The problem of environmental protection is one of the most controversial and significant questions in modern society because today people need to realize the negative consequences of their activities on the environment and the planet. In 2006, the former Vice President of the USA Al Gore and filmmakers Davis Guggenheim and Lawrence Bender produced the striking documentary film An Inconvenient Truth.
The film focuses on the problem of global warming discussed from several perspectives, including the political, scientific, social, and moral approaches. An Inconvenient Truth is based on the slide show or presentation on the topics of global warming and climate change prepared by Al Gore and demonstrated in hundreds of cities globally (Bender, 2006).
The presentation was the real success in many countries, which influenced the development of the environmental movements in communities. Thus, An Inconvenient Truth is the documentary film on the problematic question of global warming which is developed to attract the public’s attention to the environmental issues one more time, while contributing to the people’s awareness of the problem.
The film is structured to represent and document the aspects of how Al Gore demonstrates and discusses his presentation in different cities while drawing the audience’s attention to the hot questions of climate changes. The detailed description and discussion of the causes and effects of the environmental issues and provided graphs and visuals in the slide show are based on Al Gore’s previous complex investigation in the field.
Thus, all the claims presented in the slide show are supported with the facts, statistics, data, and evidence which make the presentation rather scaring because of explaining the potential risks for the people’s global community.
The film begins with the detailed and comprehensive information on the topic of global warming to catch the audience’s attention, but this documentary film differs from the other ones because the problematic question is discussed in the context of Al Gore’s personal and professional life as a politician and activist (Bender, 2006). The story of Al Gore’s way to his vision of the environmental problems is full of personal challenges and family tragedies, which formed his position.
The next part of the film is closely associated with the idea that the observed climate changes can be discussed as moral issues that is why such disasters as Hurricane Katrina, droughts, and the changes in ice sheets are the products of the people’s immoral acts about the environment.
Thus, Al Gore provides the evidence in the slide show to state that the greenhouse effect is the result of the people’s activities (Bender, 2006). Moreover, people’s negative acts regarding the environment are also the causes of social problems in Africa today and the potential problems associated with refugees, slavery, and famine in the future.
It is demonstrated in the final part of the film that the steps to change the situation for better are rather easy, and they can be realized individually. Al Gore pays attention to the fact that it is necessary to step aside from the aspects of the political discourse and to focus on the real actions in decreasing the levels of the carbon dioxide in the air (Bender, 2006). People can focus on recycling and using alternative sources of energy without changing their life, but improving the situation related to the environment.
Thus, the authors of the film concluded that it is the moral obligation of the world population to take easy steps in preventing global warming and climate changes. Thus, Al Gore’s presentation is one of the approaches to contribute to the improvement of the situation.
Reference
Bender, L. (Producer), & Guggenheim, D. (Director). (2006). An inconvenient truth [Motion picture]. USA: Paramount Classics.