Global Warming: What's Up with the Weather?

As a richly informative supplement and/or counterpoint to Al Gore's Oscar-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth (an excellent film that never pretended to be a balanced examination of global warming), this equally compelling NOVA/Frontline investigation combines the cachet of two of the most trusted programs on PBS to examine global warming from both a scientific and a critically investigative perspective. The general verdict matches Gore's: global warming is both quantifiable and genuinely threatening to the future of life on Earth. But where Gore's argument was skewed more towards urgent alarm, this report examines both sides of the global warming debate. The scientific approach yields some fascinating details, such as the function of trees, ice layers, and oceanic coral reefs as "natural recorders" of our planet's climate history (thus allowing researchers to compile pattern studies and long-term histories of climate change), while the investigative aspect provides expert testimony from believers and skeptics, along with staggering statistics (Americans use 25% of the world's energy, and annually produce 20 tons of carbon dioxide per capita) and a detailed discussion of ways to improve energy efficiency on a global scale. DVD extras include printable materials for educators. A levelheaded primer separating the facts from speculations about global warming, this is recommended. Aud: J, H, C, P. (J. Shannon)