My copy of "An Inconvenient Truth" has made it back to me

[Subdivisions]

and I am re-watching it now.

As I was the first time I viewed it, I am struck at the implications of the graph (President) Gore shows that illustrates the CO₂ concentrations in the atmosphere today compared to the past 650,000 years.

I am HORRIFIED at the projection of CO₂ levels, and the implications of such, as they continue to climb within my lifetime.

So, what would it take to absolutely TERRIFY me (besides a speech by Bush)? Contemplating the world that my children, and yours, will have to deal with. What a legacy we are leaving to them.

Right now, I am officially:

TERRIFIED!

We must do something

NOW!!!

[givemebackmycountry]

1. I'm getting ready to watch it for the first time today...

You say we must do something...here is the first thing we must do.

NO MORE PRO-OIL POLITICIANS!

[Subdivisions]

2. It will scare the hell out of you. Hold on tight!

[femmedem]

7. I am wondering what initiatives we can pressure our local governments to take

to reduce global warming. Greener schools? Zoning and tax code changes to encourage higher density population in small cities and suburban areas so that mass transit become feasible?

Edit to add: And yes, I'm terrified, too. I was at a bookstore last night, and it seemed absolutely surreal to me that people were just going about their business, that the shelves were filled with books and plastic pens and colorful printed papers. I couldn't help but think of the photo of the polar bears on their tiny, tiny ice raft which was about to disappear. The earth is our ice, and we don't know what to do except hang on as long as possible.

[Cabcere]

3. I just saw it for the first time last night

and you're right, it is very, very scary. :scared: Definitely worth watching, though. Gore did an excellent job with this. :thumbsup:

[halobeam]

4. Saw it in June when it first came out in theatres

it was simply amazing.

Take Gores message though. We can HELP this.

[Cabcere]

5. The Student Environmental Action Committee

put on the showing last night, and it was quite a turnout. :) They're also organizing a rally on Monday to lobby the college president for more energy-efficient policies that would reduce our carbon emissions to zero by the year 2020. I'm hoping a lot of people show up, especially since this president has already implemented some eco-friendly policy changes proposed by SEAC and seems likely to continue the trend. :) It's not much, but it's certainly a start, and I'm hoping the large number of people who saw the film last night will be galvanized into action.

[halobeam]

9. Thats excellent!

You know... our kids will do more than we will. They already have gotten on their parents backs for years now about quitting smoking... Once they get the impact re: climate change... they will be demanding light bulbs to be changed, etc... things that can make a difference when the majority of people do it.

Have a "change your lightbulbs" day... or contest .. whichever grades changes the most (parents sign off on # of light bulbs) then they win free play instead of English for two days.... SOMETHING that will motivate the kids while educating them AND putting an idea into a team ACTION.

Colleges could offer incentives for students.... drop your lowest grade on a test in Science.. something like that.. provide pics of before and after light bulb switches in five rooms of your house....

ANYTHING to get this going.

I'm sure the more who learn, do good things with their knowledge. You can't unlearn something.

[Cabcere]

11. Great ideas

One of my friends and I were talking about how we could change things after the movie, and she basically said a lot of the things that you mentioned (about kids being a great force for change, etc.). The one thing we're worried about (well, besides the obvious - climate change, pollution, wars, etc.) is running out of steam. She is 20, I am 21, and we both see a lot of potential to change things for the better...but it seems like every generation of college kids seems to get all these great ideas about changing the world, and then they get distracted by other things, settle down and lose some of that intensity. I don't want that to happen - I realize things change once you get out of college, but I don't want to fall into that trap. :dilemma:

[Princess Buttercup]

12. I started showing it to my Girl Scout troop

We watched part of it, then talked about it, and will do the same thing at our next few meetings until we finished. The girls are 11 and 12 and it really made an impression on them. Their initial reactions after I stopped the DVD were "surprising," "scary," and "disturbing." Then they started asking "what can we do?" The next morning the Paris report was on the news. My daughter started crying when she was watching it. I saw two of her friends from the troop after school and they mentioned the report. I doubt they would have paid attention to it if we hadn't started watching the movie.

Keep in mind that these are middle schoolers. You would think the last thing that would get their attention would be charts. That was the part that grabbed their attention the most--the dramatic impact recorded on the charts.

LE

[file83]

6. To those whom have not seen I.T., do yourselves and all of us a favor: Watch I.T.!!!

(I.T. = Inconvenient Truth)

[malaise]

8. I watched it again last night

Funny how that graph hit me again.

[Lorien]

10. My best friend's father has been studying climate change for 46 years

in Antarctica. What I overheard at his home during my teen years (the '80's) while he talked to colleagues made me decide NEVER to have children. What's shocking to me now is how ahead of schedule all of the predictions he made are. Now I don't only expect the next generation to be snuffed out by climate change, I expect my own to be as well. Wars over dwindling resources, crop and forest failures, superstorms and new diseases...it's a very ugly future I'm afraid. If I could afford to have myself sterilized just to be sure then I would-I could never bring another soul into what we've created. It would be the worst kind of cruelty. My father recently saw "an inconvenient truth" and told me how thankful he was that I never gave him any grandchildren!

[Skidmore]

13. I so want to see this film.

I can't afford to buy it now and we don't have a library in our town.