Well, flawed or not the message that An Inconvenient Truth was made to deliver is quite important and the film does make the points it needs to. This is where the IMF report becomes pretty interesting/frightening. I'm not sure how well researched their report is but the key issue they have is a two degree swing in the temperature of the planet. The goal as they state it is to work toward only a 2 degree rise but if we hit the 4 degree rise they fear...pretty much there will be mass devastation of I believe third world countries and that will lead to some rather giant problems for the rest of the planet.

The big issue they have with subsidies is obviously it promotes the use of fossil fuels because people can continue to get them cheap and so there is much less incentive to move away from them. I see their points but there are obvious issues with what they are saying in terms of moving people quickly away from fossil fuels. The panic here is that we are making this move too late and should have started the process really back in the 1970s. You just can't build the infrastructure and create conversion programs fast enough now...particularly in third world countries that are way behind when the world economic forecast is a bit of a mess.

I did not read the report either just the summary in the Washington Post...which is probably all you really need to read about it.

"First is the fuel subsidies seen in the developing world and in the Middle East, which strongly encourage increased and indiscriminate consumption of fossil fuels. The other was that lack of a carbon tax in the developed world. It think that's a more problematic conclusion, but it may well be correct."- Ross

That's it in a nutshell, yes, but the reason for the report is the climate change crisis which unfortunately was propagandized as a myth for political purposes in this country by some total loons on the right...with a degree of success. I don't say that to rub anybody's nose in the fact that they were wrong or being lied to but rather just to point out how unfortunate it is that we have to drag some people kicking and screaming into the light.

It also goes to the sad truth of the nature of human beings that we tend not to do anything until it has become a crisis.

"The thing is, the mix of fuels in the transportation supply is about to change quite a bit."-Ross

Well it has to and wouldn't you say that there is something very specific driving that change?

"Discovery of unconventionals, new biofuels, and copious quantities of shale gas will have an enormous effect on the fuel mix over the the next 20 years."-Ross

How old would you say some of these discoveries are? Do you think they are now being fast tracked into use because we/the people that need to have come to terms with the truth about our addiction to fossil fuels?

"And that effect could last for another 100 years or more."

I do think there are some positives in play here.

"I didn't see the IMF report taking into account a mix of cleaner burning fuels that will begin showing up in the developed world sooner rather than later." -Ross

Well I think that is because it is something they can't yet calculate and I think the push is to get people to come to terms with our "fossil fuel addiction" which honestly requires quite a bit of education and overcoming the bad propaganda that has been put out there about it.

Like all addicts I think the first thing we all have to do is admit we have a problem.