see you down in arizona bay

Global warming is something I've tried to keep a more open mind about lately. In the past I blew it off as something that wasn't too big of a deal. As someone once pointed out, what scientist dedicated to monitoring changes in the environment is going to say that there isn't a problem? After all, if there isn't a problem then there's no need to fund that research, and then Mr. Scientist is out of a job. That being said, I've been much more accepting recently of the negative impact global warming is having on our environment.

I am anything but an Al Gore fan, but I've had a reserved interest in seeing his film on global warming since I first heard about it. Watching the film, there's no doubting his sincerity. After losing the 2000 election, Gore has poured himself into traveling around the globe, lecturing audiences about the dangers of climate change. I'm normally not a fan of biased documentaries, but An Inconvenient Truth shouldn't be compared with the propaganda Michael Moore puts out, which somehow gets classified as a "documentary" instead of "fiction" or "complete bs".

Basically the whole movie is clips from him giving lectures about the problem of global warming. He gives good evidence to back up his claims, and from what I've heard and read, the argument isn't that what he says isn't happening, but that it won't be quite as severe as Gore makes it out to be. I'm not sure quite what that means; that sea levels will only raise by ten feet worldwide instead of twenty? For some reason that doesn't make me feel any better. There's a couple spots in the movie where he can't help but take a couple shots at Bush. I'm sure that goes over well with a lot of the demographic in the audience, but it just makes Gore come out looking bitter and petty. There's one section where Gore talks about how mistakes were made in the past and you get the impression that he's talking about mistakes being made in regards to the environment. But immediately after that, for no apparent reason, the film cuts to a montage of the 2000 election recount in Florida and that whole controversy. Hey Al, I've got an Alice in Chains song you might like. It's called "A Little Bitter". I also wish he would have spent a little more detail on the solutions, but mainly the message seemed to be "here is what's going to happen, now the politicians need to start doing something big to prevent it." And I think he's probably right.

I know what some of you may be thinking now: that I've been sucked in by this propaganda and now it has me all terrified of what could happen. Well first of all, I've been growing more concerned about this for awhile now, which is one reason I kind of wanted to see this movie in the first place. Secondly, why is everyone willing to take such a chance with this? I don't really understand it. It sounds cliche to say this is the only planet that we have, but it's true. We certainly aren't doing a great job taking care of it, so why would we want it to get worse?

The other things that disappoints me about this is the complete and utter silence from the "Christian" community. We're supposed to be good stewards of what God has given us, something you hear all the time when it's an issue such as tithing. What about this planet we've been given? The Christian community if full of all kinds of moral outrage over gay marriage and abortion and Harry freakin' Potter. Where's the outrage over the irreparable damage we're doing to this home he's given us? So much time, effort, and money is spent protesting things like gay marriage. Why aren't Christians out in force writing to their Congressmen that they want to see more measures passed to prevent further environmental harm? I know there probably are lots of Christians out there working for things like the environment, and I'm not sure why I'm expecting the heads of the "Christian community" to care when they often do a terrible job representing Christ, but I think the lack of care in this area is fairly disappointing.

I realize I'm sounding pretty extreme right now, but don't worry, I haven't turned into a big treehugger overnight. Part of it is me just letting off steam from a variety of things. But I think this is an issue that more people need to pay attention to, and care about.