The Big Whinge

Stop the Presses

You must see An Inconvenient Truth.

Reserve your judgement and hold your cynicism about environmentalists who drive old cars with "SAVE THE PLANET" stickers, oblivious to the smoke belching out of the exhaust pipe.

This film began as a slideshow that Al Gore has been shipping around the world for 30 years, reminiscent of the shadow puppet showmen of yore.

In the opening seconds, I am taken aback at how engaging and charismatic Gore is. This is the wooden man who lost the unloseable 2000 US Presidential election to the idiot son of a warmonger? How did this happen? (Vote rigging and an unsympathetic judiciary, I hear you cry.)

So before we get into the heavy stuff, I have a few questions:

• How could Gore NOT have won the 2000 US Presidential election?
• How different would the world be today if Gore had become President of the United States?
• Would September 11 have still happened?
• Would I have been able to board a plane to the US with more than just the shirt on my back?
• Would Gore still have invaded Iraq or retaliated to some degree to appease his constituents?
• Would the relations between Islam and the West have degenerated to the way it was during the Crusades?
• Is this movie part of the campaign to get him into the White House past Hillary?
• Was the Apple computer product placement gratuitous? (Maybe a bit, but I can overlook it if his Apple board salary helped fund this venture.)
• Why have I left the heating on at home while I am at the cinema?
• Am I a bad person for having turned on the dryer before I left the house?
• I think I left a kitchen light on. Shit.

There is no emotive sensationalism of which Michael Moore has been accused. The tone is measured, intelligent and rivetting. Fact after fact (supported by the scientific community) is shovelled into the foundation of the story and packed in tightly to create a compelling argument, so that even people who don't know what an atom is can understand. Of course, you can argue over whether you agree with the conclusion Gore reaches, but see the movie first before making comments, unlike the old silver spooner Ted Baillieu.

Over the years, there has been reasonable doubt cast on whether the global warming we are currently experiencing is cyclical or caused by humans in a trajectory that will render the earth unlivable. Whether or not you choose to believe the evidence presented by the film, surely it would not hurt to consume less.

I wonder how the rise of obesity may help control the population. Obesity is most rampant in the USA, which currently contributes 30% of the world's carbon waste. If it is indeed true that this generation of children will not outlive their parents, is this nature's way of limiting the damage?

I am not a greenie. I don't associate myself with the stereotype of hysterical people who would chain themselves to the opening of an envelope. I have been a life-long user of plastic bags. I use way too much water to get my dishes really clean - I believe in rinsing the bubbles off. My showers could wash 3 people. My house thermostat is 24 degrees nine months of the year. I drive a medium size car when I really should be driving a Prius. I shudder at the thought of drinking from a rainwater tank. I consume three PET bottles of water a day. My primary source of income is from marketing products people neither want nor should they be consuming.

Even I felt I really should do something about it, like paying Greenfleet to plant trees on my behalf to absorb my carbon emission sins.

Click here to look at the trailer.

posted by Yarravillean @ 6:43 am