Formal Response - An Inconvenient Truth

In the beginning of "An Inconvenient Truth" by Al Gore, he shows satellite pictures taken of the Earth to show you how beautiful Earth really is. He also explains what global warming is by using a clip from the popular cartoon tv show called Futurama. Al Gore starts discussing glaciers and shows pictures of glaciers on Mt. Kilimanjaro, Glacier National Park, Italian Alps, Switzerland, and Peru. He shows pictures from years ago when the glaciers were larger and fuller and now, where they have melted and depleted by at least half of what they used to be. Gore discusses how we can use glaciers to measure past levels of CO2 in the atmosphere and past environmental temperatures. Ocean temperatures become the next topic and how ocean temperatures effect nature and weather. He also discusses factors causing global warming.

The central claim Al Gore is trying to voice is that global warming IS bad and we need to start making changes to fight against it or prevent it before it is too late. Gore uses pictures of the glaciers and the Earth to draw peoples attention. He also uses graphs showing how CO2 levels have progressed over millions of years and how recently CO2 levels are the highest they've ever been amd climbing. Also discussed is ocean temperatures and how the higher the temperature, the greater the winds which equals more storms. There was a greater amount of storms in 2004 and 2005 than ever before. An all time record was set of tornados and typhoons in 2004. Al Gore also showed maps and pictures of what would happen if Greenland or Antarctica melted; sea levels would flood cities.

When Al Gore showed the graph of the CO2 levels I was shocked. The levels are so high and have greatly increased and it is scary to think that CO2 levels are going to be three times that much in 50 years. I feel like this was meant to scare the people into action. The main data shown that affected me the most and got my attention was the computer demo of important cities and regions around the world being flooded and submerged under the ocean due to Greenland and Antarctica melting. This grasps your attention and I was extremely interested in this as it is a huge deal and if were to happen, would be a monumental catastrophe.

Al Gore throughout this film shows himself in a sympathetic, relatable way. He talks about his son and the accident he had when he was six. This made me sympathetic and be more trustful in Al Gore as a person. He uses mini stories of his sons accident, his life growing up on the farm, and his presidential campaign to make you relate to him and trust him and to see him as a normal man. Al Gore is a famous politician so he tries to get the audience to be sympathetic and trust him so they will better believe his argument about global warming.