Global warming is perhaps the greatest threat to the survival of mankind. At best, if ignored, it threatens to set us back 100s of years and kill millions, even billions of people before we adjust to its effects. At worst, it could turn Earth into Venus, extinguishing all life forever. Despite the best efforts of the Bush Administration to pull the nation's head into the sand along with them, the our country as well as the world is slowly waking to the danger that climate change presents. However, like a person with dawn's first light streaming in the window, half dreaming and half awake, an alarm clock is needed to bring full consciousness. That alarm clock for the global consciousness is here:
An Inconvenient Truth.
This is great to get a positive review for the movie in the NYTimes. I think that it serves two purposes:
1. It gives a lot of exposure to the film in the main stream press, exposing it and its message to millions of people who might not see or hear about the movie due to its limited release. The review covers some of the main points the movie is making, and author A. O. Scott takes pains to point out that this movie is applicable to everyone, regardless of political belief:
It is, after all, the job of political leaders and policymakers to protect against possible future calamities, to respond to the findings of science and to persuade the public that action must be taken to protect the common interest. But when this does not happen -- and it is hardly a partisan statement to observe that, in the case of global warming, it hasn't -- others must take up the responsibility: filmmakers, activists, scientists, even retired politicians.
and
But really, the idea that worrying about the effect of carbon-dioxide emissions on the world's climate makes you some kind of liberal kook is as tired as the image of Mr. Gore as a stiff, humorless speaker, someone to make fun of rather than take seriously.
This article raises awareness even if people choose not to see the movie.
2. It raises the stock of Al Gore. The author shows Gore as a remade man, who jokes, has an excellent on stage manner and rapport with his audience, is intelligent, and moral. Again, I think the benefit here is to re-introduce those folks who don't read DKos to Mr. Gore, and show that he's shed that stuffy, robotic image that plagued his appearances in his 2000 run for president. Although Gore has said he won't run, it's still early, and there's plenty of time to recruit him. From the Fantasy Straw Poll yesterday, it's easy to see that he's the DKos favorite. There's no reason why the rest of the country can't love him, too.
I recommend reading the review, which can be found here (you have to register, but it's not behind the firewall), then dragging as many people to the film as you can, if it's playing in your area. The fight against global warming is going to take each and every one of us, and the sooner we start, the more likely we'll lessen the harvest of what we have sown.