2007 Reading Challenge: Book 57
An Inconvenient Truth – Al Gore
Far from being a depressing or heavy-going read, this book is delightfully reminiscent of those science tomes that fascinated me (and, I suspect, many others) as a child. Whether the subject was volcanoes and plate tectonics, space exploration or dinosaurs, there were always a wealth of colourful drawings and photographs, charts and statistics to absorb and inform as well as information rendered into understandable language.
Although the subject matter of Al Gore’s plea for engagement with the most serious issue to face humanity at this time could not be more serious, the format of his book underplays this. As well as exuding an air that’s so wonderfully reminiscent of the junior science encyclopaedia, it’s also a lovely object with heavyweight paper, glossy full-colour printing and lots of fold-out pages. This should in no way be taken as pejorative; I am sadly aware that people out there will jump on anything said about this book and twist it into an insult and a belittlement. This is not my intention, and I refuse to provide fuel for their fires.
It turns out that the reason for this is Al Gore’s slideshow – the one he’s been going around giving to all and sundry for years now in order to convince people of the seriousness of global warming. And the book really does have the feel of a visual presentation distilled into text, with the addition of some longer articles better suited to the print format. This, after the sheer attractiveness of the book itself, is the second reason why it’s not so much of a chore to read as you might at first imagine.
The third reason is that Gore does everything he can to humanise it, tying in his long engagement with environmental causes with events in his own family life – his childhood split between Washington DC, where his father served as a senator for Tennessee, and the family farm, holidays with wife Tipper after his return from Vietnam, the moment when his young son narrowly escaped death in a car accident, the death of his beloved sister from lung cancer. And the fourth is the note of optimism that is shot right through it – the acknowledgement of the sheer scale of the problem we face, and the urgency of coming to grips with it is accompanied by a belief that Americans, and citizens of the world in general, are more than capable of rising to the challenge.
As to the argument itself, well, it is compelling. In the book Gore likens the climate change nay-sayers to those people that have spent years denying that tobacco causes cancer. He also traces their tactics and shows how those tried and tested methods once applied by tobacco firms are now coming to the aid of oil companies. Maybe the presentation of his data isn’t of the most scientific – but are scientists the audience that most need to be convinced? Maybe there is the odd fact in there that could be interpreted differently, or which isn’t quite right.
But pulling at these threads in the hope that the whole thing will unravel, and denying that this whole problem exists and is real, is just so mindbogglingly stupid that I’m not even going to waste time on it. To my eyes Gore’s argument is compelling, deeply sincere, humane and well-presented and it deserves a wide audience. The optimism is refreshing and the section at the back that suggests way of channelling your energy and concern into action well-placed. This is not a man that sits around complaining that nothing is happening – instead he travels the world, seeing the problem for himself, writing books and making films and setting up companies that search for solutions. And not letting past events and might-have-beens get on top of him.
I came away even more depressed than ever, and for the sake of all of us, that Governor George Bush of Texas was allowed to get away with murder in 2000.
Some links:
- An Inconvenient Truth: official website
- The Guardian: An inconvenient truth (beware of politicians in fleece clothing)
- Independent Online: “The world can’t wait for George Bush”
- Stephen Fry: getting overheated (everything this man writes is a pleasure to read. But, to find the relevant bit, scroll down until you come to the ‘getting overheated’ crosshead).