WASHINGTON, DC, July 28, 2017 (ENS) – Al Gore’s new film, “An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power,” documents the efforts of this former Nobel Laureate, U.S. Vice President and presidential candidate as he urges people to resolve the climate crisis and witnesses a planet under stress.
“It is right to save humanity! It is wrong to pollute this Earth! It is right to give hope to future generations!” Gore vehemently declares. This is a documentary that showcases his emotions, from anger at wanton pollution to joy as all nations agree to curb global warming.
The film, which opened today in wide release, follows Gore as he travels the world training citizens as Climate Reality Leaders and builds an international coalition to confront what he views as the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced.
It follows Gore’s first documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth,” released in 2006, in which filmmaker Davis Guggenheim accompanies Gore on the lecture circuit, as he campaigns to raise public awareness of the dangers of global warming. In 2007, it won Academy Awards for best documentary feature and best song.
In the new film, Gore says, “The most criticized scene in the move ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ was showing that the combination of sea level rise and storm surge would flood the 9/11 Memorial Site and people said, ‘What a terrible exaggeration.'”
But Superstorm Sandy in October 2012 did, in fact, flood the 9/11 Memorial in Manhattan the film shows in news footage from that storm.
“Storms get stronger and more destructive. Watch the water splash off the city. This is global warming,” Gore emphasizes in his narration.
“We’re seeing a tremendous amount of positive change. The basis is there, but it’s still not enough,” warns Gore.
About the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate, Gore said, “Every nation in the entire world agreed to get to zero greenhouse emissions. It is unprecedented.”
The Paris Agreement took effect in November 2016, and in the film, Gore takes slams newly elected President Donald Trump for announcing he would pull the United States out of the Paris climate pact.
“The next generation would be justified in looking back at us and asking, ‘What were you thinking? couldn’t you hear what the scientists were saying? couldn’t you hear what Mother Nature was screaming at you?” warns Gore as narrator.
In July 2011 Gore established The Climate Reality Project, a non-profit organization focused on climate change education and countering climate change denial campaigns worldwide. It grew out of the consolidation of two environmental organizations, the Alliance for Climate Protection and The Climate Project, both founded in 2006 by Gore.
The new film showcases Climate Reality Leadership Corps trainings, where people from all walks of life come to work with Gore and other experts, learning key climate science and gaining the skills to lead their communities to climate solutions.
In the first training after the release of “An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power,” the Climate Reality Project announced today that the organization will hold its 36th Climate Reality Leadership Corps activist training in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from October 17-19, with the support and partnership of The Heinz Endowments.
Over the course of three days, scientists, communicators, and climate experts will join Gore in training citizens to become Climate Reality Leaders, organizing communities for action on the climate crisis.
Climate Reality Leaders will emerge from the training equipped with the knowledge and tools to build public awareness of global climate challenges, share news about the practical solutions that exist today, and strengthen public support for leaders who take action to limit climate warming.
People can apply before September 12, at www.climaterealitytraining.org.
“I firmly believe that we can and will solve the climate crisis, and thanks to local and state leaders, we are well on our way,” said Gore.
“After President Trump’s announcement that the U.S. would withdraw from the Paris Agreement, the city of Pittsburgh became a symbol of local leadership working around the federal government to solve the climate crisis,” he said.
“I am thrilled to join the people of this great city to continue the momentum of climate action in the United States and extend my sincere thanks to The Heinz Endowments for their generous support of this Climate Reality Leadership Corps training,” Gore said.
“No place on the planet is immune to the effects of climate change, and no city in America has staked its future on remaking its relationship with the environment as clearly as Pittsburgh has,” said Grant Oliphant, president of The Heinz Endowments.
“This community has labored diligently and creatively for decades now toward a prosperous, green future, not a misguided return to a lost past. It is increasingly clear that American leadership on creating a sustainable economy for all our people now resides in communities like ours and in the informed, collective action of individual citizen activists who believe in a world governed by facts and science and who will make this their personal fight,” said Oliphant.
Pittsburgh was thrust into the national spotlight after President Trump announced his decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, saying that he represented the citizens of “Pittsburgh, not Paris.”
Yet Pittsburgh has become a national model of how cities can embrace clean energy and other climate solutions and prosper in the 21st century.
Pittsburgh’s mayor has pledged that the city will be 100 percent renewable by 2035 and will support the Paris Agreement, whatever the White House does.
“Pittsburgh has taken a leadership role in fighting against climate disruption, but we need to fight even harder,” said Pittsburgh Mayor William Peduto. “The Vice President’s Climate Reality training is just what our residents and advocates need in this critical time, and I thank the Heinz Endowments for their commitment and generosity.”
The Climate Reality Project has trained more than 12,000 Climate Reality Leaders from 136 countries, with recent trainings in Seattle, Washington; Denver, Colorado; Houston, Texas; Shenzhen, China; Manila, Philippines; Miami, Florida; Toronto, Canada; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; New Delhi, India; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
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