And the actual rate of glacial melting, polar ice retreat and permafrost degradation is actually a bit faster than predicted even at the time the movie was made. After 13 years the predictions now seem a bit tame, if anything, especially when compared to the actually tally of extreme weather events that have affected just the US. However the ultimate irony is that the movie (and Gore) probably understated the peril of climate change at the time.

I always thought Gore was a bit of an alarmist on the topic when seeing him interviewed after the movie came out. And maybe that's what it takes to view certain documentaries with any sort of objectivity. After 13 years I finally watched it out of idle curiosity rather than any strong interest in the pros or cons of any climate change debate. It became a political football immediately and the extreme views of both supporters and detractors turned me off from seeing it as well. The trailers for it seemed over the top with a doomsday sort of approach. When this movie came out I purposely avoided it.

An inconvenient truth stream