Video Viper: An Inconvenient Truth

AL GORE and director Davis Guggenheim worked together to create "An Inconvenient Truth."

Gore persuasive in 'Inconvenient Truth'

Guess what. Al Gore isn't as stiff and robot-like as we all thought.
I recorded "An Inconvenient Truth" a month ago and put off watching it for better than a month. Had to be in the right mood.
But after a few months, with more and more stuff accumulating on the harddrive, it was time to sit down and learn how much trouble we were all in.
Gore, who introduces himself as the guy who "use to be the next president of the United States," presents his case for the global warming of Earth.
He's affable, he's funny, he's candid. He pokes fun at himself. He pokes fun at the current administration. (Who would have thought?)
He uses huge panels to make his case. He shows us illustrations. He quotes many "friends" and their take on Earth's problems.
And at the end, Gore offers us hope we can salvage the planet. He notes everything we can do to save Earth is easily within our capabilities today. We don't need scientists to do massive amounts of research. We don't need new inventions.
Gore chronicles other challenges the U.S. has faced in the past, from fighting two major powers at the same time and winning in World War II to landing a man on the moon to solving the ozone problem.
Global warming can be solved too, he says.
Gore is entertaining as he shows us the polar caps and how they've changed. He shows what has happened in Antarctica.
Polar bears are drowning because they normally stop on ice floes to rest while swimming hundreds of miles. But the ice is no longer there.
We are seeing an increase in nasty insects and bugs because they aren't killed by the cold. Trees are dying, being infested.
He talks about the violent storms we are experiencing in places we've never had them before. They are more frequent. They are more severe.
He tells how Katrina picked up force by moving across the warmer waters after leaving Florida, picking up more speed toward New Orleans.
The film's star is the Earth, but Gore isn't far behind. He isn't just a man at a lectern. We get little insights into his life. His perspective on life changed when his son was severely injured in a traffic crash and the family lived in the hospital.
As a boy, he lived on a sprawling farm four months of the year. His father was a U.S. senator. The rest of the year they lived in a small hotel.
From the accident, we learn how he changed priorities. From his boyhood, we learn how he came to appreciate the land.
It's also interesting to see him traveling by himself. If there are secret service agents, they stay in the shadows. He's carrying his suitcases, checking his luggage alone as he travels from airport to airport, flying to the next city to tell his message.
Not what you would expect from the man who was once the next president. It's a little humbling.
The film's emphasis remains on Earth and we find how we can all work to bring it back. We also learn the U.S. is far behind other countries in preserving our planet.
By the way, you don't have to wait a few months to watch it.