I saw "An Inconvenient Truth" last night. There was a crowd big enough
to keep the movie in the theater for a few more weeks I think. The
movie was better than I thought it would be.
Jim Krider Laboratory Coordinator Senior
PIRT - Physics & Astronomy Instructional Resource Team
-----Original Message-----
From: phys-l-bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
[mailto:phys-l-bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu] On Behalf Of Richard
Hake
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Subject: Re: [Phys-l] Glaciers, An Inconvenient Truth
Art Hobson (2006), in his PHYSOC message of 2 Jul 2006 14:02:13-0500
titled "Glaciers, An Inconvenient Truth" wrote [bracketed by lines
"HHHHHH. . .":
Don't forget to see "An Inconvenient Truth." It opened, quietly, in
my town a couple of weeks ago. It's getting good scientific reviews.
I haven't actually seen it yet, but will soon.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
I saw "An Inconvenient Truth" a few days ago at a nearly empty
theater. I heartily second Art's recommendation to attend Gore's
movie. Gore includes shots of dramatically diminishing glaciers.
I thought Gore's presentation was very potent, but, sadly, it will
probably be viewed by relatively few Americans, most of whom appear
to be more interested in the blockbuster "Superman."
But what can you expect from a nation of science/math illiterates?
This thanks in part to the abysmal failure of our great research
universities to properly educate prospective K-12 teachers [Hake
(2000)].
Stieg is an isotope geochemist at the University of Washington whose
primary research interest is use of ice core records to document
climate variability in the past. He is a frequent contributor to
"RealClimate": "Climate Science from climate scientists"
<http://www.realclimate.org/>.
Leigh Palmer, in a Phys-L post of 15 Jun 2006 11:11:07-0700 titled
"climate change and climate scientists - editorial," cautions "Why
would one go to an advocacy group [realclimate.org] to find a
balanced review?"
I have yet to meet a scientist who was not an advocate for some
issue. I think we can get at least a rough idea of the validity of
scientists' views in fields in which we ourselves are not expert, by
examining their scientific credentials, rather than than their
advocacy. For the credentials of Eric Stieg and his RealClimate
colleagues go to <http://www.realclimate.org/index.php?cat=10>.
Stieg wrote:
"Along with various Seattle business and community leaders, city
planners and politicians, a large group of scientists from the
University of Washington got a chance to preview the new film, "An
Inconvenient Truth," last week. The film is about Al Gore's efforts
to educate the public about global warming, with the goal of creating
the political will necessary for the United States to take the lead
in efforts to lower global carbon emissions. It is an inspiring film,
and is decidedly non-partisan in its outlook (though there are a few
subtle references to the Bush administration's lack of leadership on
this and other environmental issues).
.............................................
.............................................
How well does the film handle the science? Admirably, I thought. It
is remarkably up to date, with reference to some of the very latest
research. Discussion of recent changes in Antarctica and Greenland
are expertly laid out. He also does a very good job in talking about
the relationship between sea surface temperature and hurricane
intensity. As one might expect, he uses the Katrina disaster to
underscore the point that climate change may have serious impacts on
society, but he doesn't highlight the connection any more than is
appropriate.. . . . I'll admit that I have been a bit of a skeptic
about our ability to take any substantive action, especially here in
the U.S. Gore's aim is to change that viewpoint, and the colleagues I
saw the movie with all seem to agree that he is successful. In short:
this film is worth seeing."
I thank the irascible professor Mark Shapiro
<http://www.irascibleprofessor.com/ professor> for alerting me to
Stieg's review in Mark's Phys-L post of 14 Jun 2006 10:24:03-0700
titled
"climate change and climate scientists - editorial."
REFERENCES
Hake, R.R. 2000. "The General Population's Ignorance of Science
Related Societal Issues: A Challenge for the University," AAPT
Announcer 30(2): 105; online as ref. 11 at
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake> or download directly by
clicking on
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake/GuelphSocietyG.pdf> (2.1MB).
Based on an earlier libretto with the leitmotiv: "The road to U.S.
science literacy begins with effective university science courses for
pre-college teachers." The opera dramatizes the fact that the failure
of universities throughout the universe to properly educate
pre-college teachers is responsible for our failure to observe any
signs of either terrestrial or extraterrestrial intelligence.