DVD-An Inconvenient Truth

I finally got around to watching Al Gore's lecture to America called An Inconvenient Truth. Basically, it is a campaign video disguised as a college lecture in front of a jumbotron. By the end of the movie, you are convinced that Al Gore is going to make another run for the presidency. At the very least, you get the idea that Florida/SCOTUS will be responsible for the planet's destruction because they didn't give Al Gore the presidency.

Ultimately, this is all left wing gloom-and-doom. Global warming is seen as a political problem instead of what it truly is--a technological problem. If carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels are the reason why the planet is heating up, then the most logical answer would be to fully explore nuclear energy as an alternative fuel source. It already powers much of the US Navy. It is the cleanest energy source we have next to solar and wind power. And unlike those "renewable" energy sources, nuclear power is reliable and could meet much of our energy needs. You won't see a single item in Gore's movie praising it.

Gore dismisses critics like myself as putting money before the planet. That is a bit simplistic. What I will say is that the earth turning into a fireball in the next 200 years just isn't going to happen. Gore extrapolates from current trends and assumes they will go on uninterrupted forever. Even in the fireball, we'll still be driving around polluting the atmosphere with our fossil fuel emissions.

If you look at a timeline, you will see that the industrial revolution has always turned to more efficient and environmentally friendly energy sources. We went from wood to coal to oil. Then, this progression stopped as the environmental movement got started. These tree huggers can ban fossil fuels all they want, but they are more likely to produce a black market in these goods than to achieve their aims. This is the lesson of the current war on drugs.

Gore will argue that he is not looking for a ban on fossil fuels but a reduction in emissions. This is rather stupid. If the population of the earth is going to double, a mere reduction won't do anything for the planet except buy us a little more time. But it really is all bullshit. At some point in the movie (just like with Michael Moore,) Gore expects us to move from science to religion on this shit. He uses science to diagnose the problem, but politics is the "cure." Gore never mentions that maybe--just maybe--there is a technological solution to this problem. Not one time.

Unlike Mr. Gore, I believe that if this problem truly exists that we will also discover the means to solve it, and it won't involve electing Gore as president. Personally, I think we would be better off to truly tap nuclear power for much of our energy needs. This is anathema to the environmental crowd which is why Gore never mentioned it.

I recommend watching this DVD but to be critical in your viewing.

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