It is ten years on from Al Gore’s Oscar winning documentary on how climate change is irrevocably destroying our planet, and this new sequel initially gives us hope that some quarters in the world may have taken some action based on the warnings, are mostly quashed by the time the end credits role.
The Vice President and Nobel Peace Price Laureate comes across as one of the most sincere and humble politicians that the American public may have ever elected into public Office. Nowhere is that more evident than in 2000 Presidential Election when he finally conceded to George Bush even though he had clearly won the popular vote, even if the electoral college result wasn’t so clear.
There are clips showing Gore participating in Environmental Conferences decades ago when he first became a Congressman clearly show that his passion and commitment on global warning is hardly a pet project that he latched onto when his career was waning. His devotion is backed by an insatiable appetite for knowledge on the subject, and one of his talents is his ability to convert them into simplified facts and figures that the public can easily relate too.
The new documentary directed by Bonni Cohen, and Jon Shenk shows Gore investing his time in developing training programs around the global for future Climate change leaders, and also using his wealth of knowledge and contacts behind the scenes to make things actually happen. Nowhere was this more apparent than in the crucial Paris Talks in 2016 when he managed to help secure a deal for India to get a credible source of renewable energy on terms that they can actually afford, and thus be able to sign the Accord.
Critics may argue that the film doesn’t portray many new facts since the original, but it does at least present them all in a powerful and dramatic form that makes the reality unescapable. It is all about investing in the present to save the future which is something that climate change deniers are simply not prepared to do. When politicians can barely think even whole extent of of their own term in office, they have no regard at all about anything that will occur well after their time.
The most depressing part of the movie is when Trump unexpectedly wins the U.S. Presidency and simply cannot wait to undo all of his predecessors efforts to improve the world just because he has the power to do exactly that. Seeing all the Worlds Leaders for once in their life be in total agreement on something as major as reducing carbon emissions globally after years of fine negotiation and maneuvering, then to be put at risk by some short-sighted ignorant petulant President is unbearable.
On screen Gore takes this latest setback in his stride, but watching the drama unfold leaves one raging especially actually viewing it from Miami Beach, one of the cities that will be hit first and hard. The movie just reinforces the facts that the world must listen to the Al Gores of the world and takes some meaningful action, and soon.
Labels: 2017, documentary, global warming
