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| The Book In Question Source: Amazon |
Al Gore in 'An Inconvenient Truth' talks about the two vows he has made to himself, the first was to always put his family first and the second was to ensure he put trying to tackle climate change and the top of his professional career. What alarmed Gore throughout his professional career in politics was the resistance to the changes he was trying to put in place with regards to the environment - a resistance he feels was strengthened with the take over in 1994 of the Republican party. As an environmental activist Gore had to watch George W. Bush reverse a pledge to reduce CO2 emissions that had helped him win office, in his very first week of presidency. Then further watch as he weakened existing laws and regulations with regards to emissions. (Gore, 2006)
The relatability of 'An Inconvenient Truth' is what makes it so genius, in my opinion. As research for this blog and to understand more what Al Gore was about I got the book out of the library. Expecting it to be a serious of research papers as is usual for university reading nowadays I was more than excited to find a book of large text, quotes and pictures! This is exactly the kind of book people need to understand the severity of the problem of climate change. Al Gore is able to use simple understandable anecdotes to explain the problem, for example...
"My friend, the late Carl Sagan, used to say, "If you had a globe covered with a coat of varnish, the thickness of that varnish would be about the same as the thickness of the Earth's atmosphere compared to the Earth itself"." (An Inconvenient Truth, 2006)
...A simple image created for the reader about the fragility and the instability of the atmosphere. The images used in 'An Inconvenient Truth' are carefully chosen and vivid and bold, the use of graphs and charts are colourful and simple and clear. You don't have to be a scientist to understand this book, you don't even really need to read it. (obviously you do, but what I mean is a child could flick through it's pages and see some of the pictures, especially the comparison pictures of areas and hopefully it'll trigger their questions and inquisitive minds).
If you ever get the chance in a book shop or a library to flick through it's pages I advise you to have a look, Gore has spot on hit his target audience - the average American - in an attempt to educate anybody about climate change and has done an excellent job. This isn't just my opinion either, the book topped the New York Times best seller list.
Box Office Success
'An Inconvenient Truth' was turned into a Academy Award winning documentary with a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 93%. (Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire got 88% and Frozen only got 89% as reference points). As with any form of success there is always criticism from somewhere and this came in thick and fast for 'An Inconvenient Truth'. Gore was accused of using the film to generate attention for a suspected upcoming presidential run against Bush, obviously this was quashed when Gore did not run for presidency again. The genuine commitment of Gore to the education of his public to the problems of climate change through the endeavors of 'An Inconvenient Truth' helped him win a Nobel Peace prize in 2007. (Besel, 2011)
I remember reading somewhere that Al Gore once said that two basic ethical positions exist - the economy first or the environment first - and that this makes no sense as without an environment you cannot have am economy.
ReplyDeleteOther than that I'm not sure I'd agree that he's done an excellent job. He essentially says we'll be fine if we carry on exactly as we are but with a few efficient light bulb and a bit of cycling. Its essentially ecological modernism that wants to make a profitable market out of climate change, and a weak form at that!
I have to agree with Timothy Luke when he says that Gore sells himself as the bringer of balance and then positions himself as a leader. His Alliance for Climate Protection is full of business leaders which demonstrates how little Gore understands about the problems that exist in America in the first place; they are the ones causing the problems he's enlisted them to solve, not to mention that this removes control from the democratically elected representatives (although as you've shown a lot of those are pretty useless).
I agree he does a great job of highlighting the problem but do you really think he's a suitable advocate of the solution?
(http://www.envplan.com/abstract.cgi?id=a40158)!!
ReplyDeleteHi Alex! Thanks for the link, you can be the inspiration for an upcoming post on that one!
ReplyDeleteI like his work as an educator, which is really what I was referring to with the "excellent" comment. Have you seen a copy of the book? There's some in the UCL science library, it really does a good job of highlighting the problem in a simple and accessible way! I think the intent is there, he does care about what he's preaching.
As an advocate for the solution not so much haha
The post was simply me trying to highlight that there have been people in the Senate that do appear to care about the environment and I was just highlighting that. Compared to other politicians of the time he's an environmental saint but i do agree with you on the solution front, there is a lot more he could and should be doing!