An Inconvenient Truth

Yesterday I went to see the documentary titled "An Inconvenient Truth" at my local theater. The documentary is basically a glamorized version of a slide show and talk that former Vice President Al Gore has given hundreds of times, all across the globe. He emphasizes the importance of the environmental problems facing us today, particularly global warming.

The film's trailer made it look like the movie would be a terrifying wake-up call. Given the statistics, photographs, and information Mr. Gore presents in the film, we should be terrified. But I wasn't. Not even a little bit. Why? Because I've heard it all before during my geology and meteorology courses in college. I've read the same information in National Geographic. And in reputable science magazines, both in print and on the web. All the sources I have faith in tell me Al Gore is right, and we should be very worried.

After watching the film, I was reminded of all the things I could accomplish more efficiently. When I had a condo I added insulation, installed a programmable thermostat, replaced incandescant lightbulbs with compact flourescent bulbs, and limited my use of the air conditioner. But really, the whole idea of me living alone in such a big condo hints at a waste of energy. Now that I've sold the condo to a married couple, I feel better about that at least. To save fuel (and for the fun, of course) I travel via motorcycle, which gives me about 50 miles per gallon.

That's all good, but I'm still feeling guilty. Truth be told, I really like my pickup. Unfortunately, it only gets 17 mpg most of the time. It's a very useful and capable vehicle, but not at all efficient. A Honda Civic, for example, would serve my needs probably 90% of the time and it would get almost double the miles on a gallon of gas.

Anyhow, I am rambling. I hope you'll go and see Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth." It is an excellent summary of all the global warming related issues I've read about elsewhere.