It is rather dismaying to see how little people
have changed since An Inconvenient Truth
(2006). Yes, Al Gore makes a big
point in this sequel to express optimism (justified, I’m sure) about the
future, and certainly we can be pleased with the fact that President Trump’s
pulling the U.S. out of the accords in Paris this year did not have an effect on other nations; 150 countries signed the
renewed agreement to reduce CO2 emissions to the 0 point by the end of the
century. Furthermore, many
U.S. states and cities have made their own resolutions to do something about
climate change.
The most impressive scenes in the documentary
are to see the rushing waterfalls and rivers coming off the ice sheets. At times, it looks like ice chunks the
size of boulders are tumbling down.
Also impressive and heartbreaking are the numerous places all over the
world that have experienced massive flooding and drought. Gore presents ample evidence showing
that these events occur as a result of climate change in the form of rising
temperatures; e.g., much of the sun’s heat energy is absorbed by the oceans,
causing them to rise, and it draws moisture out of the earth, causing
droughts. From 2006-2010, much of
Syria was in a continuous drought.
I had not heard of the relationship between
global warming and an increase in tropical diseases, but apparently this
happens because viruses and insects produce much faster as the temperature
warms.
Al Gore and others stepped in when India said
it had to build 400 new coal plants, and they managed to convince companies and
other leaders to lend India the money to forego the plants and invest in
renewable energy. This is seen as
a major accomplishment, in that India is one of the larger developing countries
with high needs for energy.
Another joyful sequence was to meet the Republican mayor, Dale Ross, of
Georgetown, Texas, and hear how they have achieved getting 100% of their power
from renewable energy sources.
But there are still stumbling blocks in the
form of huge lobbying efforts against renewable energy, like the Florida
governor refusing to meet with climate change scientists, even thought Miami is
the city most in danger of being submerged in flooding as the result of rising
ocean levels and increasingly stronger storms. To this date, President Trump is still expressing skepticism
about climate change, and his appointee as head of the Environmental Protection
Agency, Scott Pruitt, shows just as much a lack of interest in protecting the
environment.
This documentary by Bonnie Cohen and Jon Shenk
is good, for the most part, in showing the evidence and effects of climate
change, and the efforts by Al Gore and his associates to convince skeptics of
the reality. They have tried to
talk “truth to power”, and Gore has presented training sessions all over the
world for people to teach citizens how to spread the word. Shenk’s cinematography is especially
good, but I think too much time was spent in filming meetings and rehashing old
political battles. The statistics
are rather complex, and they would have been more powerful if the film had
lingered a little longer on presenting them, maybe with clever graphics (so as
not to risk boredom).
This is our world, and citizens are
well advised to see the film or get information from elsewhere as to how to
protect nature and ourselves from harm.
Grade: C+ By
Donna R. Copeland
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