An Inconvenient Truth…a MUST-SEE DVD!

I just finished watching the Al Gore Documentary, An Inconvenient Truth.  My mother introduced me to watching this movie, and I am really glad I did.  I come from a more science-math-type household.  My husband has degrees in biology and computer science and is a medical doctor.  I have a math degree.  My mother has a minor in biology.  My stepfather did psychology–which while not as apparantly mathematical, is very logical and he worked in labs while getting his masters degree.  Needless to say, we are not a very artsy-type of family.  Anyway, knowing this about me, it is really easy to see why this documentary would be fascinating and simply scary to me.  It is based on the premise that our atmosphere here on earth is very thin in size compared to the size of the planet, and all of the extra gases (particularly CO2) that we are emitting as a world society is having a very realistic and sizeable effect on our world.  Everything is based on scientific evidence from the last 40-50 years, but it is all presented in a very non-scientific way.  Al Gore does an excellent job of explaining to everyone how this could effect them and how they have figured this information out.  With that said, I have a list to devise and a trip to make to Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse…to buy energy efficient things to incorporate in my household.  I am also going to research recycling a little bit and come up with a way to decrease the amount of garbage that I throw out each week.  I will start teaching my son to turn things off and be careful about how much water he is using.  I also plan to show this video to my mathematics classes.  I can easily plan a lesson around it as the graphs and charts used are very mathematical in nature.  We will discuss the creation of these documents and how we could come up with mathematical predictions.  In addition, the lesson will cover transformations of graphs.  I will incorporate science and history into this project.  I could list quite a few cross-curricular TEKS that this will cover, all while exposing my students to one of the most argued-over political issues of our time.  Sounds like a great lesson and possible project to do after TAKS is over.  Enough said about school though, as I am digressing–the important thing about this video is that you should see it.  Even if you don’t believe in Global Warming, or think that it is all some type of Democratic-Tree Hugger-Hype–you should be informed.  Make a more educated decision–that’s all I am saying.  Oh, and by the way, they have another dvd (I got mine at blockbuster video) that is the contradictory view of this one–I plan on watching it as well and researching “the other side.”  If you can say nothing else about me, you can say that I am trying to see all views on this and then make my own decisions–In the meantime, if spending a little to save a little more works out for this household–who is on a budget, I might add–then, by all means, I am going to Lowes.