Matthew Self
Theology Movie Assignment
5/1/07
An Inconvenient Truth Al Gore has dedicated much of his time to bringing the attention of people throughout the world to the problem o global warming. In An Inconvenient Truth, he provides several pieces of evidence from various sources showing the consequences of a global failure to care for the environment. Gore stated that in 2003 Europe suffered a heat wave that killed 35000 people. Also, global warming causes flooding in some areas, which then brings droughts to neighboring areas. Since 1963, Lake Chad between Darfur and Niger has nearly disappeared. Parts of Greenland have begun to melt and if the entire country were to melt, the water level throughout the world would rise an average of 20 ft; this environmental change would force many people living on the coast to displace. All of these scientific findings were presented in order to instill some sense of just how much people’s actions can affect the entire world on a long enough timeline. The worst part, though, is that these damages result from very recent global changes and that they are preventable in the future if enough people were willing to participate in certain measures. Gore tries to stress that all residents of Earth have a responsibility to preserve “what we take for granted [and] might not be here for our children.”

Before seeing this documentary, I knew little about the effects of and the reality of global warming. It opened my eyes to the drastic consequences of seemingly small actions like driving my car to school. Gore said that people tend to have little response if a change is gradual; but because so much time has passed since documentation of these changes started, my generation now has the awareness of the damage and a subsequent responsibility to act for the good of the world. I have achieved a greater sense of what “good” is and that the idea of good is a matter involving a world outside of my own comfort zone. My actions affect future generations as well as people living right now. To decide whether or not the manner in which I live my life is good or bad, right or wrong, I must consider the likely consequences of it and whose good I am actually working for. Gore poses the question: “Are we capable of doing great things although they are difficult?” He wants to pass the torch to the people that have a moral obligation to make an attempt at salvaging our already damaged habitat. And that people is everyone person living and yet-to-be-born: we all enjoy the fruits of the past, but now, we must try to provide such possibilities for those to come.