About Opentopia
Opentopia Directory Encyclopedia Tools

An Inconvenient Truth

Encyclopedia : A : AN : ANI : An Inconvenient Truth

An Inconvenient Truth is a documentary film about global warming (also known as global climate change) by Davis Guggenheim, starring Al Gore. An Inconvenient Truth is also the title of a companion book (ISBN 1594865671) by Gore, which reached the top spot on the New York Times bestseller list. The documentary premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. It opened in New York and Los Angeles on May 24 2006.

Contents

Synopsis

An Inconvenient Truth book cover
Enlarge
An Inconvenient Truth book cover

Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore comes to grips with his life's purpose after the events of the 2000 Presidential election and rededicates himself to the struggle against global warming. Through a Keynote presentation ("the slide show") which he has presented worldwide, Gore explains the scientific evidence for global warming, discusses the morality, politics and economics of global warming, and describes the serious consequences that global climate change will produce in the near future if the amount of human-generated greenhouse gases are not significantly reduced in the very near future. The documentary ends with Gore noting that if appropriate action is taken soon, the effects of global warming can be successfully reversed, and calls upon audience members to learn how they can personally help in this initiative.

A book also by the name of An Inconvenient Truth, authored by Gore, was released concurrently with the theatrical release of the documentary. The book contains the scientific information and Gore's personal insights on global warming that are presented in the documentary in addition to further information on the issue.

Scientific basis

In the movie, Gore cites many scientific studies as evidence that global warming is real and largely man-made including:

The Associated Press contacted more than 100 top climate researchers and questioned them about the film's veracity. Although "most scientists had not seen the movie, which is in limited release, or read the book," all 19 climate scientists who had done so said that Gore conveyed the science correctly.[link] The U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, chaired by Jim Inhofe, issued a press release criticizing this article. [link] It should be noted that Inhofe's quote that "global warming is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people" appears in the film.

RealClimate has lauded the film's science as "remarkably up to date, with reference to some of the very latest research." [link]

While the film may have been largely accurate in reflecting the consensus scientific view on global warming, there is a small but vocal minority of scientists who disagree with that consensus (see Global warming controversy).

Origins

Al Gore explains the potential impact of Antarctic melting on global sea levels.
Enlarge
Al Gore explains the potential impact of Antarctic melting on global sea levels.

Gore first became intrigued by the topic of global warming when he took a course at Harvard University with Professor Roger Revelle, one of the first scientists to measure carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.[#endnote_Time] Later, when Gore was in Congress, he initiated the first congressional hearing on the subject, brought in climate scientists and began talking to politicians about the issue.[#endnote_Time2] He thought that once legislators heard the compelling evidence, they would be driven to action; ultimately though, the process would be slow.

In 1992, his book Earth in the Balance reached the New York Times bestseller list.

As Vice President during the Clinton Administration, Gore pushed for the implementation of a carbon tax to modify incentives to reduce fossil fuel consumption and thereby decrease emission of greenhouse gases; it was partially implemented in 1993. He helped broker the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty that aims to curb greenhouse gas emissions, but it was not ratified by the United States due to opposition in the Senate. Gore also supported the funding of a satellite called Triana to create more awareness of environmental issues and to take the first direct measurements of how much sunlight is reflected from the Earth. During his 2000 Presidential Campaign, he ran in part on a pledge to ratify the Kyoto Protocol.

After his defeat, Gore adapted an old slide show of his and began giving a global warming multimedia presentation across the country and the world. At the time of the film, he estimated he had shown the presentation more than a thousand times. Producers Laurie David and Lawrence Bender saw Gore's slide show in New York after the 2004 premiere of The Day After Tomorrow.[#endnote_Time3] Inspired, they met with director Davis Guggenheim about the possibility of making it into a movie. Guggenheim, who was skeptical at first, later saw the presentation for himself. Guggenheim was "blown away" and "left after an hour and a half thinking that global warming [was] the most important issue." "I had no idea how you’d make a film out of it, but I wanted to try," he said.[#endnote_Time4]

Promotion

Posters

Image:Aninconvenienttruth.jpg Image:Inconvienent-truth.jpg Image:Inconvenienttruth.jpg

Taglines

Film festivals

At the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, the movie received a three-time standing ovation. It was also screened at the Cannes Film Festival and was the opening night film at the 27th Durban International Film Festival on June 14 2006.

Reaction

Box office performance

The film opened in New York and Los Angeles on Wednesday, May 24 2006. On Memorial Day weekend, it grossed $91,447 per theater, the highest of any movie that weekend and a record for a documentary though it was only playing on four screens at the time.[link]

The film has grossed $15,039,000 as of July 9 2006, making it the fourth-highest grossing documentary in the U.S. to date (after Fahrenheit 9/11, March of the Penguins and Bowling for Columbine). [link]

Al Gore has stated "Tipper and I are devoting 100 percent of the profits from the book and the movie to a new bipartisan educational campaign to further spread the message about global warming." [link]

Reviews

Critical reaction to the film has been overwhelmingly positive: it has garnered a "certified fresh" 92% rating at Rotten Tomatoes (as of July 2 2006), with a 94% rating from the "Cream of the Crop" reviewers. Film critics Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper gave the film "two thumbs up". Ebert wrote: "In 39 years, I have never written these words in a movie review, but here they are: You owe it to yourself to see this film. If you do not, and you have grandchildren, you should explain to them why you decided not to."[link]

Awards

The film received a special recognition from the Humanitas Prize, the first time the organization handed out a Special Award in over 10 years.

Political response

Influences on popular culture

Trivia

See also

External links

Reviews

Interviews

Miscellaneous

Notes

  1. ↑  Voynar, Kim. "Sundance: An Inconvenient Truth Q & A - Al Gore on fire! No, really.", Cinematical, January 26 2006. [link]
  2. ↑  Remnick, David. "The Talk of the Town", New Yorker, April 14 2006.[link]
  3. ↑  Booth, William. "Al Gore, Sundance's Leading Man", Washington Post, January 26 2006. [link]
  4. ↑  Steffen, Alex. "Interview: Davis Guggenheim and An Inconvenient Truth", WorldChanging, May 4 2006. [link]

Global Warming
Subtopics
Scientific opinion | Attribution of causes | Effects | Mitigation | Adaptation | Controversy | Politics | Economics
Related Topics
Greenhouse effect | Greenhouse gases | Temperature data | Kyoto Protocol | Long-term climate change
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

 

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

Search Titles
0123456789
ABCDEFGHIJ
KLMNOPQRST
UVWXYZ?

E-mail this article to:

Personal Message: