‘An Inconvenient Truth’
This movie is essentially an elaborate PowerPoint presentation by Al Gore on global
warming, interspersed with personal scenes from his life story. Obviously you will NOT
be held responsible for any of the information from the personal segments. Enjoy or
ignore them as you see fit, but come back to the study guide every time the movie returns
to a presentation segment. Realize that you are not required to accept the movie’s political
aspects; you are only responsible for the scientific and background information on global
warming and climate change. The study guide begins shortly after the segment on
continent shape and continental drift.
Discussion questions (Set 1)
At the beginning of the film, Gore reflects on the natural landscape that means
the most to him. What place is most important to you? How do your
experiences there affect your activism or life choices?
In a May 9 interview, Grist writer David Roberts asked Gore about the most
effective way to provoke action on global warming: "Do you scare people or give
them hope?" Which tactic(s) do you think work best, and how could
environmentalists better implement them?
What do you think about Gore driving and flying all over the world to give his
PowerPoint presentation? Could his message be just as effective if delivered in a
way that didn't contribute to the problem?
When talking about his family's tobacco farm and his sister's death from lung
cancer, Gore says that there are "times you wish you had connected the dots
more quickly." Have you ever had a similar revelation about how your actions
connect to the broader world? If so, what did you do about it?
Discussion questions (Set 2)
•
In Al Gore’s analysis, how does each of the following play a role in global
warming?
Population –
Technology –
Our perspective –
•
In Al Gore’s analysis, what is the reality behind the following three
misconceptions concerning global warming? Again you do not have to
accept Gore’s interpretations, but know the facts behind them.
“Isn’t there disagreement among scientists whether the problem is real or
not?”
“Do we have to choose between the economy and the environment?”
“If we accept that this problem is real, maybe it’s just too big to do
anything about?”
•
How thick is the Earth’s atmosphere relative to the Earth’s size and why
is this important in global warming?
•
How does the global warming process occur and what role do humans play
in it?
Note that it is really not so much that we are ‘thickening’ the atmosphere, but
changing its composition, by increasing the concentration of gases that trap long
wavelength infrared radiation (heat) from the Earth’s surface.
•
Roger Revelle’s study of atmospheric CO2 concentration was obviously a
milestone in global climate studies, but why does atmospheric CO2
increase and decrease during a single year?
•
What has been the overall pattern of change in CO2 concentration since
it was first measured in 1958 and how does this fit the pattern of
changes in average global temperature?
•
How have variations in CO2 concentration and associated temperature
changes affected glacial systems and how widespread are these changes?
Why are changes in the glacial systems of the Himalayan Mountains of
particular concern?
•
How are ice cores used to study past climate change? What exactly is
being measured?
•
Looking at the last 1000 years of the Northern Hemisphere Temperature
record, how does the recent warming interval compare in size and scale
to past natural warming periods like the Medieval Warming Interval?
•
Antarctica ice cores give us a 650,000 year record of climate change.
During this interval, which spans several ice ages and warm interglacial
periods, what has been the highest level of atmospheric CO2
concentration and how do the CO2 and temperature curves compare over
this time frame?
•
How do the present levels of atmospheric CO2 concentration compare to
the natural changes and cycles of the past 650,000 years?
Is there any evidence from recent temperature trends that support the
idea that the Earth has already begun to warm, or is the concern just
that the Earth may start to warm in the future?
•
•
What about ocean systems? How does the recent record of ocean water
temperature compare to both expected changes, based on past
measurements, and projections from early computer models of global
warming?
•
Why would an increase in ocean temperatures be a cause of concern to
human societies? Is there any evidence that it has already affected our
weather systems?
•
How did the hurricane Katrina change in character from Florida to New
Orleans and why did this change occur?
•
How does global warming affect rainfall (precipitation) patterns and what
impact have these changes had on river systems? Are the changes in
precipitation patterns uniform across the globe?
•
What lines of evidence suggest that the Arctic is already warming, and
why is the Arctic so much more vulnerable to warming than other areas?
•
If the Earth’s average temperature did warm by 5 degrees Fahrenheit,
how would this warming be dispersed across the globe?
•
What affect did the melting of the last ice sheets have on the North
Atlantic Current and the ‘ocean conveyor’ system? In particular how did
this affect northern Europe?
•
How does all of this affect existing biological relationships in terms of:
Offset timing of ecological relationships –
Invasive species –
Mosquito ranges and other vectors (animal carriers) for infectious
diseases –
Reef communities –
Species loss –
•
What happens to land-based Antarctica ice once an ice shelf collapses and
why is the melting of land-based ice of more concern than the ice shelves
themselves?
•
What range of sea level rise would we be facing if either the Greenland
glaciers or the Western Antarctic ice shelves melted and how can ice
shelves or glaciers melt so much quickly than expected? What impacts
might this have on human society?