Documentary Review: "The Inconvenient Truth"

Over the past couple weeks we've had the opportunity to watch a documentary of Al Gore's most famous work; "The Inconvenient Truth." Al Gore has traveled to many countries telling about his story. He is very passionate about making the changes that are crucial to our environment. Our survival is like a ticking time bomb if we don't take action and make some changes. Some people believe that this is proposal is a complete hoax. They don't think that we're the cause of all the high levels of carbon dioxide which is a false interpretation. Al Gore taught this lesson to us in a personable way. He made jokes and made the documentary entertaining to watch. I know that it made an impact on the whole class. I am the first group to discuss a documentary, so wish me luck, here it goes..

Gore's Beliefs:

He believes that in 50-70 years, the glaciers will be completely melted which will affect our clean water supply, aquatic life, and much more. Since an increase in temperature heats the water surrounding the glaciers, glaciers begin to melt. You can actually see the effects we've made on glaciers. Al Gore showed pictures of glaciers from 20 years ago and compared the exact same glaciers in present day. You can actually see how the glaciers have retreated each year.We are taking our beautiful environment for granted. So many changes in the environment have already taken place, what's going to be the result of our habits in 20 more years? This makes it impossible for polar bears to swim causing them to drown. We are the reason they're becoming endanged species. A really neat device that caught everyone's eye was how they determined the carbon level from the ice fragments. I couldn't believe how that was even possible.


Weather becomes more intense due to the increase in water temperatures. Stronger storms, hurricanes, and tornadoes have been the result of our careless actions. That's when it hit me, were we responsible for Hurricane Katrina? All the lives lost, the devestation to the community, and the homes ruined due to our lack of education and lifestyle.

Why Haven't We Changed?:
Something that really upsets me is the car industry. Why haven't car industries created more fuel efficient vehicles for us to travel in. It all comes down to money. Just like Al Gore said,"Old Habits + Old Technology = Consequences." If we could change the habits of the people and improve technology, we could find a solution to these problems. Currently, the United States is the largest contributer in our high levels of carbon. Al Gore actually had to ride a device that raised him to the level of carbon dioxide we are emitting into the atmosphere. It is at it's highest level it has ever been which is almost off the charts. Currently the United States and Australia are the only two countries in the world who have not adopted the Keyoto Protocol. Since we are the highest contributers, there is no reason why we should not be a part of this potential solution. We are becoming obsessed with war and terrorists than our own actions. New York City could be under water due to the melting of glaciers. China faces the same issues we're dealing with. Al Gore has gone overseas to discuss these issues. Al Gore is determined to come up with a solution. What if Al Gore won the presidency? Would we still be in this predicament that we're facing today? I hope that President Barack Obama will have the solutions we need to ensure our environments' safety.

Christen's Final Thoughts
We have been warned! We know everything we need to know! Effective electricity methods, lower mileage vehicles, and renewable technology are just a few ways to reduce our problems. The solutions are in our hands, we just have to go through with it. We can no longer make excuses of not being educated anymore. Al Gore gave us all the information we need to implement a program. If we can put men on the moon and contribute in war, we sure can take part in saving the environment. Towards the end of the film, he showed a cartoon display of a frog in a boiling pot of water. The frog was comfortable in the warm water until the temperature began to rise. He immediately jumped out as the water began to boil. This represents us in that we won't do anything until it's too late. We don't want to be like the frog and miss our chance to avoid all these horrific events coming our way.

Please learn from this proposal and be the first to make a change. Tell your friends and family about ways to reduce pollution and to conserve. We can make the change!It's not too late

Reflections: Weeks 3 and 4

Hello health environmentalists!!! Wow, what a busy couple weeks we’ve had. Dr. V sure is keeping us busy. Her advice about paying attention to Google Reader has really paid off. I am now more on top of keeping up with my fellow bloggers. It looks like we're getting the hang of the blog concepts. Everyone's blogs look amazing. Way to go everyone!

My Ecological Footprint:

The ecological footprint challenge was my favorite activity so far. We were asked to complete quizzes that involve our interactions with the environment around us. I took part in three quizzes that popped out at me. My favorite of these quizzes was definitely the Travel Calculator. By the looks of it, I have a lot of work to do to change my habits. My goals are to start car pooling more often and to take the bus more frequently. In the ecological footprint quiz, I couldn’t believe that it takes 4.4 planet Earths to provide the resources for my lifestyle. That is crazy!! I am obviously taking advantage of the resources around me. I did a little research on my car to calculate my miles per gallon. I found a really neat website called Fuel Economy that helped me compare my gas mileage to other individuals' vehicles as well. My car's average miles per gallon amounts to 23.6 miles in city driving and upper 20's on the freeway.

Inconvenient truth:

We had the opportunity of watching “The Inconvenient Truth” all week as well. This is one of Al Gore’s most famous projects that he’s presented over 1000 times. It really opened my eyes to the troubles we’re facing and what’s yet to come. I didn’t realize that global warming was becoming this big of problem until now.

I really enjoyed the film. You can tell that Al Gore is very passionate about his solutions in declining pollution sources to save our environment. Another thing that I liked about the video was his sense of humor. He made the video fun to watch. I’m not going to lie, I usually don’t like watching speakers on TV, but it really caught my attention. My favorite thing on the video was the methods of determining the carbon levels in the ice. I never would’ve thought that something like that was even possible. It just goes to show how far technology has come. After watching the film, I began to wonder what things would be like if Al Gore would've become president. Could he have made a difference in our carbon levels? I think that he had a lot of interesting information that should create a change.


Christen’s Thoughts:

I really am learning a lot through taking this course. I’m opening my mind to so many things and am really interested in making a difference. I am very encouraged on taking Al Gore’s challenge. It takes teamwork to overcome some of these battles we’re going to be faced with. It may be a lot of work, but in the end it's our life.
Take the challenge, and make a difference.