The Environment

Al Gore, than man who should be president, owns the Best Feature Length Documentary Oscar for producing and appearing in An Inconvenient Truth, and last Friday he was named a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on the environment.

I didn't really care for An Inconvenient Truth. While the message is an important one, as a film I feel it fell short- to much of Al on the phone or working on his Mac. I would have preferred to see his presentation in person rather than the film. Of course I believe what he was saying so he was preaching to the converted.

I do think often about all the petroleum products used in film manufacturing and production and all the chemicals that process and develop film. Where does it go? Out of sight out of mind? For environmental reasons I am glad we are moving towards a filmless/tapeless work flow, but I can also imagine a pile of batteries and computer chips and flash drives at the bottom of a land fill. I am one of the few people who are happy that I have to turn in my iphone to get a new battery. Apple is doing the green thing, I think, but of course I drive a hybrid and eat granola- actually as I type these words- so I naturally lean that way.

This summer one could travel the Northwest Passage by boat for the first time in years. Polar Bears are dying because their environment is melting away. Polar ice caps are shrinking at an alarming rate. I am happy for Al Gore, but I really hope the planet heeds his warnings before it is too late.

PeterH