Last night the wednesday night group got together at my house. Somehow we got talking about global warming so we decided to watch An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore's documentary on the scientific evidence regarding global warming that ought to concern all of us.
In the film, Gore quotes Upton Sinclair, "It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it." I think the result of that truth has led to a general doubting of the science surrounding global warming warnings. I think it might be time to question those doubts. Gore talks about the danger of going from doubt to despair. And if you see the film, you would recognize how an inconvenient truth could lead to despair.
After watching it I got a sense that I should at least try to do something myself. My first thought was, "I should sell my gas guzzeling truck." Unfortunately this isn't necessairly going to do any good. If I sell my truck then some other guy will be burning the gas in it. Obviously this doesn't really solve anything. This is just one example of how it can seem overwhelming to address issues such as these. What are we supposed to do anyway?
www.climatecrisis.net is the web site dedicated to helping people better understand this issue. There are several simple and practical explanations of what you can do to help. You can even calculate your impact.
At one point in the film there was a picture of a giant scale with gold bars on one side and the world on the other. I'd suggest checking out the DVD and the website to see if you think it's worth what it might cost us to do nothing.
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