APES summer
1. Why was Hot, Flat, and Crowded a required reading for Environmental Science? Support your answer.
a. On the College Board website the AP Environmental course description states: “The goal of the AP Environmental Science course is to provide students with the scientific principles, concepts, and methodologies required to understand the interrelationships of the natural world, to identify and analyze environmental problems both natural and human-made, to evaluate the relative risks associated with these problems, and to examine alternative solutions for resolving or preventing them”. Thomas Friedman’s novel, “Hot, Flat, and Crowded”, although intended for political leaders (he often addresses a leader i.e. pg. 382), is read by students enrolled in the course because of the powerful message of the novel. Overall, Friedman focuses on how the world since the industrial revolution has changed; he uses statistical and eye-opening facts about how the world has changed since then. Hot,
…show more content…
Al Gore, the main speaker of the movie The Inconvenient Truth and a past vice president of the United States, has had an interest in the global environmental status for over 3 decades. The Inconvenient Truth is a political message to America about how global warming can be blamed on leaders who have not made an impact. Even though he was supposed to be focused on the environmental crisis, at some points in the movie his bitterness over the loss of the presidential election peeped through. As a politician, he is remarkable at connecting to the audience. Therefore, his message about global warming has successfully raised awareness. Global warming was a priority in the film, but Al Gore’s presentation has gotten some criticism because of a few minor errors. For example, about 20 minutes into the move, the graph had a numerical mistake in the y and x-axis (imbd.com). Case in point, Al Gore sneakily shared his opinions regarding politics in his lecture about global