It’s been over 10 years since former U.S. vice-president and presidential candidate Al Gore came out with groundbreaking documentary An Inconvenient Truth, which showcased the potential effects of climate change if humanity allowed environmentally unfriendly behaviour to go unchecked.
Now, Gore has returned to the doc scene with the trailer for his follow-up documentary An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power. Coming at a crucial time in the climate-change discussion — U.S. President Donald Trump just signed an executive order to rescind former president Barack Obama‘s Clean Power Plan and other climate-focused regulations — Gore’s latest takes a look at the progress that’s been made since his original 2006 movie.
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An Inconvenient Sequel also aims its crosshairs squarely at Trump, opening with a clip of the president mocking the idea of global warming.
“It’s supposed to be 70 degrees today, it’s freezing here,” Trump jokes. “Speaking of global warming, where is … we need some global warming. It’s freezing.”
In another segment of the trailer, Gore remembers being lambasted for his Inconvenient Truth prediction that, should sea levels rise and a storm surge hit low-lying areas of New York City, it was a near certainty that the 9/11 Memorial site would be flooded. Apparently, people said to him (at the time) that it was a “terrible exaggeration.”
Then, in 2012, Hurricane Sandy hit New York, doing exactly that.
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The trailer goes on to show footage of the horrific natural disasters from the past decade, including the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfires and the 2011 Japanese tsunami. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is seen shaking hands with Gore at the Paris climate summit, where almost every nation on the planet agreed to aim for zero greenhouse emissions. (If Trump’s executive order is instated, the U.S. stands virtually zero chance of meeting its promise to the Paris deal.)
Gore ends the trailer on a powerful note, asking citizens of Earth to “fight like your world depends on it.” The last shot, of Earth from space, highlights how the planet is our only home, and there’s no turning back the clock.
An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power opens in theatres on July 28.
(You can watch the trailer, above.)
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