video reflection b

‘An Inconvenient Truth’ is a 2006 documentary that was directed by Davis Guggenheim, it is about Al Gore’s (a former US vice president) campaign to educate Americans and the audiences around the world on the effect of global warming on the Earth. It is in the format of his lecture slides that were given to audiences over 1000 times. The crux of this lecture is creating awareness around the fact that humans are contributing to global warming, and it is our responsibility to preserve and protect the earth. 

I was impressed by the quality visuals and infographics that were easily understandable and attractive. 

The film begins with Al Gore explaining the relationship between the increasing carbon dioxide emissions and a rise in global climate temperatures. Roger Revelle a former lecturer of Gores’ was the first to discover and document this trend, it was clear after only a few years of research that global carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was at an all time high. Revelle drew connections between large developments in human civilisation and spikes in carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere in the earth, he could clearly project the change in climate and the steady shift in the state of the atmosphere.

It was quite worrying to hear that over 40% of the worlds population relies upon melt waters from glaciers and mountains. Glaciers allover the world are have been receding at a record rate since the 1930s, this is one of the many consequences of global warming.

However I did not like that he drew an association between the rise in infectious diseases and the rise in the climate of the earth.

The most important message that I got from this film is that it takes a large and sudden jolt to change old habits. Two effective analogies that he used were

-       the surgeon generals report stating that smoking causes lung cancer in 1964

-       leaving a frog in boiling water as apposed to slowly bringing it to the boil, it will not jump out and eventually boil to death, as it is not able to sense small changes in temperature.

As an Industrial Designer I guess the take home message is that small changes in areas that might not be considered important can have large very impacting consequences in the long run. I think that we all as humans have moral and ethical considerations to adhere to keep mother nature in a healthy state.

“Old habits + old technology = predictable results

Old habits + new technology = altered unpredictable results.”