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An inconvenient truth
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by S-a-c-h-i-e-l
on 2007-02-25 14:59:11 (edited 2007-02-25 19:45:47)
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Some of you may have seen this, and some of you may have not... Regardless, it's about global warming... And some of this stuff is truly astounding. I saw a DVD on it, and I'll have to buy the DVD instead of getting it from the library... Something does need to be done. It's by Al Gore, and whether you hate him or like him, it really is something everyone 16 and above should see. It's produced by Americans, and it was meant for an American audience, but, considering the fact it's about global warming, it wouldn't hurt for non-Americans to see it ^_~ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_inconvenient_truth There's a link to it on the wiki... But it doesn't carry quite the same message and appeal as the movie did. I'm sure you can find the documentary for download somewhere for free; however, something like that would be quite the workload for a single site, so I'll leave everyone to their own sources if they would like to watch it; hopefully, one site won't receive too much more traffic than another XD If you want, check out wiki there... And if you're interested in that, then I strongly advise you to seek out the movie; I've done a little bit of googling, and judging by the results I got, it's out there for viewing somewhere. Remember, not everyone will see this, and not everyone that sees this will do anything; if you want a make any changes, then be my guest! Something like that, even if only 1/4 as bad as he described it happens, that's still bit freakin' devastating. We only have one place to live, we might as well make it worthwhile, you know?  |
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Re: An inconvenient truth
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by
on 2007-02-25 17:13:36 |
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i have some serious problems with this documentary. the film tackles an incredibly important topic, which is the capability of humans to effect the environment. gore emphasizes the importance of science and talks a lot about how he listens to them. however, his presentation is structured as a propaganda machine, not a scientific lecture. of course, i consider this kind of propaganda is a welcome breath of fresh air compared to the right-wing media, don't get me wrong. but, i find it tremendously damaging to trick people by feeding them biased and misleading information. for example, gore mentions many glaciers that are receding, but not any that are growing. by choosing selective examples, he looses credibility to a skeptical audience. if indeed the vast majority of glaciers were reseeding, why didn't he just say so? instead, he mentioned "a number of glaciers" were reseeding, but this does not mean the majority. i would speculate that, if a study was done, one might find a net loss of glacial ice. this information is clearly important to the issue, but gore neglects to mention it. why? another example, is the plethora of graphs shown which lack labels and magnitude on one or more of the axis, and many whose dependent axis is cropped, or exponential, but are not labeled as such. this is an atrocious and sneaky method used by politicians and advertisers alike to trick the layman into believing scientific results mean this or that, when they really imply no such thing. also, he talks about C02 levels and other climate properties over a time frame of the last million years. this is not a statistically significant amount of time as the geology of the Earth is concerned. now, don't get me wrong, i am an environmentalist. C02 emissions of today will cost a lot to remedy in the future. now, i don't think we owe anything to our planet or the penguins, or the trees. we do owe to our children the best world we can give them. i, personally, like penguins and trees, and want my kids to be able to see them. it just steams me when some jerk starts running their mouth off about science when what they mean is propaganda. i hate that. 
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Re: An inconvenient truth
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by S-a-c-h-i-e-l
on 2007-02-25 19:44:42
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So, taking all that into account... It's still a problem, isn't it? So we might as well try to correct it? :D |
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Re: An inconvenient truth
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by
on 2007-02-25 20:56:22 (edited 2007-02-25 20:58:56)
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let me put it this way, if i were king of the world i would have a carbon tax on all nations, and gore would not be making any more documentaries. all things considered, i am glad he made his documentary. it will have a positive effect on history. he could have done a better job without the fear propaganda (which is tasteless and unnecessary) as well as the misrepresentation of scientific data with intent to fool the laymen. the laymen deserves more respect than that.
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Re: An inconvenient truth
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by MiCHiYo μ
on 2007-02-25 21:16:57 (edited 2007-02-25 23:36:27)
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I've seen this film for Geography... and I noticed that this was a recording of ONE of his lectures. You see, if you are going to be recording a lecture, might as well record all of them and distribute the most adequate one, at least. Probably, one reason why the point of gendou up there about the glaciers is rather disturbing (it was for us as well, since we are Geographers and statistics is important to us) is because he didn't use the right terms, just as what he has said. But what we are not sure of is whether he used the same wordings and the same notes and the same lectures over and over and over again for every single one of them. This is where Psychology is applied, and where you need to keep your lecture constant. Every single word you say has an effect to the mean population, even if we're not aware of it. So if he says really bad statistical measures, and because any normal human being wouldn't really care about the accuracies of what has been dumped in front of them, it will be easily accepted. I agree that this film broadcasts only his point of views, ergo, it is somewhat a propaganda film. But if you think about any (again) normal human being making a documentary and is spitting out his own bloody opinion at the same time educating his viewers, then isn't that propaganda as well? His main objective was to influence his viewers and listeners with what he thought was the right and sufficient amount of information. And seriously... with the way politicians do it, do you really think he had the time to think whether or not he is creating propaganda? I'd bet he needed an adviser for that. Let's just make sure he doesn't try to run again next election, otherwise this can be used for campaigning as well. -michiyo- Capitalisation edited by YoSHiKuNi MiCHiYo on 25 February 2007 at 1130h Gendou Time. note: number of paragraphs have not been edited because it is meant to have ONLY two paragraphs. each paragraph talks about only one thing. 
 beware. the QueeN oF SiGGieS is here. kill that mr. scrolly or your siggy goes BAI BAI. it's solidarity month! let's be united! +[-- GeNDouNiaNS: i am half-back! visit my blog by clicking on the siggie banner! updated: 12.07.07 --]+
~*..:: i'm never going to give up... if i do, then it wasn't worth trying. ::..*~
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Re: An inconvenient truth
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/sigh Ok then, back on topic. Gobal warming is a natural process, humans have just accelerated it. Its effects can't be stopped or reversed, only slowed. The sun releases radiation which comes down to the earth's surface. It strikes the surface and warms it, then is reflected back up towards space. The earth is much cooler than the sun, so it reflects the radiation at a much lower wavelength. Now, what happens is that the greenhouse gases will absorb some of the reflected radiation before at can make it back into space, effectivly warming the earth's atmosphere. Did you know that over 80% of the greenhouse gases are natuarally ocurring. These include CO2, CH4, ozone, and (the biggest contributer) water vapour. So, any time any mammal releases a breath (or a fart), it is releasing greenhouse gases. Of course, plants help to slow the process by recycling the CO2. Unfortunatly, humans are like parasitic bacteria. They multiply at an alarming rate, and only take without giving back. To slow the process, ALL HUMANS would have to stop burning anything, plant a tree, stop farting, and start using birth control. That might give us a couple extra years. That will never happen though. The rainforests have been mangled beyond belief. There are many hot, non-plant supporting deserts that have been created by human action. CFCs greatly damage the ozone layer, allowing even more radiation to enter the atmosphere. And burning anything (from wood to fossil fuels) releases greenhouse gases. Face it, there isn't much that can be done. Feel free to bash me if you disagree.
Wise Man says: "Take a dog off its leash and it will wander."
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Re: An inconvenient truth
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by
on 2007-02-26 04:34:05 |
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Well my opinion is that the high up people there, really feel comfortable because of their status and start forgetting about something more important, something more significant, something more natural than having a family, chit-chatting or go for war. That something is earth, and because of the high up doesn't do anything, neither does the people that live under them, well some notice, some yelling, some trying hard to warned, and somewhere there was some that trying their best in their own ways. People are so people that eventually forgetting to thank to one originate thing that really support their live. Earth, this earth give foods, give live, give air. Yet they damage the earth, they plunder the earth, they bashing the earth, and yet they bomb, pierce, and suck the blood of the earth. I don't know when ALL the people will learn, probably not, not my pessimistic has no reason, let see. US has been struck by Katrina, yet bush still planned to deploy US army to Iraq, sure they treat the catastrophe well, but they didn't learned anything from them, sure if you talk about learning of course they learn to treat the casualties more faster next time, but they didn't learn about the earth that giving this catastrophe. sure there are geography people and some like us that concern about it, but see this, us and few that concern about the earth VS few high up VS many that neglect and ignore the matters. What chance do we have? The earth especially this year, occur some strange sign, the things that shouldn't have occur, occur this year. Is this the sign? Is this a warning? is this the time that we have to turn 180 degree? but even the earth giving sign, even our (many people, world organization, geography people) voices being yelled, the one that make the final choice of a new breakthrough is the higher up, cause what we do only affect a little, but what they say will affect a country, and when all of them say it will affect worldwide change. And when they ignore the basic, they just plain old hoax that us choose to lead, and they lead it to the vision only they have the interest. There are many world organizations, yet why so little progress is being done? There are many speeches about environment, yet why they only think profit? there are many report and test, yet why only in seminaries they say, 'true, we have to change' and maybe some say 'I’m going to talk with the president about this matter' or 'the government must know this' or 'this is the problem of our world' despite those saying are true or not, the result is the same "none", none of them, none of us, none of those, truly see and feel and think that this is something that must be done right here, right now, start from this time. We have no power, we're being drag even we like it or not. this is the reality, nothing couldn't been done unless the thing occur and we see it with our very eyes, cause talk never have more impact that the reality when something being told happen in front of them. And when that happen it's already to late to change anything, and we can only make things to adapt our new environment, either we perished or survive it is all in human 
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Re: An inconvenient truth
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by S-a-c-h-i-e-l
on 2007-02-26 07:17:56
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@Engineer: Well, if every family able to plant a tree planted one or two, and did some energy-saving (aka, money-saving) techniques, and starting focusing on getting cars that get higher mileage, and plenty of other things, that'd absolutely do something... Especially if recycling was emphasized, and entire forests were replanted, and logging was slowed down... Yet mankind sees the a scale with gold bars on one side, and the earth in the other... As long as the earth dies out after that person's dead, he might as well go for the gold! *tch, some people actually think this way* Regardless... I don't care if its inevitable, I don't care if this is "meant to be," I don't wanna know that I was responsible, even in part, for the earth's downfall. I'm gonna do what I can, however little, and get that guilt off my chest. |
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Re: An inconvenient truth
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humm...it might be unreasonable to ask people to stop ruining the planet, humans rarely learn from big mistakes (how many wars has there been? were they really necessary to make the world a better place?) we haven't even felt the devastating effects of global warming yet, yet we're supposed to change our ways? it's just not going to happen. i for one don't have time to think of sad stuff like global warming, i'm too busy with the more acute things in my own life, something like this doesn't feel realistic. and it's not like global warming will make humans extinct or be the end of the world. it just means the planet will be able to support less humans. and when a lot of people die, of course they don't go down quietly, there'll be a big uproar, perhaps the largest crisis in history. however if you look at the end of it all, perhaps there will be 5 billion wise people instead of 10 billion ignorant people? with a collective effort we could save humankind from a lot of pain? that's just theory. in practice our race isn't capable of that. don't i feel guilty? no, since i believe it's unavoidable. don't i feel obligated to present my children with the best possible world? i don't want children, but no matter what horrid time period i was born in, i wouldn't blame my parents of the people who lived before me. |
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Re: An inconvenient truth
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by
on 2007-02-28 11:01:17 (edited 2007-02-28 11:36:23)
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This thread has turned into a depressive whine-fest. I hate it when people bitch and moan like Aramis. 1. "...it might be unreasonable to ask people to stop ruining the planet..." First of all, pumping C02 isn't ruining the god damn planet! Even if all the ice melts and we live in a Jurassic-Park-like sauna for a few million years, it won't be a whole god damn lot different from the Jurassic period! What was wrong with the Jurassic period anyway? What do you got against pterosaurs anyway, you species-prejudice fuck? Your thinking is so species-centric it makes me want to vomit out my stomach and use it to blot up a meal of echinoderms. Second of all, if your neighbor is smoking you have every god damn right to tell him to stop if it is making you cough. Who the fuck ever said it was OK for people to ruin your precious natural resources? If group A is polluting the water of group B, they better damn well fix it, or pay up. I am the most left wing of left wingers, but even I wouldn't sit back and whine while someone stole my water supply right out from under me. If they wouldn't listen to reason, I would go to war and give my life so that my family could get clean water. Anyone would do that. Anyone who says otherwise has never been put in the position. That's why there are ways, dude. Not because people don't learn from their mistakes. It is because people are greedy. 2. "...we haven't even felt the devastating effects of global warming yet..." Cry me a river. I say, we haven't felt the devastating effects of the SUN ENGULFING THE EARTH! zomg every1 is going to die! If you are actually surprised at all by the fact that human activity might actually change the climate, I gather you've never been to south america, where the rain forest is being destroyed. what are you bringing to the conversation? fear? thanks, but no thanks. i think anyone reading this thread is amply aware of the implications and impact human industrialized nations are having on the planet. if your busy life dissociates you from reality, go join a monastery. in this topic, we try to engage in intelligent conversation, not mutter and spit about how we're all doomed. 3. " ... the planet will be able to support less humans ... " wanna bet? i bet you there will be 9 billion people by the year 2051. oh, and by the way, i'm sure the 6 billion people you just called ignorant would beg to differ, myself included. 4. "with a collective effort we could save humankind from a lot of pain? that's just theory." no, thats not a theory, thats a rhetorical question. you emphasize the incapability of our race. i see a species that, far from being incapable, has exploded in numbers and in the ability to harness and use energy. i see the only species on this planet capable of creating a written record, explaining nature, and planning it's own future. maybe you feel inadequate at planning your own future, but don't worry. there are thousands of scientists, laborers, and politicians working hard to make sure that you have clean water, ample food, affordable housing, and a safe neighborhood. granted, there are also people who aren't working for your benefit. from my personal experience, the vast majority of people are, however, working for the good of everybody. 5. "i believe it's unavoidable." fine. lets recycle your wasted molecules to feed a hungry Ethiopian child who wants to grow up to be a doctor. anyone who is as pessimistic as to say this isn't worth their molar mass in carbon. if you want to whisper depressive things to yourself at night before you go to sleep, have fun. don't bother my forum with your whining. 6. "i don't want children" thank god. don't have any, please!
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Re: An inconvenient truth
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while that last post of mine is possibly the least pessimistic way i can feel about this issue, it's not that i think so lowly of what people have achieved up to now. and it's not like this is the first case of nature showing who is boss. just that we know what to do when faced with a storm or a draught, but this is on a different scale. the aftermath and how people will adapt are anyone's guess at this point. that's why i'm not hoping too much from a prevention effort. |
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Re: An inconvenient truth
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by
on 2007-03-01 22:14:36 (edited 2007-03-01 22:16:10)
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Why do you have to personify nature? Clearly, something that isn't alive can't be in a managerial position. Personally, if i was caught in a storm, i would not want to be with a helpless pessimist like you Aramis!
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