Sometimes the truth really is inconvenient.

Perhaps this is why there has been such an uproar over the Oscar-winning documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” and whether or not it has a place in the classroom. In some areas, when teachers showed the movie to their classes, parents and students alike were outraged, and demanded that alternate viewpoints be taught as well.

The producers of the documentary offered to donate 50,000 copies of the film to American schools, but the offer was rejected by the National Science Teachers Association. Why was the offer rejected? Although it wasn’t specifically stated, it turns out that the biggest oil company in the world, Exxon-Mobil, was a financial supporter of the association. If the NSTA were to allow “An Inconvenient Truth” to reach classrooms so easily, it could ultimately have an effect on the oil industry, thus, the NSTA might lose some of their funding.

This seems to be a primary motive behind much of the global warming disputes. In most cases, it isn’t so much an environmental or scientific issue as a political or economic one. “I don’t see what the controversial issue is about global warming,” Mountain View science teacher, Gina Lockwood, who shows “An Inconvenient Truth” to her science classes said.

Lockwood said that she has been showing a video about global warming to her students for years, but it wasn’t until “An Inconvenient Truth” came out that there was any controversy. “It’s not the global warming issue, it’s that it’s a political figure giving the information,” she said, citing the fact that ex-vice president Al Gore is the presenter of “An Inconvenient Truth.”

“I show the movie so students can make well informed decisions and can see another point of view,” Lockwood said.

Whether you agree with the theory of global warming or not, it’s a proven fact that the earth’s temperature has risen an entire Celsius degree within the last century. And the debate of the theory’s validity has recently been brought to the forefront causing an endless, ferocious debate not only in the science community but in politics as well.

It all may seem a bit ridiculous to some. Such a frenzy over one degree. But it isn’t so much the slight temperature change that has scientists bothered, it’s the rapidness of the increase and the trend that seems to be escalating at an unprecedented rate. “[“An Inconvenient Truth] shows trends that we’re looking at now as opposed to 100 years ago,” Lockwood said.

It’s been predicted that in an amount of decades, over one million plant and animal species could become completely extinct due to global warming. More shocking than that, due to melting glaciers and a rise in sea level, astronomical flooding could result, killing and displacing millions of people. Entire coastal cities and communities could be completely destroyed because of global warming.

Still, despite the evidence, there are major disagreements as to whether or not it is actually happening. About 85 percent of the American population believes that global warming is occurring. But what about the other 15 percent? While some simply don’t think that there are enough facts supporting the theory, others have slightly more peculiar explanations for the rise in temperature. One example: the eventual incineration of the earth predicted in Revelations, a mere sign of the imminent return of Jesus Christ. I guess everyone does have the right to their own opinion. However, alternative views that both ignore facts and involve deep religious convictions definitely don’t belong in the classroom either.

To many, it may seem obvious that emitting literally billions of tons of carbon dioxide and other harmful gases into the atmosphere would have a negative effect, but apparently not everyone has caught on. To some, the call to give up their Hummers and wasteful natural resource habits is one that they will continue to ignore, therefore the emission of harmful greenhouse gases will continue to escalate rapidly.

But even if global warming is just a ploy, does that really excuse our abusive behavior to the planet? Is it not our duty as global citizens to take care of our environment? Emily Hopping, coordinator of Let’s Tend the Garden, a local Christian movement to protect and improve the environment, said that no matter the disagreements surrounding global warming, protecting the earth should remain a top priority. “Our general response is that the change being called for is necessary regardless of what's causing global warming. It will result in cleaner air and a more responsible use of non-renewable resources - things that will go a long way toward taking care of people,” she said.