Documentary Films

No. All information in Inconvenient Truth is accurate as of the time of production of the documentary, and are properly documented and backed up. There are several sources, including this year's scientific reports from the IPCC, that corroborate it. However, the documentary does not talk about all aspects of global warming, nor does it discuss effects of other types of emissions, such as global dimming, that may have an impact on global warming. It also may exaggerate the level of responsibility that humans have for said global warming. Currently, the IPCC holds that it is over 65% likely that we are the major cause of global warming, though they are over 90% likely that we have at least contributed(note: over 90% likely is the highest this panel will go, as they are basically writing reports for politicians).

However Co2 while it has an effect is only a fraction of a percent as important as the main greenhouse gas which is water vapor in the form of cloud cover or various forms of humidity.

Most scientists agree that the system of water vapor in cloud cover and humidity is fairly self regulating in that when temperatures rise the clouds tend to dissipate causing less reflection, and when temperatures are cooler the vapor tends to form a more cohesive and reflective barrier.

A lot of the emotional images in the film are misleading such as the Ice breaking off into the water. That is what happens when ice hits water.

Polar bears actually are overpopulated and the population is several multiples of what it was historically for a variety of reasons. They are NOT in danger of extinction, and the local game experts say that warmer weather will only increase the population further.

The Ice on Mount Kilimanjaro has been receding for hundreds of years and it is not due to temperature at that altitude which is well below freezing and has been for some time, The ice is mostly lost through ablation (erosion), and in fact it is natural for almost all glaciers to recede since most were formed in a past Ice age with very different conditions. Unless we have another ice age this will continue until they are gone, which has nothing to do with man.

The Chart showing a relatively flat world temperature for the last several thousand years with a big spike in the last few decades has been shown to be based on shoddy science and drawn with significant and unequal weighting by Mann, the scientist who created it.

A U.S. Congressional committee was formed to determine the truth of this with the help of many scientists and mathematicians (for the chart data). The un-weighted chart would actually show a significantly large warming period during the medieval ages where the temperatures were much higher than today for an extended period of time in a pre-industrial period. Speculation is that this is why the chart was weighted to make this (Inconvenient truth) do a disappearing act.

Storm frequency and severity including typhoons tornados and hurricanes is not doing anything now that it has not historically done over the last few centuries (Florida State University Climate Studies).

A truck driver in the UK sued the public schools there for showing the film with mis-truths to school children. The court determined that it had no complaint about Gore's central thesis that climate change was happening and was being driven by emissions from humans, but there were the judge said nine statements in the film were not supported by mainstream scientific consensus. Now schools must not show the film unless accompanied by guidance giving the other side of the argument.

Look up Fred Singer, one of the lead scientists, or John Christy another of the lead scientists. Also see the Non Governmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC) report from some of the same scientists working independently so they could give their own summary and explain their own data. Their comprehensive report is followed by a petition from 30 thousand PHD's in the climate fields to the UN to reconsider their conclusions in light of the scientist's summary.

There are probably only two facts he can't substantiate.

Mount Kilimanjaro

Mount Kilimanjaro's shrinking glacier is more likely the cause of deforestation rather than global warming. However the main study on this came out after Gore's film was made. There is however a widespread decline of mid- and high-latitude glaciers

Dr Thompson's thermometer

Al Gore refers to a graph of temperature, attributing it to Dr Thompson. The graph is actually a combination of Mann's hockey stick (Mann 1998) and CRU's surface measurements (Jones 1999). However, the main point that temperatures are greater now than during the Medieval Warm Period is most probably correct is confirmed by multiple proxy reconstructions.

To clarify the legal case:

Mr. Justice Burton, in his judgement, ordered that teaching notes accompanying the film should be modified to clarify the speculative (and occasionally hyperbolic) presentation of some issues. However, Mr. Justice Burton found no errors at all in the science since the word error appears in quotes each time it is used - nine points formed the entirety of his judgement - indicating that he did not support the assertion the points were erroneous. He also said:

"It is substantially founded upon scientific research and fact, albeit that the science is used, in the hands of a talented politician and communicator, to make a political statement and to support a political programme"

"Al Gore's presentation of the causes and likely effects of climate change in the film was broadly accurate." (see 'Is Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth accurate?')

It turns out that there are two musicians behind the Joe Exotic songs, and neither of them are the man himself. According to Vanity Fair, Vince Johnson and vocalist Danny Clinton, members of the Clinton Johnson Band, are the ones who wrote and recorded all the big cat hits, including “I Saw A Tiger” and “Here Kitty Kitty.” The two men do appear in the credits of Tiger King, but Joe Exotic insisted to his staff and crew that it was him performing the songs. And he also didn’t bother telling the real musicians that he was taking the credit.

“I had no idea he was going to Milli Vanilli the songs,” Johnson told Vanity Fair. “It was a couple of months and two or three songs [into the collaboration] when I was on YouTube one night and just happened to look up Joe Exotic. And there he was, lip-syncing and acting like the ghost of Elvis [in these music videos]. I called him up, I was hot…And he bamboozled me about his reality show—that it was coming soon and he would make everything right as rain. I just wanted the proper credit.”

The one movie that is the closest to a true documentary that also is a horror movie is Terror in the Aisles (1984) This move is narrated by Donald Pleasence, who starred in Halloween (1978), and Nancy Allen, who starred in Carrie (1978) and Dressed to Kill (1980). The movie is a compilation of trailers and scenes from other famous horror, crime and thriller movies. Since the movie dwells almost exclusively on the grittiest and scariest scenes, many moviegoers found themselves "in the aisles" and racing for the door.

Some consider movies, such as Blair Witch Project (1999), Paranormal Activity (2007), and Cloverfield (2008) both horror and documentary movies. However, Internet Movie Database classifies only Terror in the Aisles (1984) as both a horror movie and a documentary movie. Some might say the other three are fashioned more like "reality TV" than a documentary. So, yes the former three movies are made to look like documentaries and all three were financial successes.