“Couldn’t you hear what the scientists were saying? Couldn’t you hear what Mother Nature was screami

I was honestly buzzing to find out this was on the prescribed watching list for reading week as I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I’ve seen it- and just how profound of an effect it has had on my life. As i once read somewhere this is the least appealing film in the history of the world. A failed politician preaching doom and gloom interspersed with hippy tree hugging. But Al Gore makes the topic engaging and motivating, by first terrifying you with the cold hard facts, yet following through with ways in which humanity can serve to save ourselves from our own doing.

The documentary was released in 2006 and although the points made are relevant the content is a little dated in relation to modern society, however- on the plane back from New York I came across the sequel which really grabbed my attention. I (as many do) have real concerns about the future of sustainability with Trump’s appointment in office. Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris treaty is reminiscent of the 1997 rejection of the Kyoto Protocol- yet with twenty more years of scientific proof under environmentalist’s belt’s, Trump’s ultimately selfish actions seem even more sickening.

The updated version does provide useful insight into the future of our planet and the importance of protecting it- but it also seems to pant Gore as enlightened and insistent and at this point only possibly tragic. The 2017 edition seems less of a warning and more of a plea- involving a lot of Gore angrily yelling, on behalf of those future generations, at climate deniers and also, one suspects, at human complacency.

I do feel as though that this documentary is the wake up call humanity needs and can only hope the world begins to listen.