Inconvenient Truth

I finally got around to seeing the Al Gore global warming movie and would highly recommend it to anyone. The filmmakers did a good job of merging the various technical narratives but Gore ultimately gave the power point presentation of the century -- boosted by the fact that it didn't use power point at all.

My running reactions to the film sequentially followed these emotions:

1. Sadness that Gore didn't get the nod for president.
2. Bewilderment that they put the wrong guy in charge instead of Gore.
3. Amazement that after all these years, I actually get to see charts and graphs used correctly in a movie (and would consider giving best supporting actor nominations to the trendlines).
4. An occasional shrug when Gore over-does the cause/effect relationships -- especially regarding hurricanes.
5. Admiration for Gore's persistence in following climate science for all these years.

As for the opposition nonsense portrayed in the movie, Phila provides this relevant quote on climate change deniers:

It's classic conservatarianism: Define a problem out of existence by turning logic and morality inside-out, and then whine about the "pessimism" of anyone who refuses to join you in Cloudcuckooland.

Although spot-on, this observation shows the intractability of winning any argument which hints at a dark side. Pity that the conservatives never seem to use the pessimistic dominion-loving rapturists as target practice before going after the scientists. "Convenient dementia", I would call it.

Update: For a truly bad power-point slide, check this out. It uses an abstract data flow to articulate zero understanding.