Perhaps it’s the dull weather. Maybe the crappy temp-job has zapped my neurons to the point whereby a long-winded treatise on the Zimbabwean electoral crisis* is all but unthinkable. It’s even possible that I just can’t think of anything notable to say this month.

Whatever the reason, the fact remains that I don’t feel like penning a lengthy political diatribe this time around. Accordingly, I’m going to take a slightly different tack. From this page, you can view two (in)famous documentary films which take diametrically-opposed looks at the same contentious topic: global warming. From there, I can only encourage you to make up your own minds. Is the issue a greater threat to the survival of Planet Earth than religious fundamentalism, Big Mac hamburgers, American Idol and avian ’flu combined, or is the whole thing a giant scam designed to divert our attention away from the real problems we face each day?

Film #1 is Al Gore’s Oscar-winning An Inconvenient Truth; Film #2, meanwhile, is Channel 4’s controversially-titled The Great Global Warming Swindle. The former has been feted as a work of great importance by climate change lobbyists and landed Gore a Nobel Peace Prize in addition to his Academy Award, while the latter has alternately been denounced as propaganda or hailed as a new milestone in truth-telling, depending upon one’s political outlook and social circle.

For my part, I genuinely don’t have strong feelings on the subject of global warming. My grasp of the science involved is too weak and, if I’m honest, I’ve never spent any real time attempting to counteract my ignorance with research. My inherent tendency is to look favourably upon anything opposed by George W. Bush, and the Kyoto Protocol certainly falls into this bracket, but then again I’m not going to allow my love of Radiohead’s music to make me jump on the climate change bandwagon just because Thom Yorke is a vocal supporter of the cause in question.

Do take the time to watch both films, even if you’ve already made up your minds on the subject. I’d be very interested to hear what you think, especially if either movie makes you question your pre-existing feelings where global warming is concerned: simply click on the ‘Contact’ link to your left and send an e-mail to the address contained therein.

Without further ado, then:

An Inconvenient Truth

The Great Global Warming Swindle

(I would have embedded them in this page, but unfortunately my HTML skills don’t extend that far. Needless to say, I am not hosting either of these videos, merely providing links to copies thereof which have been uploaded by other people and are hosted by third-party websites.)

Normal service, whatever that is, ought to be resumed by next month. Oh, and one last thing: while I’m lazily providing links to other people’s work in lieu of publishing more of my own, read this and feel as ashamed – both of yourself and of your country, wherever you may live – as do I.

* This is still on the agenda for May, though, so don’t heave a collective sigh of relief just yet.

 

THE IMAGE ABOVE IS A STILL FRAME FROM AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, USED FOR ILLUSTRATIVE PURPOSES ONLY UNDER THE DOCTRINE OF FAIR USE.