62 pages • 2 hours read
Al GoreAn Inconvenient Truth
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2006A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
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The Planet Earth From Space
Because much of An Inconvenient Truth is so visual, one of the main symbols readers encounter in the book is also visual. It’s an image of the Earth from space. The reader first encounters it on the inset of the cover. It reappears right after the Introduction, as Gore begins his narrative with a number of images that show the black of space surrounding the planet. He returns to it near the end, where he quotes Carl Sagan in calling Earth a “pale blue dot” (298). This symbol is designed to provide a glimpse of Earth’s majesty and to invite a particular perspective on how every human is truly in it together. It evokes a certain awe, while also bringing home how small the planet is, when compared to the universe around it. He quotes Archibald MacLeish:
To see the Earth as it truly is, small and blue and beautiful in that eternal silence where it floats, is to see ourselves as riders on the Earth together, brothers on that bright loveliness in the eternal cold–brothers who know now that they are truly brothers(12).
The images on Page 12 and Page 300 are exactly the same–a view of Earth from the surface of the moon, taken during the Apollo 8 mission. The second time the reader sees it, Gore writes over two pages, “It is our time to rise again to secure our future” (300-01). Clearly, he sees these beautiful views of Earth as a call to action. Additionally, the pictures serve to remind readers of how these images were taken: they exist because of technology. In Gore’s eyes, technology is a problem, in that we don’t necessarily have the wisdom to use it properly the moment we invent it, but may also help find solutions in the future. These images of Earth, then, represent both that problem and that promise.
Faith in Democracy
Al Gore displays a deep and abiding faith in the American democratic system. He believes that the climate crisis, as severe as it is, can be solved through legal, political channels. He never hints that any other route might be desirable or necessary. For example, at the end of the book, he states,
Now it is up to us to use our democracy and our God-given ability to reason with one another about our future and make moral choices to change the policies and behaviors that would, if continued, leave a degraded, diminished, and hostile planet for our children and grandchildren–and for humankind (296).
He often speaks of the American political process with awe and optimism, as when he quotes Winston Churchill as saying that democracy is “the worst form of government except for all others that have been tried” (213). Even while critical of the current administration, he looks at policy, such as the Kyoto Treaty, as solutions. And while he does believe that the issue of climate change transcends politics, he expresses the idea that politics must help to change the dynamic: “Political leaders–especially the president–can have a major effect not only on public policy […] but also on public opinion, especially among those who count themselves followers of the president (286). At the end of the book, one of the very last things Gore urges people to do is to take action by holding elected officials accountable for their actions.
