Christine Almira E.

del Rosario 2012-11429 The film An Inconvenient Truth tackled the most talked-about environmental issue for the past years global warming. Politicians, social and environmental groups, geologists, and environmentalists have been continuously advocating the urgency of the action needed for a healthier living; most importantly, future. In this case, former Presidential candidate Al Gore, who have been strong in his position on global warming discussed about its causes and effects in front of a crowd comprising mainly of students. Al Gore started off by presenting pictures after pictures of the Earth photographed from space. He then shifted to global warming, one of the most pressing issues today, by posing the assumption that the world is so big that we cant possibly have any lasting, harmful impact on earths environment. He, later on, explained the causes of global warming. We are all familiar how the suns radiations (light waves) enter the Earths atmosphere and bounces back to space in the form of infrared radiation. Some of these are trapped inside the atmosphere. Problem arises as the atmosphere thickens and more outgoing radiations are trapped. He mentioned unrestricted fossil fuel burning, pollution, and industrialization as major human-induced activities that emit large amount of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide that cause significant global warming. Majority of the film featured the significant impacts or effects of global warming in our society. Al Gore showed photos of Mt. Kiilmanjaro, Glacier National Park, and Himalayas slowly losing its frozen beauty because of the melting of large chunks of ice in just a short span of time. This phenomenon greatly endangers those whose lives depended on river and spring systems from melting ice for drinking. More concrete effects can be seen and felt through climate changes. There are now strong hurricanes hitting the South Atlantic where in fact, it wasnt been subjected to hurricanes before. More strong storms in Japan, immense flooding in Asia, specifically India and China, and drought in Sahara and Lake Chad are also some of the effects of global warming. Infectious and re-emergence of diseases such as SARS, tuberculosis, and Avian flu spread rapidly. In our nature, bleaching of coral reefs can be observed. Such big problems require big steps to counter its growing effects. Implementation of laws, like Carbon Tax and Clean Air Act, by those in higher positions is an excellent initiative to protect our environment. Lessening the use of technologies that emit huge amount of greenhouse gases and replacing them with eco-friendly and alternative sources for energy is also a way to mitigate the effects of global warming. Simple acts also, for instance planting of trees, are essential for Revelle concluded that the time when there are leaves, the lower the amount of gases.