Argument Essay

Argument Essay

It is hard to imagine Earth; the planet that was given to us by a superior being could one day be washed away, literally. Whether we want to believe it or not global warming, or to be politically correct, climate change is an issue that is facing today’s society. For years, government officials have turned the other cheek with not wanted to face the facts, that climate change is and has already affected us globally. “What gets us into trouble is not what you don’t know, but what you think you know that just ain’t so” (Gore). Let us not continue ignoring the issue of global warming. Al Gores, An Inconvenient Truth, I believe brought a since of urgency to the overall dilemma of climate change and that is, we must act swiftly or else this issue of climate change will be much more substantial in years to come.

In Al Gores, An Inconvenient Truth, he wants his audience to know that the world around us is heating up. Basically the Earth has a fever and it is our job to cure it. Unfortunately while many people try and come together to cure this fever, climate change is progressively getting worse. Major cities in North and South America, Asia and Australia are nearly out of water due to massive droughts and melting glaciers. Desperate farmers are losing their livelihoods (Gore). Rivers, lakes, streams and ponds continue to dry up without a care in the world. People are being displaced from their homes on account of droughts spurting up all over our planet. Although many steps are being made in the right direction to prevent climate change, it is still not enough and not where we need to be.

Earth has experienced a climb in many unique weather patterns. Hurricanes rapidly spinning their way on shore, to record numbers of tornadoes twisting violently through towns to mud slides washing away everything in sight. One thing is certain; there is a common link to what is happening and that is, climate change. Stronger storms in the Pacific and Atlantic have threatened whole cities. Massive flooding in South Asia, Mexico, and 18 countries in Africa has displaced millions. As temperature extremes have increased, tens of thousands have lost their lives. We are recklessly burning and clearing our forests and driving more and more species into extinction. The very web of life on which we depend is being ripped and frayed (Gore). Gore certainly has a compelling argument and has brought more attention to the issue of climate change than ever.

Al Gore brings to the forefront the issue of the United States being the leading country when it comes to emitting CO2, followed by China and India. The fact that the United States leads the world in CO2 emotions is astonishing. Although we have taken steps in preventing climate change, it is still nowhere, where we need to be compared to other countries. In the United States, Democratic leaders in the Senate in July 2010 gave up on reaching even a scaled-down climate bill, in the face of opposition from Republicans and some energy-state Democrats. The House had passed a broad cap-and-trade bill in 2009 (Aigner). Progress is being made ever so slightly, despite the checks and balances system of government that the United States was founded on. In today’s Congress and House it seems nearly impossible to get any law passed and as of right now, we have no time to waste.

The entire world plays a role in CO2 emissions. In 650,000 years, the CO2 level has never gone above 300 parts per million (Gore). In the past 50 years alone we have experienced tremendous spurts of CO2 levels rising. We are so far passed the 300 parts per million, it is unbelievable.

It is hard to disprove science; on top of that, Al Gore has a very compelling argument. Going into this film I honestly didn’t know what to expect. I believe that there is truth to every argument regarding any issue.Gore to an amazing job spreading the issue at hand, Global Warming. He brought up some earth wrenching points such as the melting of Greenland and the West Antarctic ice sheet would raise sea levels around six meters, which scientist do agree (Washington Post). Here is another one for you, towns and villages needing to be evacuated, which I thought was stretching it, were proven to be fact. The United Nations Environmental Program announced that a small community in the Pacific Islands chain of Vanuatu had to be relocated due to the sea level rise (Washington Post). And when it came to Kilimanjaro, yes that was fact too. Many tropical glaciers have been proven to be retreating (Washington Post). When it came to the impact of sea ice retreat on polar bears, the US Minerals Management Service reported in December of 2005 an increase in polar bear mortality due to reduced sea ice. One of the most staggering facts Gore proved involved The Himalayas. Nearly 40% of people in the world rely on their drinking water from rivers and spring systems that are fed through the glaciers connected with the Himalayas. In the next half-century those people are going to face a severe shortage because of the melting occurring (Gore). It would be easy to want to second-guess Gore but when it came to the facts that Gore was presenting, it would be hard to discredit his over all logos.

Al Gore’s interest in global warming was sparked when he was a college student. His college professor, Roger Revelle influenced Gore heavily. Revelle was the first person to have the idea to measure the amount of carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere (Gore). After a few years of measuring, Revelle showed the class the results of his experiment and Gore soaked it up like a sponge (Gore). Revelle had a hard time of spreading the word of global warming and Gore whole-heartedly believed in what was happening. Gore later ran for public office and was a senator for years trying to get laws past. Later, he would of course later become the vice president of the United States having a colossal voice and taking on the stance of global warming. He even had Revelle testify in congress in regards to the carbon dioxide studies he had conducted. For every person who supported Gore there were hundreds that didn’t. It wasn’t until he was bold enough to produce the movie, An Inconvenient Truth, to where people actually started to pay attention to what he was saying.

When it came down to the way, An Inconvenient Truth, was produced and put together I had an issue. When Gore and Guggenheim started the documentary reflecting back at the 2000 election, I felt Gore wanted us to feel bad for him. In many ways I was unsure of what that had to do with global warming. Later in the film he mentioned how his son was in the hospital and yet again I was left thinking to myself, what importance does this have and how does it relate to the topic at hand. His feeble attempt at trying to get the viewer to feel bad for him I thought was unnecessary. The correlation that Gore was trying to make didn’t flow well and I personally thought it brought his credibility down a notch. If he would have just stuck to the overall theme of climate change and global warming, I feel it would have been a much better film.

When it is all said and done I believe we need to stop spending so much time and money on pointing fingers on who is right and who is wrong when it comes to climate change. Lets stop defending our positions and make a change in the world we live in. Making a change is easier said than done, at least when it comes to our government, anyway. I am going to end this paper how I started it and I hope this quote by Gore can open your eyes to what is happening on our planet. “What gets us into trouble is not what you don’t know, but what you think you know that just ain’t so”, enough said.

Work Cited

Gore, Kenneth. An Inconvenient Truth. United States. 2007. Article

Revkin, Andrew. Arctic Melt Unnerves the Experts. New York: New York Times. 2007. Print.

Unknown. Climate Change Front and Center at the World Economic Forum. United States: Truth-Out. Web

Gore, Al. An Inconvenient Truth: Transcript. United States: Forum Politics. 2007. Web

Baily, Ronald. Global Warming- Not Worse Than We Thought, But Bad Enough. United States: Reason. Web/Article

Unknown. Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth Fact or Fiction. Washington: The Washington Post. 2009. Print