Time to Choose (2015)

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

As a Climate Reality Leader with a certificate and concentration in Sustainability, I can say this documentary is SPOT-ON. This movie does an excellent job of explaining the science, interactions, and complicated relationships between our actions and the reactions of the planet. The most frightening, worst-case-scenario of setting in motion a feedback loop resulting in a runaway greenhouse effect draws closer each day... and there are signs we are close to, if not past the tipping point. We may be in a "Wile E. Coyote moment" of already having run off the cliff without yet having realized it. Since warming will continue for several decades even if we do manage to reach net zero emissions - and last for many centuries if not thousands of years - there is no way for us to know just how bad it will get. We should err on the side of caution and take drastic measures NOW!

I'm not sure Mr Powell even WATCHED the film, but no matter. The so- called "review" he gave was ignorant. The reasons why films like TTC and DiCaprio's "Before the Flood" are so important is that the general public does not know how to cut through the distracting noise which Mr Powell's review so exemplifies, and does not care to understand the simple science which makes climate disruption due to human emissions of greenhouse gases a logical necessity. The claim that this is a "leftist idea" is ridiculous, since the inevitability of climate disruption due to fossil fuel emissions was nailed down at the end of the 19th century, and details worked out by 1938 by Guy Stewart Callendar, with proof. The argument is easy: (1) Energy is always conserved. (First law of thermodynamics.) (2) Earth receives energy from Sun at high frequencies and radiates it out as heat, keeping energy on Earth in balance. (Black body radiation.) (3) Carbon dioxide has a big an powerful absorption line at the peak of the Earth's heat emissions. Carbon dioxide is a well-mixed trace gas. Effects of such gases do not depend upon their being dominant. Nitrogen, for example, has no such effect, and it's more than 70% of atmosphere. Consequently, carbon dioxide retains some of the energy which would otherwise be emitted in the process described in "(2)". The more carbon dioxide, the greater this effect. (4) The retention heats the atmosphere, and, transitively, the oceans, which, at the higher temperature restores black body balance needed for the equilibrium of "(1)" and "(2)". (5) Human emissions of carbon dioxide are many many times greater than ANY natural source. (6) Effects of variations in Sun, volcanoes, magnetic fields, and the rest are inconsequential and uncorrelated with long run temperatures. (7) Physical calculations and evidence from deep Earth history substantiate the effect.Finally we KNOW this works the way it does because we rely upon the effect to ENGINEER things, and we do that successfully. For example, if this were not correct, then we could not build semiconductors which operate the circuits in computers, cell phones, and other devices successfully. Moreover, if this were not correct, we could not keep spacecraft in the proper range of temperatures for them to work. So it's not just speculation. We know it works. It has to. And it has zero, zilch, nil to do with politics.

This latest offering from Charles Ferguson, also director of Inside Job and other documentaries is a high quality, informative and beautiful film that strives to explore both the problems and the solutions surrounding Climate Change. It offers panoramic vistas and elliptical music in the vein of "Koyaanisqatsi", a basic scientific recap along the lines of "An Inconvenient Truth" and the immediacy and adventure of "Years of Living Dangerously" while presenting a coherent, succinct and well-organized account. The film is broken into three segments: Power generation, transportation and food production, showing how each one is responsible for one-third of the anthropogenic forcing. In each segment, it starts with a broad view and quickly descends to ground level and the human impact. Its view is happily not limited to any one country and much time is spent on China. The dangers of coal are contrasted with the promise of solar. A look at electric car development includes a Tesla beating a Ferrari. The agricultural segment includes heartbreaking helicopter footage of acres of cattle cordoned in bleak, muddy pens. My only disappointment is that there were 5 people in the audience. Everyone was watching X-men I can only assume. The film ends with the challenge contained in its title and formulated throughout: we have the technology to fix the problem. We just need to choose to use it.

More leftist drivel.... Take out your Brain - Wash it - reinsert into Cranium. Oscar Isaac did a fine job narrating the film, but it is completely one sided - it does not present evidence (or lack thereof) that in fact - the climate always changes, has always changed, and will continue to do so... last time the Earth spontaneously warmed up from the last Ice Age, I'm pretty sure the Industrial Evolution had not yet occurred, and predated Humans' ability to potentially affect the environment. Suspect Al Gore helped fund this Movie. Would like to have seen an evenly balanced presentation of the facts - to include a discussion of scientifically proved phenomena that affects global climate change over many millenniums to include cyclical variations in Earth's axial tilt, orbital eccentricity, Precession of solstices and equinoxes, and External/Celestial forces.