An Incovenient Truth

[Guest guest]

Dear ,

I covered the first screening of 'An Inconveneient Truth'

in India and wrote an article that I have attached. Al Gore mentions two

Indian cities in the film, Bombay and Kolkata. However, as you might be

aware, the findings of 'An Incovenient Truth' have been challenged, most

notably in a film entitled, *The Great Global Warming Swindle*, broadcast on

Channel 4 in the UK on March 8, 2007. This film brought together skeptical

scientists who disagree with the consensus regarding human-caused global

warming. 'An Incovenient Truth' mentions the changing patterns of bird

breeding in Europe and Gore seems to have received a favourable reception in

China, as apparent in the film. It would be interesting to note what effects

global warming could have on Asian endangered species. I say this because in

many cases claims of species extinction are hyped.

Many thanks for posting this and please let me know if my article sounds

alarmist or factually incorrect in any way.

Best wishes and kind regards,

 

 

 

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070618/asp/knowhow/story_7935291.asp

Monday, June 18, 2007

After us, the deluge

 

*Shabina Akhtar* and ** take a peek at goings-on in

Calcutta on World Environment Day, and come up with a startling scenario

 

 

Imagine the City of Joy submerged in water. Don't scoff — for

environmentalists are seriously concerned. Calcutta submerged under the sea

may now seem wildly far-fetched, but experts who feature in the

Oscar-winning documentary film, *An Inconvenient Truth*, are not so sure.

 

The fourth Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, due to

be released shortly, may be a harbinger of bad news for all. The IPCC, set

up by the World Meteorological Organisation and the United Nations

Environment Programme, works towards the assessment of scientific, technical

and socio-economic information relevant to climate change, its potential

impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation. Already, there is bad

news in its report, " Mitigation of Climate Change, " released in May in

Bangkok. Based on 75 individual studies that looked into as many as 29,000

data sets, this unprecedented scientific effort has found that all

continents have been affected by climate change.

 

The report warns that if we do not change our consumptive lifestyles soon,

the drowning of several islands and cities within the next two decades is a

very real possibility. The scientists predict extreme weather, heavy floods,

typhoons and cyclones would be some of the ways in which humans would be

affected.

 

With the mitigation report being released just ahead of World Environment

Day, June 5, nothing could be a more appropriate topic of discussion than

global warming. The West Bengal Pollution Control Board and the Indian

Chamber of Commerce, in association with Jadavpur University, organised a

day-long event, complete with technical sessions to mark the occasion. The

participants agreed that if necessary steps are not taken to maintain the

earth's ecological balance, nature will strike back — a message the film

highlights.

 

" We will ensure that auto-rickshaws start plying on gas. A control cell

shall also be set up to check rules are implemented, " promised West Bengal

environment minister Sailen Sarkar, who took part in the discussions.

 

Highlighting the prospective disasters threatening people all over the

world, the American Center held a screening of Davis Guggenheim's 2006 film,

*An Inconvenient Truth*, on the same day. Presented by former US Vice

President Al Gore, this Academy award-winning film about climate change —

specifically global warming — was shown for the first time in the country.

 

The event was organised by the United States Information Service (USIS) and

the Centre for Social Markets (CSM), an NGO working in the areas of

sustainable development and human rights. " The aim of screening the film

here is to draw attention to the problems Calcutta would face because of

climate change, " said Malini Mehra, CSM director. According to the film, if

the process of global warming continues, Calcutta would be submerged under

the sea in the next 20 years and 14 million people would be drastically

affected.

 

The film has already made an impact. The British government has announced

that it will distribute a copy of the film and further reading material to

every secondary school in the United Kingdom to create awareness on the

issues raised in it.

 

The film mentions several potent examples of the effects of global warming,

including the hastened extinction of species, the difficulties birds face in

rearing their young in Eastern Europe due to " enforced " ecological changes,

and the increased levels of carbon dioxide in ice in the Antarctica. No less

alarming is the fact that the 10 hottest years ever measured on the planet

have all occurred in the last 14 years. The film also criticises the US

government's refusal to ratify the Kyoto Protocol to curb greenhouse gas

emissions.

 

The USIS-CSM conference was part of a special programme called Climate

Challenge India, aimed at generating consciousness among Indians on these

issues in the wake of the recent scientific findings. At a roundtable

conference also, organised by CSM, Calcutta mayor Bikash Ranjan

Bhattacharyya and senior Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) officials

discussed strategies for a greener and cleaner city.

 

" A plan is being drawn to identify and remove hazardous industries from the

city, and the public works monitored towards adoption of pollution-free

methodologies, " said Dipankar Sinha, Director General (town planning), KMC.

 

Coming back to Guggenheim's film, although it has been generally well

received, some of its findings have been challenged. " A general

characteristic of Gore's approach is to assiduously ignore the fact that the

earth and its climate are dynamic; they are always changing even without any

external forcing, " said Richard S. Lindzen, an atmospheric physicist and the

Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of

Technology. " To treat all change as something to fear is bad enough; to do

so in order to exploit that fear is much worse. "

 

But Malini Mehra differed. She stressed that the critics of global warming

have had their day, and it was imperative that politicians — especially

those in India — gave the issue the importance it deserved. " The

overwhelming consensus of scientific opinion shows that the dangers of

global warming are in the here and now, as is evident in the retreat of many

glaciers since 1850, " she said.

 

 

 

On 9/20/07, weintraub <weintraub wrote:

>

>

> Apologies to all for posting this but someone (can't presently find his

> email ID) wrote to me asking for Al Gore's email address which I just

> got in a post from Jewish Vegetarian Richard Schwartz's email list and

> here it is below. So hoping that person reads this email now. thanks,

>

>

> " Al Gore is working on a new environmental book entitled The Path to

> Survival, a sequel to An Inconvenient Truth that offers a blueprint on

> what can be done to fight global warming. The book will be released on

> Earth Day, April 22, 2008. "

>

> " Let us hope that he will finally relate animal-based diets to

> global warming. "

>

> Author and JVNA advisor Dan Brook sent the following response :

>

> Shalom. We shouldn't just hope, we need to act!

>

> Please encourage readers to write Al Gore at

algore<algore%40algore.com>

> <algore <algore%40algore.com>> ,

> to write Sierra Club Exec Director Carl Pope at

carl.pope<carl.pope%40sierra.org>

> <carl.pope <carl.pope%40sierra.org>> ,

> to write other environmentalists, politicians, and scientists,

> to write their local newspapers, to write the environmental and other

> orgs they belong to,

> to call talk radio shows, to speak with their rabbis and other teachers.

>

> While we may be approaching a tipping point for global warming to spin

> out of control, we might also be reaching a tipping point in collective

> consciousness and public opinion. We need to get there first!

>

> Please read, share, forward, post, print, blog, link, and cite the

> following web site with a great collection of links on " meat eating and

> global warming " :

>

> http://www.ivu.org/members/globalwarming.html

> <http://www.ivu.org/members/globalwarming.html>

>

> Peace,

> Dan

>

>