By Michelle Theall

I’m a little late to the party, I suppose. I just finished watching An Inconvenient Truth last night. Seems like just about everyone has taken the time to watch the film since Oscar (aka Hollywood) bowed down to kiss Mr. Gore’s tootsies. Gore proved to me the devastating reality of global warming. Too bad he didn’t leave time in his documentary to tell me what the heck to do about it. I’m not a film critic, but it seems to me, if you invite that kind of panic, you’d best submit solutions.

The answers to global warming appear interspersed between the rolling credits at the end. Plant trees—lots of trees. Write to Congress; if your representatives won’t listen, run for Congress. If you can, drive a hybrid. These are all well and good. And I like that a single individual can make positive impact. But Mr. Gore, we need An Inconvenient Truth Part II.

Toward the end of the film, Gore displays a graph showing that if the United States can bring its negative impact on the earth back down to the level of other countries, we can reduce CO2 emissions overall to where they were in the 1970s. If you happen to blink or take a bite of popcorn at this part of the movie, you’ll miss an important thing I like to call hope.

I can’t blame Gore for spending so much time presenting the solid evidence for global warming. He’s had to fight a long time to be heard and taken seriously. But a few cuts here and there might have left room for hope to play a supporting role. We need to know and believe that we can stem the tide if we put out hearts, minds, and souls into the problem. The good news is that we can.

If you missed the Web site address listed in the closing credits of An Inconvenient Truth, here it is: www.climatecrisis.net. There you’ll find a calculator to compute your personal annual CO2 output along with a download of “10 Simple Tips” for reducing emissions. Drive less. Inflate your tires properly. Recycle at least half of your household waste. Turn off electronics devices when they aren’t being used. Small actions any individual can take are part of the solution.

If you want to converse with folks thinking outside the box, go to www.squidoo.com/global_warming_solutions. Blogs and articles on this site talk about space shields, solar shutters, and funding a team of the brightest minds in the world to tackle the problem.

For a scientific approach, head to www.realclimate.org. You’ll hear from the Center of National Atmospheric Research professionals along with university researchers and NASA climate modelers.

Other resources include the Sierra Club (www.sierraclub.org), the Center for Environmental Journalism (www.colorado.edu/journalism/cej), and The Earth Institute (www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu/grocc/grocc4_statement.html).

We’ve given an Oscar to the environment. Now we just need a Golden Globe. I believe that the people on this planet are the ensemble cast that will lead us to it.