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How incredible is it that someone could make a movie about their Powerpoint presentation and win an Oscar for it? Prior to 2005, many people would say "It'll never happen." Happen it did - Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" won the Oscar, as well as world-wide recognition and spurred on vigorous debate.

The inconvenient truth in the movie is that global warming is a reality, and besides being a scientific phenomenon, as Al Gore states, it has become a moral issue. If we acknowledge the truth, that global warming is occurring and it is anthropogenic, it becomes ethically wrong to not take action. The moral issue is whether or not we are going to do something about it.

It becomes very clear, when watching the movie, that scientific evidence supports the global warming trend. From comparing Carbon Dioxide levels today to hundreds of thousands of years of data taken from ice core samples, we can see not only a rise in Greenhouse gases, but also in global temperatures. Using isotopes of Oxygen gas dissolved in the banding of snow and ice layers, past temperatures have been compared to today's temperatures and there is an overall increase.

Ocean temperatures are warming as well, beyond what even scientists well-versed in global warming theory predicted. When ocean temperatures warm, there is a domino effect that happens. Storms get worse, as warmer water creates more energy for hurricanes and typhoons. Currents that are responsible for the global climate are disrupted. Warmer waters help speed the melting of sea ice, which changes salinity levels and further disrupts normal circulation patterns.

Using many forms of evidence, including graphical analysis, photographs demonstrating the change in glaciation, documented scientific evidence, and personal testimonies, Gore successfully gets the point across. Global warming is a fact, not a theory. It may have a misnomer, and global climate change might be a more accurate term, but the fact remains that humans have altered the composition of the atmosphere, and the heat-trapping ability of gases we release through our use of fossil fuels is the primary culprit.

The powerpoint presentation could stand alone as an Oscar-worthy movie. Gore's interpretation and analysis of the evidence, his personal testimonies that tie into why this is his mission, and his witty sarcasm regarding various political pieces makes this movie not just educational but entertaining as well.

Learn more about this author, Jennifer Vose.
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