Al Gore Is Getting Hot!

Last night, I stood in line to see An Inconvenient Truth. My friends and I arrived 40 minutes early, which was a good thing, because every seat in the theater with a capacity of 660 sold out.

Global warming doesn't sound like a fascinating topic but this 98 minute documentary held my attention from start to finish. Previously, Gore was strongly criticized on the campaign trail as being too stiff and humorless. He failed to convey enthusiasm and his warmth didn't shine through when he ran for office, or at least that's what voters said. Frankly, I'm far less interested in a politician's personality and physical appearance -- although I do concede that Gore is a fine looking specimen! -- than I am with his or her POLICIES.

At heart, Al Gore is a scientist and science gets him excited. He was in top form in AIT describing the disastrous effects of toxic emissions, the abundance of carbon dioxide that we spew into the atmosphere, its effect on the ecological system, animal species, and climatic changes such as an increase in hurricanes, tornadoes, typhoons and tsunamis. (Think Katrina.)

Gore talked about his older sister who died from lung cancer and his young son who was involved in a serious car accident. Discussing both incidents served to humanize the former Vice President, as did his use of humor and cartoons throughout the film.

Aside from watching projections of Greenland melting, one of the things that scared me most about this movie was the fact that Americans have been given not one but TWO chances to elect Al Gore as president and they failed dismally both times. Instead, they put in two men with strong ties to Saudi Arabia and big oil.

We can all do our little bit for global warming -- use compact fluorescent light bulbs, reduce our air-conditioning or heating systems, drive less but ultimately, the only solution to this problem is political. The United States produces more than 30he world's toxins and they have yet to sign the Kyoto agreement. People -- take your dissatisfaction to the polls (although I have my own paranoid suspicions that the polling stations are no longer reliable! And that's something that needs to be addressed way before 2008).

Find out what you can do at www.climatecrisis.net