An Inconvenient Truth

This week is "Belmont Goes Green" week at Belmont, and thus there have been several events to supplement that title. On Tuesday night, I was able to view a screening of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, his documentary to raise awareness about global warming. I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone that, well...lives on this earth. I think it was very well done (though definately not worthy of it's Oscar bid... just a political statement), though definately overly corny during Gore's back stories that interrupted his lecture. But this is a moral issue, not a political issue. It's a shame and an outrage to me that evangelical Christians are the primary force that are arguing against global warming. Of all groups, we should be the most concerned with this issue. God has given us this planet and made us responsible for it. It's our job and duty to God to take care of this place. I even believe there's a direct connection between the land and our spirituality. The Hebrews believed that everything is spiritual and that somehow there was a connection between the physical and the metaphysical. I happen to believe in our forefathers of our faith as well. Why wouldn't we be concerned about global warming? If it's real, which is pretty much the concensus, then we got some work to do. Even if it's not, isn't it better to be prepared than left with massive death and destructions on our hands? A cleaner earth shouldn't be the cause of debate. It's kind of obvious. But wait, that's gonna cost me something? As I quote directly from a U.S. delegate: "The American lifestyle is not up for negotiation." Wow. I don't understand, even if for some reason you have a logical base against global warming, people (mostly Christians) continually mock and ridicule Al Gore, though. He's attempting to do, what he considers, at least, some good in this world. We have enough people doing terrible things these days, but when someone believes in something so much and is so passionate about an issue that they believe will make the world a better place, as Al Gore is, we should commend them! Or bash them in bible studies. That's the Jesus Way.

One shocking thing I learned: Up until the time Gore was born, all the people on the earth only reached up to 2 billion people. It took from the beginning of the world until recently for the world to see 2 billion people. By the time he dies, the world is estimated to have 9 billion people on it. That's crazy to think about! Where are the resources to cover this increase coming from?

One thing I wished Gore covered more: economics and global warming. He glossed over it with sort of a joke and then later with just blowing it off: "Other countries are doing it." This is a real issue in the global warming debate, and I wasn't really satisfied with how he handled the issue. Give some real life solutions to how U.S. businesses won't have to go bankrupt by having environmentally friendly policies.