Sunday, July 02, 2006

Clarity and Integrity

I saw An Inconvenient Truth on Thursday afternoon, and I feel that its message and my garden are linked closely enough that I want to write about it here.  Please go see it if you have not.  I am left with two reactions.

First, as a former teacher, I am impressed with its clarity. It is difficult to make something so complicated, so clear.  And because it is clear, it is also compelling.  Learners remember when they are left with memorable images on which to hang their new knowledge.  For me some of those memorable images are: “the earth’s breathing in and out” … the image of the ocean currents circulating with the help of the ice cap … and a myriad of graphs that all go one way …UP.  

Second, as a citizen, I am impressed with the film’s integrity.  I am not being jived here.  I am being given scientific data from which to begin a decision making process.  It is not about politics (though it IS about political will), but it is about a moral imperative to take responsibility for our actions.  

Please see this film and take a friend with you.  Oh, and stay for the credits.  In my theater, people leaving stopped in the middle of the aisles and stood and watched.

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