Al Gore talks about the ill effects global warming could have on our society. He stresses that the rise in CO2 levels and temperature will continue to have major effects on our sea levels. Activists like Gore continue to scare people with their extreme theories; showing audiences of people computer graphic models of cities like San Francisco and New York City half under water. Gore claims that this is due to the CO2 levels rising causing the melting of ice caps. He takes his ideas further by presenting the idea of another possible ice age in the coming years if the ice caps and glaciers continue to dump cool water into our oceans. Is Al Gore accurate with his claims? Do we have a worldwide problem on our hand or is this whole global warming thing just getting carried away? Gore claims he gets his information from a “range” of predictions, but somehow his claims are always on the extreme high end of those predictions. Gore presents several problems that he believes could occur from sea levels rising, but according to other scientists and researchers his claims are extreme and exaggerated.
Al Gore states that as the ice caps melt, the sea levels will then rise. Gore claims that the sea will rise as much as 20 ft. If this happens large cities like New York, San Francisco and Shanghai will be underwater. More importantly, millions of people will potentially lose their homes as entire plots of land will be reclaimed by the sea. However, as scary as all this might seem, Gore has been criticized for exaggerating the effects of the rising sea levels. According to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts the sea will rise 17 inches by 2100 (Booker), which is way off Gore’s prediction of 20 feet. Swedish geologist and physicist Dr. Nils-Axel Morner has been studying the sea levels for 35 years and says that “the sea is not rising... it hasn’t risen in 50 years” (Booker). It should be noted that this is Dr. Morner’s opinion, not facts. Al Gore’s claims about the ice melting and sea levels rising may be true, however to what extent is unclear.
If New York city being under water doesn’t worry you, how does another ice age sound? Thats right, an ice age. After Gore’s bold prediction of sea levels rising over 20 feet, he then leads into talks about the possibility of another ice age. Many scientist claim that the earths climate is a non-linear system; basically that changes don’t always gradually happen and that some could come suddenly. Gore claims that if the earths temperature increased just 5 degrees fahrenheit, the earths poles would go up about 12 degrees with the equator only increasing about one degree. Gore continues by saying scientist have specifically studied the north atlantic ocean. This is where the gulf stream comes up and meets the cold winds coming off greenland. Those winds evaporate that heat out of the gulf stream, and the steam is eventually carried by the earths rotation and prevailing winds across Europe heating it up. When the heat is pulled out in the north atlantic due to evaporation, it leaves behind saltier, colder water which makes it denser and heavier causing it to sink. This is what pulls that current back south and helps keep the ocean conveyor flowing. “Well what if that conveyor were to stop?” asks Gore. After the last Ice age, according to Gore, a pool of fresh water formed over North America and the remnants of this great pool are the great lakes. An Ice dam formed on the eastern seaboard while this pool continued to grow, until finally one day it broke. All that fresh water came rushing out into the north atlantic and made all that dense, heavy water lighter and fresher. This stopped the water from sinking and eventually from pulling that current back south. This ended in shutting off the ocean conveyor and currents. Surely enough, this halted evaporation of that warm water. Europe wasn’t getting all that warm air from the gulf anymore and this ended up sending them back into an Ice age for another 900 to a 1,000 years. Their conditions changed from normal temperatures to an ice age in just 10 years. Gore believes that the glaciers in Greenland could eventually cause history to repeat itself if global temperatures continue to rise, but is he right?
Although Scientists don’t rule out the possibility of Gore’s ice age claims, NSIDC scientists Walt Meier and Ted Scambos do call them, “very unlikely,” and “very extreme.” The only proof that scientists currently have that could suggest the possibility of a previous ice age due to Greenland are matching sediment samples found in the north atlantic and Greenland. There is a possibility that these samples are from an ice age thousands of years ago after Greenland’s glaciers melted; the fresh water from Greenland’s glaciers would have carried these into the north atlantic. However, there is also the possibility these samples just came from erosion of the country over thousands of years. Although Gore’s claims are possible, scientist say the possibility of this really happening is about 5% and would not happen for at least a 1000 years. Was Gore right? I guess you could say so, but he didn’t need to make such a fuss.
In the beginning of the film Inconvenient Truth it takes us through nature and shows just how beautiful it is. Its peacefulness, calmness, and purity it all seems so natural. As Gore begins to talk, he explains how much our world is changing and the pureness of our environment is disappearing. It will eventually be completely gone. Humans are doing this to our environment, Destroying our beauty day by day.
As Gore goes on in his argument on why our environment is beginning destroyed he then shows before and after images of glaciers around the world. In Kilimanjaro, within a decade there will be barely anymore snow on the glacier. In Nepal, they use the melted water that comes off the glaciers for drinking water. Those people are going to suffer here in the next few years because there won't be anymore water to collect. The people that climb glaciers are seeing them fall apart everyday. Gore explains how we are allowing this to happen, most don't think it’s a big deal but it’s changing our world for the worse.
The Arctic ice caps had a huge drop off, it has diminished by 40 percent in 40 years. Studies have shown that within the next 50-70 years it will be completely gone in the summer time. There is a faster buildup of heat on the Arctic than anywhere else on the planet. This is a huge problem for the animals around the Arctic. Polar Bears live off the ice in the waters and depend on it. They can’t swim very well so when they don't have the ice to go too, many of them are drowning and dying. There are studies shown that some polar bears have swam up to sixty miles just to try and find the ice.
In Gore’s film he gives great examples and talks very clearing on what is happening to the world. These are terrible issues, but there are always ideas people can do to help make a change. At the very end of the film it shows different ways to help our world. If we don't take a stand now and try to make a change, things will only get worse. The littlest things are tearing our world a part and it is our job to make it stop. some may not see it now, but these issues are affecting everyone and everything around the world. Gore is trying to help people understand all these issues, which is a great start to making a change.