An Inconvenient Truth facts for kids

Quick facts for kids An Inconvenient Truth
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Davis Guggenheim
Produced by	Laurie David Lawrence Bender Scott Z. Burns Lesley Chilcott
Written by	Al Gore
Narrated by	Al Gore
Starring	Al Gore
Music by	Michael Brook
Cinematography	Bob Richman Davis Guggenheim
Editing by	Jay Cassidy Dan Swietlik
Studio	Participant Productions Lawrence Bender Productions
Distributed by	Paramount Classics
Release date(s)	January 24, 2006 (2006-01-24) (Sundance) May 24, 2006 (2006-05-24) (United States)
Running time	97 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1.5 million
Money made	$49.8 million

An Inconvenient Truth is a 2006 American documentary film. It was directed by Davis Guggenheim. The film is about Al Gore's efforts to teach people about global warming. Al Gore was a former vice president of the United States. He used a special presentation with slides to share his message. He gave this presentation over 1,000 times around the world.

The idea for the film came from producer Laurie David. She saw Al Gore's presentation and was very inspired. She worked with producer Lawrence Bender and director Davis Guggenheim. They wanted to turn the presentation into a movie. The film first showed at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. It opened in major cities in May 2006. The movie was very successful. It won two Academy Awards for Best Documentary Feature and Best Original Song. It earned about $49.8 million worldwide.

Since its release, An Inconvenient Truth helped many people learn about global warming. It also made the environmental movement stronger. The film has been used in science classes in schools.

A follow-up film, called An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power, was released on July 28, 2017.

Understanding Climate Change: The Film's Message

An Inconvenient Truth shows Al Gore giving a detailed talk about climate change. He wanted to warn everyone about a growing "planetary emergency." This emergency is caused by global warming. The film also shares parts of his life story. These moments helped him care deeply about environmental issues. Gore started giving these talks in 1989. The film uses a modern computer presentation, which Gore called his "slide show."

Al Gore begins the film by greeting an audience. He jokes about his past run for president. He then shows himself editing his presentation on a laptop. He thinks about how hard it has been to get people to care. He felt he had "failed to get the message across."

Gore then starts his slide show. It is a detailed presentation with graphs, charts, and powerful images. He shows photos of Earth taken from space. These photos, like Earthrise and The Blue Marble, changed how we see our planet. They helped start the modern environmental movement.

Gore shares personal stories that made him interested in this topic. He learned from an early climate expert, Roger Revelle, in college. He also recalls a story from school. A teacher once called the idea of continental drift "ridiculous." Gore connects this to the old belief that "the Earth is so big, we can't possibly have any lasting, harmful impact." For a bit of fun, Gore uses a clip from the cartoon Futurama to explain the greenhouse effect. He also mentions that losing the 2000 presidential election helped him focus on his mission to fight climate change.

The Pale Blue Dot photo shows Earth as a tiny pixel from far away. Al Gore reminds us that all human history happened on this one small planet.

Throughout the film, Gore talks about what scientists agree on about global warming. He explains the current and future effects of global warming. He stresses that global warming is a "moral issue," not just a political one. He describes what he believes will happen if we don't reduce human-made greenhouse gases soon. Gore also shows data from ice cores in Antarctica. This data proves that CO₂ levels are higher now than in the last 650,000 years.

The film addresses people who doubt global warming. Gore shows how almost all glaciers have melted over recent decades. He gives examples like the Grinnell Glacier. He talks about the risk of large ice sheets in Greenland or West Antarctica melting. This could raise sea levels by about 20 feet (6 meters). Such a rise would flood coastal areas and create many refugees. Melted water from Greenland could also change ocean currents. This might cause dramatic cooling in northern Europe. The film also uses animations to show what could happen to animals vulnerable to global warming.

Taking Action Against Climate Change

The documentary ends with Al Gore explaining that we can reverse global warming. We need to release less CO₂. We also need to plant more trees and plants to absorb existing CO₂. Gore asks viewers to learn how they can help. He closes the film by saying:

Each one of us is a cause of global warming, but each one of us can make choices to change that with the things we buy, the electricity we use, the cars we drive; we can make choices to bring our individual carbon emissions to zero. The solutions are in our hands, we just have to have the determination to make it happen. We have everything that we need to reduce carbon emissions, everything but political will. But in America, the will to act is a renewable resource.

During the film's end credits, several ideas pop up on screen. They suggest ways viewers can help fight global warming at home. These include "recycle," "speak up in your community," "try to buy a hybrid vehicle," and "encourage everyone you know to watch this movie."

Behind the Scenes: How the Film Was Made

Al Gore speaking about sustainability in 2010.

Al Gore's Environmental Journey

Al Gore first became interested in global warming in college. He took a class with Professor Roger Revelle. Revelle was one of the first scientists to measure carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Later, when Gore was in Congress, he held the first meeting about this topic in 1981. His 1992 book, Earth in the Balance, discussed many environmental issues. It became a bestseller.

As Vice President, Gore worked to encourage energy efficiency. He also supported international agreements to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. He helped create the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. This was an international agreement to control greenhouse gases.

From Slide Show to Silver Screen

Al Gore giving his global warming presentation at the University of Miami.

After the 2000 presidential election, Gore focused again on global warming. He updated his slide show and started presenting it worldwide. By the time the film was made, he had given the presentation over a thousand times.

Producer Laurie David saw Gore's presentation in New York City. She was very impressed. She said, "Gore's presentation was the most powerful and clear explanation of global warming I had ever seen. And it became my mission to get everyone I knew to see it too."

Inspired, David gathered a team. This included producer Lawrence Bender. They met with Gore about making his slide show into a movie. It took some convincing because the slide show was very important to him.

David and Bender then met with director Davis Guggenheim. Guggenheim was unsure at first. But after seeing the presentation, he was "blown away." He felt global warming was "the most important issue." He wanted to try to make a film about it.

During production, Gore kept updating his presentation. He added new photos and the latest climate data. He tailored his talks to different audiences and locations. Gore was initially hesitant about the film. But he grew to trust director Guggenheim. Guggenheim explained that a movie needed a personal story to keep viewers interested. He convinced Gore to be that central character.

Making the Movie

The filmmakers faced challenges. They needed to make the movie quickly. They filmed in many locations, including the United States and China. Producer Lesley Chilcott was key to managing all the travel and logistics on a low budget.

Director Guggenheim said, "We all felt like we were on a mission from God just to make it as fast as we could. We just felt like it was urgent. The clock was ticking, and people had to see it."

Finding a good title was also hard. They considered names like The Rising and Too Hot to Handle. Guggenheim asked Gore why climate change was so hard for people to understand. Gore replied, "Because it's an inconvenient truth, ya know." Guggenheim immediately knew that was the perfect title for the movie. Even though some people thought it was not catchy enough, Guggenheim strongly defended it.

Most of the movie shows Gore giving his lecture to an audience in a small theater. He used a huge 70-foot (21 meter) digital screen for his presentation. The filmmakers used many different types of cameras and film. This helped them create different feelings and textures for various parts of the story. For example, old 8mm film was used for Gore's childhood memories. Grainy black-and-white photos showed his son's accident. These contrasted with the clear high-definition video of the presentation.

The Science Behind the Film

The Keeling Curve shows how carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has steadily increased since 1958.

The film explains that scientists agree that global warming is real. They also agree that it is caused by humans and could have serious effects. Gore presents specific facts to support this:

• The Keeling Curve: This graph shows a steady increase in CO₂ in the atmosphere. Measurements are taken from the Mauna Loa Observatory.
• Melting Glaciers: The film shows "before and after" photos of many glaciers retreating.
• Ice Core Data: Studies of Antarctic ice cores show that carbon dioxide levels are higher now than at any time in the last 650,000 years.
• Temperature Records: Data shows that the ten hottest years ever recorded happened within the previous fourteen years (as of the film's release in 2006).
• Scientific Articles: A 2004 study looked at 928 scientific articles about climate change. It found that all of them supported the idea that humans cause global warming or did not disagree.

The Associated Press asked over 100 climate researchers about the film. All 19 scientists who had seen the movie or read the book said Gore accurately shared the science. They found very few errors.

William H. Schlesinger, a dean at Duke University, said Gore "got all the important material and got it right." Robert Corell, chairman of the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, was also impressed. He said, "I'm amazed at how thorough and accurate. ... I could find no error."

Ice cores from EPICA and Vostok show how temperature and CO₂ levels have changed together for the last 650,000 years.

One topic discussed was the link between hurricanes and global warming. At the time, scientists had different views on this. Gore used images from Hurricane Katrina. Some scientists felt this was not the best example. However, Gavin Schmidt, a climate modeler for NASA, thought Gore handled the topic carefully. He noted that Gore did not say one specific event was directly caused by global warming.

Scientists like Schmidt, Eric Steig, and Michael E. Mann supported Gore's use of ice core data. This data showed a link between CO₂ and temperature. They explained that while the relationship is complex, it supports our understanding of how CO₂ affects warming.

Lonnie Thompson, an Earth Science professor, was happy with how his research on melting glaciers was shown. He said the film was "an excellent overview for an introductory class at a university."

Awards and Recognition

An Inconvenient Truth received many awards worldwide. The film won two awards at the 79th Academy Awards. These were for Best Documentary Feature and Best Original Song for Melissa Etheridge's song "I Need to Wake Up." It was the first documentary to win two Oscars. After winning, director Guggenheim asked Gore to join him on stage. Gore gave a short speech. He said we need to solve the climate crisis because it is a moral issue.

For his work to raise awareness about global warming, Al Gore won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. He shared it with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Gore also received the Prince of Asturias Prize in 2007. The related audiobook also won a Grammy Award.

The film won many other "Best Documentary" awards from film critic groups.

The Film's Impact on the World

Google Trends data shows that, after the film's release, more people searched for "climate crisis." Al Gore often used this term.

The number of Google searches for "climate change" grew steadily after the film came out.

The documentary was well-received in many parts of the world. It helped raise awareness about global warming. The film inspired producer Kevin Wall to create the 2007 Live Earth music festival. It also influenced Italian composer Giorgio Battistelli to write an opera called "CO2."

According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, the film sparked discussions. Some politicians and their supporters doubted global warming. Scientists and more liberal politicians stressed its importance. Most people remember the film as a mix of science lecture and personal reflection.

Inspiring Action and Education

After the film, Gore started The Climate Reality Project in 2006. This group trained thousands of activists to give Gore's presentation. Today, the group has 3,500 presenters worldwide. In 2010, they launched ""Inconvenient Youth"." This project believes that teens can help solve the climate crisis.

Studies showed that people learned more about climate change after seeing the film. They also became more concerned. One study found that in areas near where the film was shown, people bought more carbon offsets.

Government Reactions

Then-President George W. Bush was asked if he would watch the film. He said he doubted it. He believed new technologies would improve the environment. He thought people should focus on technology, not on whether humans caused global warming. Al Gore disagreed. He said the global scientific community agreed that humans were responsible.

Several U.S. Senators watched the film. Some praised it for raising awareness. Others, like Oklahoma Republican Senator Jim Inhofe, criticized it. He compared it to a book by Adolf Hitler, which is a very strong and inappropriate comparison. He thought Gore was using the issue for political reasons. However, other Republican senators, like John McCain, did not criticize the film.

In September 2006, Gore visited Sydney, Australia, to promote the film. Then-Australian Prime Minister John Howard said he would not meet with Gore. He also said he would not agree to the Kyoto Protocol because of the movie. A year later, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd ratified Kyoto in his first week in office. This left the United States as the only industrialized nation not to have signed the treaty.

In the United Kingdom, Conservative party leader David Cameron urged people to watch the film. In Belgium, an activist convinced the entire Belgian government to see it. In Costa Rica, President Óscar Arias screened the film. It greatly influenced his work on climate change.

Using the Film in Schools

Many schools and colleges have used the film in science classes. In Germany, the Environment Minister bought 6,000 DVDs for German schools. The Spanish Prime Minister distributed 30,000 copies to schools in October 2007. In Canada, a school board made the film available as an educational resource.

In the United Kingdom, the government sent copies of An Inconvenient Truth to all secondary schools. The film was also added to the science curriculum for older students in Scotland.

Music from the Film

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The music for An Inconvenient Truth was composed by Michael Brook. Melissa Etheridge sang the theme song, "I Need to Wake Up," during the end credits. Brook wanted the music to bring out the emotions in the film. He said the director wanted to give people a break from all the information. The music helped connect to Al Gore's personal stories.

Etheridge agreed to write the song after seeing Gore's presentation. She felt a "huge responsibility" to contribute to such an important project. She won the 2006 Academy Award for Best Original Song for "I Need to Wake Up." In her speech, she thanked Al Gore. She said he showed that caring for Earth is not about politics, "it's all green."

Related Books and Films

Al Gore's book of the same title was published at the same time as the film. The book has more information, science, and Gore's thoughts on the topics. A 2007 documentary, An Update with Former Vice President Al Gore, discussed new information. This included Hurricane Katrina, coral reef problems, and melting permafrost.

The Sequel: Truth to Power

Al Gore meeting with Christiana Figueres during the Paris Agreement for the sequel film.

In 2013, director Guggenheim thought about making a follow-up film. In 2014, producers discussed a possible sequel. Co-producer Lawrence Bender said, "If we are going to make a movie, we want it to have an impact." Co-producer Laurie David felt a sequel was needed. She noted that many things from the first movie had come true.

In December 2016, Al Gore announced a follow-up film. It opened at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. The film, An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power, was released by Paramount on July 28, 2017.

See also

In Spanish: Una verdad incómoda para niños