An Inconvenient Truth

Al Gore (and the IPCC) won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 (BBC 2007) largely for the production of the film 'An Inconvenient Truth'

The committee cited "their efforts to build up and disseminate knowledge about man-made climate change".

To what extent do you think this was deserved? Having watched this film in class did you feel that your opinion (or perhaps the opinion of others) to the issue of climate change could be positively influenced? What did you think of this film? Was it effective?

I do believe that Al Gore and the IPCC deserved to win the Noble Peace Prize. I am not the only one that thinks this as Al Gore and the IPCC would of had to be nominated for this prize. The people who are allowed to nominate canidates for this prize are highly respected people in society. Climate change is such an important issue that some countries seem to be choosing to ignore, the task of spreading the awareness of this issue globally would not have been an easy one. For Al Gore and the IPCC to do this must have been a major undertaking. This is why I feel they deserve the Nobel Peace Prize, they were successful in spreading the word of climate change to the masses.

The film did inform me of some points related to climate change which I was not aware of. Although it hasn't changed my opinion as I try to do my best at not adding towards climate change, the opinion of others could be influenced in a positive way because people might not have been aware of what was happening to the world due to climate change. As a result of this people may start to use more environmentally friendly cars and start to recycle more from watching this film.

I thought this film was informative without being boring. Films are usually made for people to be entertained by and making a film that is informing you of a serious issue mainly in the form of a power point presentation and also keeping the attention of the audience is a rare achievement. It all very well that the film is bringing attention to the public but its the governments that need to be the ones that agree to implement the necessary changes to combat this problem, so in that respect I don't think the film was effective.




For more information on the film see this link below

http://www.climatecrisis.net/

What actions could you (in theory) undertake that would improve the 'sustainability' of your lifestyle? What might be preventing you from doing these?

To improve the sustainability of my lifestyle I would need to be less wasteful. For example I need to recycle more, remember to try save as much electricity as possible and trying not to buy products that I won't use.

The options for recycling are not always the most convenient for me, as not all rubbish can be recycled. When throwing away rubbish to find a bin that recycles a can or a plastic bottle is not as easy as finding a bin for all rubbish. As I like convenience in my life this would mean taking more time and thought over what I was disposing and this may put me off.

Similar applies to the other changes to lifestyle I would need to make to save electricity. Its more convenient to leave my laptop on for easy use for the next time I use it, but taking the extra time to turn off would save electricity making my lifestyle more sustainable. Again its the convenience of not having my laptop ready to use when I want to stopping me from doing this.

One major problem that I have that is very unsustainable is buying clothes that I don't wear or only wear a couple of times and throw away. Instead of a quick clothes fix to wear for a night out I should buy clothes that I really like and will wear again. With the clothes that I already have that I don't wear I should give to a charity shop which will sell them on. This can be looked as a form of recycling as I won't be throwing away therefore more sustainable. Taking the time and having to find a way to transport these clothes to the charity shop may discourage me from doing this.

This is useful and informative website that can help you with ideas on how to reduce your waste and energy use.

www.direct.gov.uk/ActonCO2