Inconvenient, not fatal
Donald Trump’s denial hasn’t extinguished hope on climate change, Al Gore says
You might expect the decision by U.S. President Donald Trump to pull out of the Paris Agreement on climate change to be a major rainstorm — a devastating flash flood even — on Al Gore’s latest cinematic parade. You would be wrong. The phlegmatic former vice-president, in town recently to promote An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to
Power — a followup to his unexpectedly successful 2006 documentary, An Inconvenient Truth — offers a measured but hopeful response.
“When Trump won, I did my best to try and convince him to stay in the Paris Agreement. I actually thought he would come to his senses, but I was wrong,” Gore said.
“When he made his speech . . . I was very concerned that other countries might use it as an excuse to also pull out. But the entire rest of the world redoubled their commitment. It’s almost as if the world as a whole said, ‘Well, we’ll show you, Donald Trump, we’re going to do it anyway,’ ” Gore noted.
“And then in the U.S., a lot of the governors and mayors and business leaders said, ‘We’re going to fill the gap, we’re still in the Paris Agreement and we’re going to meet the commitments regardless of what Donald Trump says or tweets,’ ” he added.
That balance between despairing urgency and cautious optimism, Gore said, is what the new film is all about.
“There are two big changes that have taken place in the last decade since the first movie. No. 1, climaterelated extreme weather events are for more common and unfortunately far more destructive,” Gore said, pointing to the wildfires in B.C. as just one example.
“Mother Nature has clearly joined the dialogue about the climate crisis and it turns out she’s much more persuasive than the scientific community.
“The second big change in the last decade is the solutions are here now. Solar and wind are now producing electricity at prices below that of burning fossil fuels in a growing number of places and soon will be everywhere. So, it was time for an update.” Gore insisted the new film is “extremely hopeful.” “People see the danger and we’re unstinting in describing how high the stakes are, but the hope is real,” he said.
Filmmakers Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk began following the globe-trotting Gore in April 2015, with the understanding that the film would have to wait for the outcome of the 2016 U.S. election.
(Trump’s June 1pullout speech was a minor complication that actually makes the film even more timely and up to date.)
The other big change — a “sea change” in Gore’s view — is that about two-thirds of Americans of all political stripes see climate change as a serious issue that must be addressed.
“Even in the U.S. Congress, there is a continuing trickle of Republican members of Congress changing their position,” Gore said.
“We now have something called the Noah’s Ark caucus in the Congress. The reference is not only to the ark, it’s also to the requirement that they only join by twos, one Republican and one Democrat. We’re close to a working majority in the Congress,” he said.
“Trump’s impact is not good, but it may not be the catastrophe that some have feared.”
Jeff Skoll, chairperson of Participant Media — which backed both films — said the sequel is not about politics, but about citizen engagement.
“For people who are now wondering what’s going on and what the Trump pullout means and why it’s important to them, I really encourage them to see this film. They’ve really got to use their voice and their vote and their intelligence,” Skoll said.