Al Gore has updated and adapted his “An Inconvenient Truth” (the book which accompanies the movie!) for the younger generation. The 128-page version is called “An Inconvenient Truth: Adapted for a New Generation” is much more problem-solving focused and much less Gore-focused than both the film and first companion-book.

(Do you really think the 11 and up crowd would have followed the 2000 presidential election? Or really care Gore’s dad ran a tobacco farm?)

The New York Times writes

What remains is most of the “good parts” of the movie: enough geoscience to explain the basics of climate change, and a travelogue of parts of the world where global warming either poses a threat or (Gore suggests) has already taken hold. The beleaguered polar bears are here. So are shrinking glaciers in Switzerland and atop Mount Kilimanjaro, New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and deteriorating coral reefs. The main culprit is carbon dioxide; the solution, a grab bag of technical fixes. “We have everything we need to begin solving the climate crisis,” the book concludes hopefully.

The science, as far as it goes, is well supported, but some foibles remain from the film. Gore pegs recent hot spells and extreme weather like Hurricane Katrina to global warming a lot more confidently than most climate scientists are ready to do. Many experts suspect that the recent run of hot summers is due to global warming combined with an upward swing in natural temperature fluctuations. A swing back could cool things off for a while, even as overall warming continues. Gore is also mighty optimistic about the ease of reining in humanity’s appetite for carbon-spewing combustion.

Additionally, the Times wonders if such a book is even necessary, given the success — and widespread use of the DVD in classrooms — of the accompanying film.

While I think the book might not be necessary, can anyone blame Gore for trying to get this very important message to as many generations as possible? Additionally, a book might fit into school curricula a little easy than a 90-minute movie.

Just a thought.

Read the full article here.

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