I have a couple of days in Saskatoon this week, and today I did something that has been on my personal to-do list for a while - I saw the film An Inconvenient Truth. (Tangential note - I saw the film at the Broadway Theatre in Saskatoon. If you love films, and you like to see them in movie houses instead of megaplexes at the mall, this is the place to go!) An Inconvenient Truth is essentially a documentary presentation of Al Gore’s slideshow presentation that he has made around the world on the topic of global warming and climate change, along with some biographical bits about Al that provide some background not only about how he came to be concerned about climate change over the past 30 years but also some personal examples of how people can manage to ignore the truth of the consequences of their actions.
There are two levels at which I watched and appreciated the documentary. I suppose the more trite and insignificant level is as a teacher/instructional designer. The movie is, amongst other things, a great commercial for Apple and especially its Keynote presentation software. These are the tools we are shown Al Gore using as he crafts his presentation. As I watched the presentation, I appreciated how well crafted it was - not too much information on any slide, great use of graphics and video - and how well Al Gore delivered it. It brings home the point that a good presentation, like any form of instruction, needs to be carefully crafted, revised and polished over time.
The other level at which I appreciated the film was for its main message about climate change. Gore clearly explains the science and the data. Once this is out on DVD, I will definitely be using it in Science/Biology classes. There may be many skeptics as to the cause of climate change or the effects of carbon dioxide emissions, but I don’t see how any rational human being could see this without realizing the urgency to do something that reduces our carbon dioxide emissions, on a personal, national and global level. Although I’ve taught Biology for many years, and climate change has been a notable topic in my classes, I didn’t realize how quickly the changes may come upon us. The canaries have been dying in this global coal mine all over the place, and too many people with power are urging to keep digging.
If you haven’t seen this film, see it. If you have seen this film, see it again and take a climate change skeptic with you. You can find out where it is currently playing on the documentary’s web site. I note with some ironic amusement that it is currently showing in Calgary, home of the Canadian oil industry and Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s constituency. I wonder if he’s planning to see it?
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