I saw Al Gore’s filmed presentation on the effects of global warming last night. It’s really good and everbody should see it. There are moments when it is really self-promotional, but whatever, he’s been a politician for too long. Ultimately, it is frightening and overwhelmingly convincing.

While the media has been focusing on the section of the film where he shows what would happen if the ice shelf in either Antarctica or Greenland were to melt (a graphic image of the World Trade Center area is flooded), the most frightening part for me was not conjecture, but rather some simple reporting.

He shows satellite images of a huge section of the water-based ice in Antarctica just crumbling into the ocean over the course of just 35 days. Honestly, the entire theater just let out a gasp; it was pretty amazing to see it with those satellite images. Then he goes on to explain that the same process that caused this massive destruction of ice there is being recreated in Greenland this very moment.

If that happens (as it did in the past, causing the lasrt ice age in Europe) the oceanic currents that keep Europe warm would likely shut down again and plunge the world into a new ice age.

Fucking hell. Go see this movie now. Some of it is a little boring, but you’ll be thinking and talking about it long after you leave the theater. Although I consider myself an “environmentalist” in so far as I recycle and I ride my bike and I support the environmental movement, I admit that I am not actively working on this or tracking its progress. I’m gonna try to pay more attention and write about this here in the future.