Why do you want to see this film? Are you no longer content living with ignorant hope? Does the knowledge that you are killing our only mother with every visit you make to the gas pump wear on your conscience? Do you generally believe in the “theory” of global warming and want to learn more? If you answered yes to one or more of these questions, then you would do yourself a great disservice by missing this movie. If you failed to answer yes to any of those questions, then you are among the folks that might very well doom us all.

So here’s the inconvenient truth: Global warming is real. It’s not a cyclical climate thing, it won’t go away if we ignore it, and it will have disastrous effects across the whole world. But condensing that truth into two sentences doesn’t make for an enlightening experience. Going through one of Al Gore’s lectures makes for an educational experience you won’t soon forget. You not only witness a wealth of data from the seasoned environmentalist, you get an insight into the man who almost held the highest office in the land. But we can’t talk about why he’s not president.

Instead we can talk about the myth and the reality of global warming. I’ll leave that to Mr. Gore. He’s got a lot more practice. Al really cares about the environment, too. You can tell by the energy he put into his lectures that he has a life mission. And it has nothing to do with ManBearPig. The world of politics no longer has its dark claws in his soul, and he can freely express himself without fear of losing his career (you can’t lose what’s been stolen from you). And, believe it or not, he’s an entertaining guy and a good teacher. Watch “Futurama” if you don’t believe me. Al wants the world to know that global warming is the greatest threat to civilization as we know it. He may or may not be right, but he makes a damn convincing case that all of our progressive energy should be directed toward this looming threat. Or maybe we can just live without all the land that’s less than 20 or 40 feet above sea level.

Why does the son of a senator care about the environment? This flies in the face of all cynical truth regarding money and power. Well, not everything is as it seems. The truth is that he is a man with a soul who has been through dark and light personal moments. He knows what’s important. The future is important. It’s really all that matters. There won’t be a future for terrorists to destroy with their hate if we destroy it with our greed and ignorance.

I know watching a movie about a problem doesn’t fix it. Mr. Gore doesn’t really have any solutions to the issue other than education. He doesn’t know how to change the economic and industrial structure of our society. He doesn’t know how to use the political process to save the environment. But awareness is an excellent approach when you don’t know what else to do. Go see this movie to learn more. Learn more to be a part of the solution, because, as it quotes from Winston Churchill, we are entering a period of consequences.

—Duncan Wright