Everyone’s been raving about this movie, which I found odd considering Al is kind of, well, a stuffed shirt. Indeed, the film is like one long Power Point presentation, but it marks him as a person who knows his stuff, pounding the pavement for decades on a lonely mission to convince Americans and American politicians that the time to do something is now.. Not tomorrow, not in a year, not in ten. Now.

Supposedly, people have argued with his science. Surely he can’t be absolutely sure of the timeline on his future projections, but they are clearly based on a trajectory we have been on for decades, so it’s hardly a flawed hypothesis. To be honest, although I am already slanted in Al’s direction, I can’t see how you can find fault with his science. It’s not his science, after all. Other people did the research, created the charts. Al’s just showing us the truth. He’s showing us that people who have spoken this truth have had their lives threatened. Scientists in other places and times have actually been forced to change findings to please a status quo, or to keep mum about new information. Al just doesn’t understand why the US insist on focusing on three gold bars (symbolic of present day economics) when the entire globe hangs in the balance.

What horrified me was how we have the lowest automobile (emissions and miles per gallon) standards in the world. We are even behind China in this regard, China who is about to pass us or already has in terms of numbers of vehicles used daily in their country versus ours. We do more damage to the environment than any other country, and we do the least to prevent it, even though we are some big “super power”. Super power fart is what we are.

All I can say is, hang on. Learn to swim because we may be underwater soon, and if we aren’t, we may burn ourselves up in our formerly moderate environs (like mine in the NorthEast) as they go desert-like and unliveable.

At the end of the film, suggestions are offered on how to go “carbon neutral” and how to make changes that will help. One I loved: rather than say “Buy a hybrid” it said If you can, buy a hybrid. :) I appreciated that.