An Inconvenient Truth

I finally have time to blog about this movie. Last Wednesday my sister and I saw "An Inconvenient Truth" which we have been wanting to see for awhile. The theater was about half full which was surprising for a Wednesday night. If you are not familiar with the movie, it is a documentary about Al Gore's speeches about global warming. The movie is not overly political, but there are of course a few good coments about the Bush administration's environmental policy. (It sucks) But overall I felt that it was well presented, even though it was all stuff I had heard before. I expecially liked the pictures of various glaciers around the world that have dramatically melted in the last 30+ years. These glaciers have been around for ten thousand years, only to melt almost completely away in less than 100 years.

A geologist's view of global warming (mine): The earth has gone through many warming and cooling cycles in it's 4.5 billion year history. The last ice age ended 10,000 years ago and it is natural for the earth to get warmer. What is alarming is the rate that the earth is warming. Normally climate change is gradual, but there is overwhelming evidence that the earth is warming at such a speedy pace that people/animals are not having time to adapt. Most people think 1,000 years is a long time, but to geologists 1,000 years is like one second. When you compare 1,000 or even 10,000 years to the age of the Earth they are like seconds on the hour. So in no time at all, the Earth is warming with humans being the primary cause.

I don't feel that the global warming issue is a republican/democrat political issue, as people from both parties agree that it is happening. It is a an issue that concerns every person on the Earth. Everybody can do little things to help slow the warming process: turn off lights when not in use, use energy efficient appliances, drive a low emmision car, plant a tree, recycle. Everybody can make a diference.

End of personal rant.