“An Inconvenient Truth” played in the University Union Ballroom on Thursday followed by discussion on the film and its topic.

The documentary, hosted by former Vice President Al Gore, was produced to shed light on a real and scary reality that he said future generations will have to face in the near future.

According to the film, that reality is global warming, and how our generation has impacted the Earth exponentially greater than any other ever before.

The movie is composed mainly of Gore standing in front of a live audience for the majority of the documentary explaining the history and the consequences of the human impact on Earth. Throughout the film the audience gets insights from Gore and many of his friends in the fields of ecology and geology who have first-hand experience in dealing with the global warming problem and how people can solve it.

The documentary describes how glacial melting, due to excessive amounts of carbon dioxide in the air, is warming our climate more every year. This warming is in direct correlation with the warming of the oceans, which in turn melt the glaciers even faster. According to Gore and his constituents, the problem is twofold: The glaciers act as shields against the sun’s heat reflecting much of the rays back into space; but as the glaciers melt, the sea surrounding the glaciers warms and melts the glaciers even quicker. According to the film, the last 14 years have been the hottest ever documented, with the hottest being 2005.

Old habits plus old technology leads to predictable consequences, Gore said. The United States is the leading contributor to global warming.

“We already know how to effectively change the carbon emissions,” Gore said. He went on to say we just need to start implementing them.

The movie is informative in its main goal. However, the information is still inconclusive. No one knows where this current warming trend is going to take the world. Some of the leading scientists in the field believe that it may lead to another ice age. Others say that it could devastate the human population. The bottom line is that the world will never be the way we know it.

After the movie, the audience was encouraged to listen to an open forum and discussion about the film and the global issues.

UNIQUE presented two guest speakers who have experience and knowledge in the field. Tim Marbach, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Sac State, started the conversation, He was followed by Andrew Altevogt, a numerical analyst specializing in carbon mitigation from Princeton University.

The discussion was open to questions and the bottom line of the conversation basically boiled down to the myriad options available that aren’t being taken advantage of.

The Associated Students Inc. stated that it is interested in working with students on issues related to climate change. For more information, people can contact Chris Ramos at 916-278-6784, or e-mail him at [email protected].

Josh Staab can be reached at [email protected]