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An Inconvenient Truth
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|  | "An Inconvenient Truth" surprised me when I first looked through it. I was expecting more words and more studies and less pictures and less about Al Gore's nifty life.
Yes, global warming is a fact and this book does a good job in getting that point across. It contains photographs which compare the before and after effects of global warning, but the pictures do not clearly provide the month or season that they were taken, so they do leave some doubt in the reader's mind as to the evidence being provided by the book.
The book does serve a purpose in that it has made me think more of our poor earth and it has encouraged me to lessen my carbon footprint.
| | Al Gore has done an excellent job on this book | |
| | First, let me say that I'm not reviewing Al Gore, just the book, An Inconvenient Truth--and I felt the urge to make that clear. As tempting as it is, but this is not a political forum, however. Gore's facts are legion, and his way of stringing them together is intelligent and compelling--building a powerful picture of a world ecology at risk. An Inconvenient Truth is very informative and an easy to read book. The material presented flows coherently. The pictures are astonishing, and the charts and the supporting data are easy to grasp. Former vice-president Al Gore has done an excellent job on this book and shared his years of experience on climate issue by putting together an outstanding presentation suitable for all ages and backgrounds. Gore has managed to paint a clear picture of the human caused aspects of global warming and the need to kick efforts at reducing our heat producing activities into high gear. It's a well-written analyses on global warming: covers all the bases and, instead of ignoring the critics, intelligently acknowledges their arguments and refutes them. Even if you don't like Al, I think you'll find he knows the subject well. And if you read what he has to say, instead of forming your opinion based on negative things you hear from other people, you may even develop respect for Al, if you aren't one who already has it.
| | "Consensus as the one that has developed around [global warming] is rare in science" | |
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Answer true or false to these twelve statements:
(1) The atmosphere is thin enough that humans are capable of changing its composition.
(2) Of all the greenhouse gases, water vapor is the most important by far.
(3) Global warming is really an illusion reflecting nature's cyclical fluctuations. After all, the Earth's surface has warmed significantly in the past.
(4) If you look at the 21 hottest years measured, 20 of them have occurred within the last 25 years.
(5) Major storms spinning in both the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans since the 1970s show no increase in duration and intensity.
(6) There are two places on Earth that are especially sensitive to the effects of global warming: the Arctic and the Antarctic.
(7) The rate of species extinction is many times higher now than before causing a mass extinction crisis.
(8) The United States is responsible for more greenhouse gas pollution than South America, Africa, the Middle East, Australia, Japan, and Asia combined.
(9) There is serious disagreement among scientists about global warming.
(10) If we want to reduce global warming emissions, we have to unfortunately choose between a healthy economy and a healthy environment.
(11) Antarctica's ice sheets are growing so it must not be true that global warming is causing glaciers and sea ice to melt.
(12) Temperatures in some areas on Earth aren't increasing, so global warming might be true but the consequences of it are an exaggeration.
If you answered false to any one of statements (1,4,6,7,8) or true to any one of statements (2,3,5,9,10,11,12), then you may need the help of this riveting, eye-opening, easy to read, and colorful book by the forty-fifth vice president of the United States, Al Gore.
I noticed that this book is different. There is no table of contents or index. I think Gore did not have these because he wants readers to be surprised at the unpredictablness of global warming and climate change.
This book can be roughly divided into eight sections with each section being divided by a brief interlude (printed on a yellow background) about some aspect of Gore's life such as information about his family, his career, and why global warming is such a concern to him.
As well, throughout the book are "blue boxes" that has print on a blue background. These highlight very briefly things readers should know with respect to global warming and its consequences. The titles of these boxes are as follows:
(1) What exactly are greenhouse gases?
(2) The insurance industry. (The effects on it due to global warming.)
(3) The effects of Lake Chad's disappearance. (When it was full, this lake was the sixth largest in the world, straddling the borders of Chad, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Niger.)
(4) Infrastructure at risk by 2050 due to permafrost thaw. (Permafrost is soil that is supposed to be permanently frozen.)
(5) A primer on alternative fuels.
(6) March of the penguins. (The penguin population has reduced significantly.)
(7) The carbon exchange market. (Explains how the power of market forces is used to help reduce carbon emissions.)
(8) Using market capitalism as an ally (in the fight on global warming and climate change).
(9) Wind power.
(10) Healing the ozone layer.
Between the yellow background interludes and blue boxes is a plethora of color maps, graphs, charts, insightful quotations in large font (the quotation that titles this review is one such quotation that was uttered by the editor in chief of "Science" Magazine) and especially pictures (even pull-out ones). All of these especially the dizzying array of color pictures convey the scientific causes and the consequences of global warming and climate change.
Be aware that some of these pictures are surprisingly graphic. One picture with the caption "Devastation outside the Superdome, New Orleans, LA, September 2005" in particular caught my eye. It includes the floating body of a dead male child.
The very last part of the book is entitled "So here's what you personally can do to help solve the climate crisis." Interspersed through the suggestions of what an individual can do are "The 10 most common misconceptions about global warming." These are printed on, appropriately enough, a green background.
Finally, some people say that Gore is a non-scientist and so he does not have the credentials to write such a book. True, Gore is a non-scientist but he has access to many scientists. In the "Acknowledgements" section he writes:
"Among the many scientists who have helped me over the years to understand [the] issues [of global warming and climate change], I want to single out a small group that has played a particular role in advising me on this book." He goes on to list the names of a dozen of them. Gore continues:
"In addition, three distinguished scientists whose work and inspiration were central to this book are now deceased." He lists their names including the great Dr. Carl Sagan.
In conclusion, I want to leave you with the words of Carl Sagan that I feel summarize Al Gore's fascinating book:
"Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. [To see that the Earth is truly a "speck," refer to the picture of the Earth as seen from about 3.5 billion miles by the Voyager 1 spacecraft. Gore includes this astonishing picture in his book.] In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which [the human] species could migrate. Visit yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand."
(first published 2006; introduction; main narrative 320 pages; acknowledgements; credits)
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| | | Excellent - do buy this book! I loved it. While you are here, check out Trash Talk (ISBN#141372518X) which helps individuals make a real and measureable difference in their communities and in the world... simply through better waste and resource management!
| | | I have to admit, I get a kick out of people who deny global warming. As a member of the scientific community, I always wonder how people can wholehartedly embrace the discoveries of science on one hand, while rejecting other discoveries on the other. This is a wonderful book, although at times I wish there was more depth; though I realize that was not it's intention. My only concern is that it might reduce global warming to a "coffee table" issue -- which may in fact do an injustice to the issue. On the other had, Gore's book will get people talking. It's well put together, and alarming. For those who deny climate change, unfortuanately those in the know (with experience, training, and knowledge) will continue fighting with out you. The media didn't create this phenomenon, it just finally paid attention. We need to act, and we need to act fast. I suspect this book will make a wonderful contribution to the cause for years to come.
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