Sustainability: An Inconvenient Truth?

Julia Schmitt, Theresa Vriens,

Julie Wagner

Part 1: Background informationon “Sustainability“

and the “Kyoto Protocol”

“Sustainability“• resources of an ecosystem are used in a way

that does not weaken the system as a whole• natural resources should be used considerately

restrictions for energy and greenhouse gas emissions

• “Sustainable development”: 1992 UN Confer-ence on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro = fostering economic growth while preserving environment for future generations

• Sustainability in modern economy:

track financial performance of leading sustainability-driven companies worldwide

information about abilities in handling economic, environmental and social problems

The Kyoto Protocol• 1994: UN Framework Convention on

Climate Change

• 2005: Kyoto Protocol

84 countries have ratified

target: cutting down greenhouse-gas emissions at least 5% from 1990 levels

Australia and the USA have NOT signed

Text of a Letter from the President to Senators Hagel, Helms, Craig, and Roberts

• Thank you for your letter of March 6, 2001, asking for the Administration's views on global climate change, in particular the Kyoto Protocol and efforts to regulate carbon dioxide under the Clean Air Act. My Administration takes the issue of global climate change very seriously.

• As you know, I oppose the Kyoto Protocol because it exempts 80 percent of the world, including major population centers such as China and India, from compliance, and would cause serious harm to the U.S. economy. The Senate's vote, 95-0, shows that there is a clear consensus that the Kyoto Protocol is an unfair and ineffective means of addressing global climate change concerns.

• As you also know, I support a comprehensive and balanced national energy policy that takes into account the importance of improving air quality. Consistent with this balanced approach, I intend to work with the Congress on a multipollutant strategy to require power plants to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and mercury. Any such strategy would include phasing in reductions over a reasonable period of time, providing regulatory certainty, and offering market-based incentives to help industry meet the targets. I do not believe, however, that the government should impose on power plants mandatory emissions reductions for carbon dioxide, which is not a "pollutant" under the Clean Air Act.

Why the United States opposes the Kyoto Protocol:

• damage to US economy

• criticism: developing countries do not have to reduce emissions = China and India

What is your opinion on America’s opposition to the

Kyoto Protocol?

Part 2: An Inconvenient

Truth

Basic information • a documentary directed by Davis Guggenheim

• a presentation by Al Gore

• release date USA: May 24, 2006

• the fourth-highest grossing documentary

An Inconvenient TruthFacts and future predictions

• Global warming is real.

• It is caused by human activity.

• Mankind and its governments must begin immediate action to halt and reverse it.

• If we do nothing, we will reach a point when it is too late for any action.

An Inconvenient Truth“Leitmotif”

“We must act now because it is happening now !”

→ a moral issue

An Inconvenient TruthAl Gore’s strategy

• directly appealing to emotions/conscience

• dramatizing, underlining the urgency

• emphasizing the “we”

• encouraging, trying to unite the Americans and even the world population

An Inconvenient TruthReviews

• attacks on the Bush administration

→ science fraud; Kyoto

• Al Gore as the leading figure

• pedagogically effective

• flaws / errors in scientific information

• non-cinematic: a “concert film” ?

An Inconvenient TruthReviews

• appealing to emotions

• rhetoric of “bad news”

• personalizing

Al Gore• controversial but charming

• more than a former vice-president and former next president

His efforts in climate change awareness since late 1970s

Al Gore – The Right Messenger?

• Considering the scenes you have just seen, how do you evaluate Gore’s role in the movie...– ...as as politician? (e.g. coverage of the

2000 election; direct attacks on Bush)

– ...as a person? (e.g. focus on his private life; overall impression: authoritative? convincing?)