Watching An Inconvenient Truth has really opened my eyes to the problem of global warming even though I thought I was relatively well educated on the subject. The severity of the matter is what struck me the most about the film and how rapidly the planet’s atmosphere is deteriorating and the problem worsening. Al Gore did a fantastic job with the film and there is probably no one better than him do to a theatrical film about global warming since he is very recognizable and extremely well learned on the subject.
http://www.blog.thesietch.org/2007/04/22/happy-earth-day/
As a piece of risk communication, An Inconvenient Truth works well in how it is constructed sequentially and from an audio/visual standpoint. By presenting information and straight scientific facts throughout the movie, without overwhelming the audience with a bunch of numbers and graphs at once makes the data much easier to digest. While the audience should have some knowledge on the subject before watching the film, it is not necessary and accessible by really any audience. The way he breaks up his presentation with excerpts about his life not only helps appeal to pathos, but also breaks up the film and helps establish Gore’s credibility. Also, the graphs that are used are very impactful and help illustrate his point effectively. One that jumps out in the mind immediately is where Gore uses the power lift to show the audience how drastic the difference is that we are making on the earth.
