like it Hot" segment taken from that show), and there are a couple of really convincing arguments advanced. Probably the most important point the film makes is that there is no meaningful "debate" in the scientific community; towards the end of the picture Mr. Gore contrasts the 0% of peer-reviewed articles over the past decade that question the reality of global warming and the 53% of mass-media stories suggesting there is no consensus. Also quite effective is the blindingly obvious correlation between world-historical carbon dioxide levels and global temperature (see chart, source here), and the implied end-result of the massive, unprecedented spike in CO₂ levels we are currently seeing.

Unfortunately, I think ultimately the film really only speaks to those who already appreciate the preponderance of evidence for global warming and its connection to human activity. I was impressed by the crowd at the showing (25-30 on a Sunday night), but if books may be judged by their covers, it appeared that at least in this case Mr. Gore was preaching to the converted. There are also a few ineffective parts of the film, most notably the continued emphasis on saving exotic animal species. I don't think any climate skeptics really give a damn about polar bears or tropical birds, and will point to these segments as indications that Mr. Gore cares more about animals than people.

On a final note, I really do wonder whether Mr. Gore will end up tossing his hat in the ring in 2008. It's sad, but unfortunately I think a lot of his newfound credibility comes from his departure from American politics; I fear that if he returns as a candidate people will automatically reject his environmental appeals out of hand.