Al Gore's documentary An Inconvenient Truth won two Oscars and heated up the climate change debate when it came out in 2006. Eleven years later, a sequel to the film follows.
Gore was in Seattle and Evening reporter Kim Holcomb went one-on-one with the former Vice President about his latest film.
Kim Holcomb: One of the things that I thought was striking about this film is us being able to see how passionately you've been fighting for this for 25 years now. Twenty-five years about something there's clear evidence of, but there are still people who insist there's no such thing as climate change. Do you ever reach a point where you just feel like, “ok I'm tired”?
Al Gore: No. I'm so committed to this. It's a privilege to have work that feels it justifies every bit of energy you can pour into it. The stakes are so high and so many people are engaged in trying to solve this. I'm very optimistic, but the fact that we're not yet solving this fast enough makes me want to do even more.
KH: Are you hoping to convince the unconvinced with this film?
AG: Well, this movie is for everyone and actually it is changing some minds, I'm happy to say. But mother nature is pretty persuasive and every night now news is like a nature hike through the book of revelation and people are connecting the dots on their own. Unfortunately, a lot of the large carbon polluters are using the playbook from the Tabaco companies years ago and spend a lot of money sending out pseudoscience to try and create false doubts, but people are seeing through that. And this movie leaves people hopeful, but with an increased sense of urgency.
KH: It wasn't the ending of a film that you had intended it to be. The current president rewrote the ending to some degree. I know how I felt that day when I was watching his announcement, what went through your mind?
AG: Well I was really worried that other countries would use Trumps decision to pull out of Paris as an excuse to pull out themselves. But I was relieved and very happy right away that the entire rest of the world redoubled their commitment to the Paris Agreement. And here at home, Governor Inslee and Governor Brown in California and so many governors and a huge number of mayors and business leaders stepped up to say we're still in the Paris Agreement. And it looks as if the US is going to meet our commitment to the Paris Agreement regardless of Trump.
KH: Right, they created their own, the US climate alliance started here in Washington state. Will there be a third Inconvenient Film? Is this sort of like the Empire Strikes Back and there's going to be a third film?
AG: Well I'm still waiting for this film to open in Seattle this Friday and I hope that a decade from now we'll be able to look back on the proceeding 10 years and say, “ok, we really crossed the political tipping point, people are onside, we're moving, we're going to solve this,” and there's no need for a third installment.
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