I saw the movie An Inconvenient Truth yesterday.

（《絕望真相》這個中文譯名真的不大妥帖。An Inconvenient Truth 的精髓在於指出這個真相令人覺得礙眼、麻煩，所以就被人忽略。整套電影的主題就是要人正視全球暖化的問題，從而採取急切的行動去逆轉人類對大自然的蹂躪。如果我們立即行動，人類的明天就有希望 - 所以真相絕對不令人感到絕望；相反，對未來的希望才是我們的推動力。《絕望真相》這個名稱只是香港電影發行界的反射式習作，台灣用的《不願面對的真相》就貼切得多。）

The science of global warming is fairly well-understood and undisputed all over the world, except in the United States. Growing up in Hong Kong, I have never been aware of any "controversy" over this subject until I studied in the US. There, the mass media casts a wide web of doubt and uncertainty over the scientific consensus on global warming in the name of impartiality. Political operatives manipulates this topic to their advantage without any regard to the underlying truth and implications. For decades, the people of America continue to be led to believe that global warming is the "greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people," while the rest of the world shook their collective head in disbelief. How screwed up this whole situation has become in America is not fully exposed until, I feel, some one like Al Gore comes along and makes a movie like this one.

To me, the movie is fundamentally about a man of great conviction and how he came to be this way.

Al Gore has been an early advocate on climate change. (Apparently he was also an early advocate on the technology that led to the emergence of the Internet, a claim for which he has long been ridiculed.) People who has tracked his career since decades ago are convinced that he sincerely believes that what he advocates is important for the future of human beings. He is not afraid of speaking out against powerful adversaries. He has been perennially frustrated by the same system that has enabled him to achieve so much, and yet he continues to have faith in democracy and people's ability to discern right from wrong.

In this movie, Gore gives the same presentation he has given more than 1,000 times on climate change. Interspersed through the film are snippets of reasons he became so interested in this topic. The narrative was personal, frank, and powerful. I was deeply impressed by how the "wooden soldier" has come alive in this movie. His passion and conviction really came through.

In terms of the message, partisan politics was not the focus of his attacks – the oil and gas lobby was. (See its reaction to An Inconvenient Truth here and here.) America's politics is infamously very well-known to be plagued by interested money. The oil and gas industry is particularly potent, even in Hong Kong.

For example, CLP Group, the larger electricity provider here, is the more efficient and socially responsible of the two (the other one, Hongkong Electric, is owned by the tycoon Li Ka-shing). However, contrary to what most people think, CLP's business in Hong Kong is NOT controlled by the philanthropic Kadoorie family. Instead, CLP's power generators in Hong Kong are owned by Castle Peak Power Co Ltd, which is a partnership formed in 1964 between CLP Power (40%) and ExxonMobil Energy (60%). Yes, that's right, it's ExxonMobil, the oil company that Gore singled out in the movie. CLP and Hongkong Electric are now actively campaigning against the Hong Kong government's attempt to impose stricter environmental standards on them, even though it is public knowledge that their electricity generators are the biggest local source of air pollution.

Enough said about the problems we have on hand. Go and see what Gore suggests us to do to make a difference.

If you haven't seen this movie yet, see it. It is transforming, inspiring, and, ultimately, uplifting.