The tech solutions needed to avert a climate change catastrophe are available and affordable now, and are already being leveraged in a number of countries as a leapfrog technology.
This was one of the key messages of Al Gore's follow-up film on climate change, An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power.
PKN Packaging News saw the film, which is being released in Australia on 10 August, at a preview screening presented by the Total Environment Centre in Sydney.
An Inconvenient Sequel charts a new course in Gore's climate change campaign, 11 years after the release of the former politician's game-changing film An Inconvenient Truth.
It follows Gore – who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 – to the Paris Accord last year where 195 countries pledged to take ambitious steps to reduce carbon emissions.
In the film, he documents a series of natural disasters that have occurred since the making of his first film, but he also reveals how the tide is turning, with countries like Chile, China and India embracing renewable energy as a cheap power source.
Chile’s solar energy production has increased sixfold since 2014, according to the Washington Post, and last year, China installed more than 34 gigawatts of solar capacity, over double that of the US, BBC News reports. Moreover, solar is said to cost 50 per cent less than new coal power in India now, making it the cheapest source of electricity in that country.
And although US President Donald Trump has, in contrast, promised to revitalise the US coal industry, strides continue to be made in pockets of the country.
Gore takes us to Georgetown, Texas, which has become the first city in Texas to be powered by 100 per cent renewable energy.
“Despair can be paralysing,” Gore says in the film.
“We are seeing a tremendous amount of positive change. The basis is there, but it's still not enough.”
“It is right to save humanity, it is wrong to pollute this earth, it is right to give hope to the future generations.”
