An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power
A review by Regina Ayars, Ashland
I was not planning to go to this movie,” An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power”. Why didn’t I want to attend it? I thought that it would be too depressing. I am already in total agreement that climate change is real and a threat to our planet. I thought that it would be preaching to the choir. I changed my mind when I saw the notice in The Ashland Chronicle about a viewing sponsored by SOCAN and SOHEVA. I figured it was a good cause so I went. The theater was about three quarters full with mostly older people including me who are the ones who have time to go to a movie at 10:30 am on a Tuesday morning.
I saw the original 11 years ago in 2006. Along with the rest of us, Al Gore has aged over those 11 years. At the beginning of the movie, he told a funny story about his graying hair that got a good laugh. The rest of the movie was no laughing matter. Tragically, the earth has changed too and not for the better. We, humans, are destroying the earth, our home.
Al Gore and his movement have taken a “train the trainer” strategy over the last ten years. He travels the world attending these sessions to empower climate change supporters to spread the word and hold presentations to educate the general public. There is strength in numbers. The climate change movement intends to build a critical mass of worldwide supporters to counter the money and corporate sponsorship that climate change deniers are using to negate the reality of extreme climate events.
There were many graphs and charts with good news and bad news that brought sighs and gasps from the audience. Video footage from across the globe gave visual support to the clear message of destruction that mother nature is giving us. The glaciers are melting; the waters are rising; and nightly news shows one disaster after another with no end in sight.
The movie ends in 2016 with Gore acknowledging yet another setback, the election of Trump. There were a couple of footnotes on 2017 events including Trump withdrawing the United States from the the Paris Climate Accord.
Was I glad that I went to see the movie? Yes. Was I depressed following it? Yes, but not without some hope. In my opinion, the only way people are going to change their minds is when they experience extreme climate events, personally. Just like those of us living in the Rogue Valley. We recently lived through over a week of temperatures over 100 and close to an average of 105 degrees. Those in other parts of the country and world are experiencing weather extremes that they have never experienced before. As these events continue and worsen, people will change their minds. They will demand that their governments make the necessary changes to reduce the use of fossil fuels and increase the use of renewables. Let’s hope it comes in time to save the planet.
