An Inconvenient Truth
We finally had the chance to see An Inconvenient Truth this weekend. Not surprisingly, I liked the film and found it to be a rousing call to action, accessible to the relatively uninformed masses (e.g. most of America).
Al Gore’s presentation is based on facts compiled during hundreds of scientific studies. The demonstration of trends over time – atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, temperature readings, and population growth, to name a few – foretells of a future that’s not so rosy.
America obviously needs to improve their approach to environmentalism, from top to bottom. On a large scale, the Kyoto Protocol would have been a good start. Unfortunately, our stubborn and selfish leadership won’t allow it. There is a movement by U.S. Mayors to advance the goals of the Protocol. Pittsburgh, unfortunately, is not on the list; I’ve sent letters to our city leadership and I encourage others to do the same.
(Update: On July 5, I received a phone call from a staffer of my city councilman, informing me that the council passed a resolution encouraging the mayor to join the program. Chances for success look good, he said. I hope so.)
On a smaller scale, but no less important, is a personal recognition of the environmental impact one makes every day. Ignorance of/indifference to the environmental consequences of our actions has been the norm for far too long; modern oil society has flourished because of it. But the writing is on the wall: We need to make changes.
Yes, sometimes environmentalism is hard. It’s hard to reconcile a life in the suburbs with sound green living. I find my own attachment to the local grocery store, with its oil-powered thousand-mile long supply chains, to be troubling (thankfully, there are alternatives).
But there is no simple way around it. Nothing is going to improve if we continue down the path we are on. What an inconvenient truth.
