An Inconvenient Truth

Al Gore's book An Inconvient Truth: the planetary emergency of global warming and what we can do about it (Rodale, c2006) is not yet available in the college library (on order) - but you can see the movie now in one of several theaters in the area. Climatecrisis.net hosts a blog, news, reviews, the movie's trailer, and numerous links to more information about the book and film. As stated at Climatecrisis, "An Inconvenient Truth argues that global warming is not just about science, nor is it just a political issue: it is a moral issue and we have a responsibility to do something about it."

Linda Cook, Quad City Times (Davenport, IA) had this to say about the movie:

"In my heart of hearts, I know this isn't the best way to start a movie review. But in my heart of hearts, I also know I need to do what's right.
PLEASE. REGARDLESS OF YOUR POLITICAL AFFILIATION, OR LACK OF ONE, SEE THIS MOVIE.
Because you owe it to yourself, to your parents, to your children, your grandchildren, and to the very planet on which we live."

The movie effectively and convincingly presents scientific data demonstrating that global warming is an observable, measurable phenomenon. Among the abudantly clear evidence cited in the movie, Gore discusses fluctuations in dissolved carbon and oxygen embedded in ice sheets that are hundreds of thousands years old. Global warming is not a short-term aberration we should ignore, but a lasting effect of human activity we must correct or face dire consequences.

There are many recent books in the collection that provide more data and perspectives:
Global warming : a very short introduction by Mark Maslin (Oxford University Press, c2004) is now on the new book shelf.
Two other, more recent, books are
Field notes from a catastrophe : man, nature, and climate change / Elizabeth Kolbert (Bloomsbury Pub., 2006) and
Kicking the carbon habit : global warming and the case for renewable and nuclear energy / William Sweet (Columbia University Press, c2006).

Search "global warming" as a subject heading in OBIS to explore other titles.

What do scientists really say about global warming? Gore points out that in a random sample of recent peer-reviewed papers in science journals (well over 600 papers in the sample drawn from thousands of relevant papers), no scientist disagreed with the observation that global warming is occurring as a result of human activity. It is only the popular media that continues to perpetuate the myth that significant disagreement divides the scientific community on this issue.