"An Inconvenient Truth" battles the truth

Have you ever watched Al Gore's documentary film "An Inconvenient Truth?" It's about the dangers of global warming and how to save our environment from such catastrophic wrath of nature.

Al Gore won the Noble Peace Prize for spreading the message straight to the people. When I watched the documentary with one of my sisters-in-law Onie, I was moved, worried, and scared of what might happen to our mother earth in the next millennium if things continue to be that way. Would our future generations ever enjoy the scenery of perfect landscape of the mountains, trees, lakes, and clean air to breath? That may sound paranoid but true.

Just last week, I watched CNN's investigative report featuring Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" and how some critics reacted to his scientific explanation of global warming. Sounds interesting. They pointed out nine mistakes or misleading information to the public that they say is highly disturbing. I just got four of them.

Inconvenient Truth (IT): Hurricanes are getting stronger because of global warming. Global warming clearly increases the intensity of the hurricanes. One example is the hurricane Katrina that hit the US taking thousands of lives.
Critic: CNN Meteorologist Rob Marciano claims that hurricanes have no direct connection to global warming. Based on data over the last twenty years, there is no significant increasing trend that is evident in global ACE (accumulated cyclone energy).

IT: Polar bears in the North are drowning because the ice are melting. There is a desperate need to save them before they all become extinct in the future. In 2002, World Wildlife Fund issued a report of global warming was endangering polar bears. Arctic sea is thawing sooner so the polar bears hunting for seals has fewer opportunities to feed themselves.
Critic: Recently, four polar bears have died due to heavy storm. There has been no report of polar bears who died because of drowning. Yet, World Wildlife Fund also reported that most bear population is either stable or increasing. And remember, polar bears evidently survived when Arctic temperatures were warmer 6000 years ago.

IT: The sea level will rise up to 20 feet in year 2100 due to the dramatic melting of ice caps in Antartic and Greenland. Thousands of refugees from the neighboring states or countries such as southern Florida, southern Manhattan, Shanghai, and Bangladesh will be greatly affected.
Critic: Sea level is likely to rise between 4 and 35 inches with a central value of 19 inches. 19 inches is not nothing and is three times greater than the sea level rise the world experienced during the 20th century, but Manhattan and most of Florida will most likely still be above water in 2100. A new Science study concluded that it would take at least 500 to 1000 years to completely melt away the ice sheet in Greenland if temperatures continue to rise steeply.

IT: The increase of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels is the chief contemporary driver of global warming. The temperatures and carbon dioxide go up in tandem over the last four ice ages. So what does that mean? Humans inhale oxygen then exhales carbon dioxide.
Critic: This is true but Gore failed to mention something interesting. Temperatures go up first and then the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases some 800 or more years later. So at this point in time, there's not much increase of CO2.

I honestly have no idea what the last one meant but it obviously trying to oppose the statement of the increase of carbon dioxide on this generation.

There were more issues discussed in the documentary film but here's my say. I personally do not know Al Gore. Some Americans may look at him as an insane buffoon who promotes save the earth and yet lost in the presidential elections but his message on global warming is as clear as the sun in daylight. Global warming is a serious issue.

I understand the critics' point of view (including the broadcast media) that the film contains inconsistencies and alleged exaggerations in scientific terms but what was the message implied again?

The documentary film is a wake-up call. It's save the earth where we live. If Al Gore's presentation is based on truth mixed with some untruth as what CNN Headline News Glenn Beck accuses then spill the facts in a light way. Would attacking the author do any change? I actually applaud Al Gore or whoever that person may be for doing such great admonition to make us understand the basic knowledge of global warming. If I am a kind of person that's easily influenced by the media I would have thought that energy is made for man so therefore we should not worry about the amount of usage available to us. Well, not exactly the right attitude to be concern on the issues of global warming.

I am an ordinary homemaker and I may not be interested in how water becomes snow, how crude oil runs electricity, why we have gravity and so on but I need simple details of what's going on with the world and what a simple person like me can do something about it. Save water, save electricity, recycle, clean air, aren't these the things we needed to focus on?