An Inconvenient Truth is an Academy Award-winning documentary film about climate change, specifically global warming, presented by former United States Vice President Al Gore and directed by Davis Guggenheim.

An Inconvenient Truth focuses on Al Gore's travels in support of his efforts to raise awareness among the public about the scale and severity of the climate crisis. Looking back at his earlier failed efforts, Gore says, "I've been trying to tell this story for a long time and I feel as I've failed to get the message across." The film follows a Keynote presentation (dubbed "the slideshow") that Gore has presented throughout the world. With Gore's exploration of data and predictions regarding climate change are juxtaposed its potential for disaster. Events that changed his worldview, including his college education with early climate expert Roger Revelle at Harvard University, his sister's death from lung cancer, his young son's near-fatal car accident and his loss in the close 2000 Presidential Election are woven into the storyline.

The range of aspects related to climate change that are discussed in the film include
(a) Scientific opinion on climate change
(b) Politics and economics of global warming
(c) Likely consequences global climate change will produce if there is no immediate significant reduction in the amount of human-generated greenhouse gases.

Al Gore strongly refutes critics who claim that climate change is a hoax and unproven, and presents research that examines annual temperature and CO2 levels for the past 650,000 years in Antarctic ice core samples. One well known risk of sea level rise (of up to 20 feet or 6 m) that will lead to flooding coastal areas and producing 100 million environmental refugees can be caused due to probably imminent collapse of a major ice sheet in Greenland and in West Antarctica. But what is not so well known I that the meltwater from Greenland, because of its lower salinity, could halt the Gulf Stream current and quickly trigger an ice age across Northern Europe.

The documentary ends with an optimistic Gore noting that if appropriate action is taken soon, the effects of global warming can be successfully reversed by releasing less carbon dioxide and growing more plants or trees. Gore calls upon viewers to learn how they can help in this initiative.
The film premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and was also running at select theatres in major Indian metropolitan cities. It is the third-highest-grossing documentary in the United States to date. The film's distributor, Paramount Classics, is donating 5% of the box office receipts and Gore is donating all of his proceeds from the film to The Alliance for Climate Protection (of which Gore is both founder and chairman).

Gore's book of the same title was published concurrently with the theatrical release of the documentary. The book contains additional information, scientific analysis, and Gore's commentary on the issues presented in the documentary.

The film has been generally well received by critics, scientists and politicians, and is even becoming classroom material in schools across the world.

DVD version of the film:

The film was released on DVD by Paramount Home Entertainment on November 21, 2006.

The DVD includes a documentary entitled “An Update with Former Vice President Al Gore” which features Gore discussing additional information that came to light after the film was completed in 2005 until the DVD release in 2006, such as Hurricane Katrina.

An Inconvenient Truth – the Website

A website dedicated to further disseminate the knowledge offered in the film and to carry forward the message and offer solutions / alternatives to those interested has also been launched. You may like to check it out… http://www.aninconvenienttruth.co.uk/