Are you ready for Inconvenience?
An Inconvenient Truth is basically all that you know about global warming (and if you know nothing about it, shame on you) only laden with scary figures here and there to make the documentary factual and scientific.
But if you want to be visual, just simply look at this. This is Mount Kilimanjaro in 1993:
And this is Mount Kilimanjaro in 2000:
I don't even wanna know how it looks like now. In photos taken by a satellite, it was seen that the snow and ice covering the Kilimanjaro have changed drastically. This change is mainly caused by global warming and deforestation. Oh, and check out the Columbia Glacier and Larson Shelf.
Al Gore's documentary is really an eye opener. It's really terrible how our generation is emitting carbon dioxide from all the appliances and vehicles that we use. Sabi nga, it's not a political issue anymore. It is an ethical issue. And to allow our carbon dioxide emission to reach sky high, as if it hasn't yet, is purely unethical hands down. Sana lang Gore excluded that bit about him losing the presidential election to Bush, and I would have liked his film better.
And just how to we hasten, if not totally stop, global warming? Reduce your carbon imprint. And the film's website suggested the following:
1. Change a light
Replacing one regular light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb will save 150 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.
2. Drive less
Walk, bike, carpool or take mass transit more often. You'll save one pound of carbon dioxide for every mile you don't drive!
3. Recycle more
You can save 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide per year by recycling just half of your household waste.
4. Check your tires
Keeping your tires inflated properly can improve gas mileage by more than 3%. Every gallon of gasoline saved keeps 20 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere!
5. Use less hot water
It takes a lot of energy to heat water. Use less hot water by installing a low flow overhead (350 points of CO2 saved per year) and washing you clothes in cold or warm water (500 pounds saved per year).
6. Avoid products with a lot of packaging
You can save 1,200 pounds of carbon dioxide if you can cut down your garbage by 10%.
7. Adjust your thermostat
Moving your thermostat just 2 degrees in winter and up 2 degrees in summer, you can save about 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year with this simple adjustment.
8. Plant a tree
A single tree will absorb one ton of carbon dioxide over its lifetime.
9. Turn off electronic devices
Simply turning off your television, DVD player, stereo, and computer when you're not using them will save thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide a year.
10. Spread the word!
It's inconvenient, I know. Thus, the title of the documentary. However, it can be done. We can live an ecology friendly lifestyle if we only choose to. You know what I've been doing? When buying something from the grocery or supermarket, I refuse plastic bags. I bring along a cotton bag I use when I'm buying a whole lot of toiletries. If sa Ministop or 7-11 lang, I ask them not to put the items I bought in a plastic bag anymore. Because really, we don't need excessive plastic. It takes 10 to 20 years for them to decompose, for crying out loud. And when you're done using it, what do you do with it? You throw it away. Eh 'di 'wag mo na lang gamitin in the first place.
Think about how you can help to sustain the planet that we live in. You can make a difference.