Will Al Gore's Oscar Spur More Action?

In my opinion, "An Inconvenient Truth" has been a significant catalyst for individuals and community action against the challenge of climate change and global warming. An article in the Maine Sunday Telegram titled "Gore's Truth spurs Mainers to action" (click title to read article) gives excellent examples of how seeing this movie has changed lives and motivated people to find ways to help address this growing threat. You can add me to that list as well.

I saw the movie early last year with my wife. As the credits were rolling and Melissa Etheridge was singing "I Need To Wake Up", we sat there knowing that we had to do something. To try to make a difference, with like-minded friends, we decided to start a grass-roots organization to work against global warming at a local level. The Sustainable Energy Alliance was born.

Our first major project was working with the Sierra Club and others to show "An Inconvenient Truth" to local residents for free. Almost 400 people showed up on a Friday evening last October to see the movie. Almost 100 people stayed after the movie to discuss how to start making the changes suggested by Gore.

Since that time, I have talked to many people about global warming and climate change. It astounds me how many of those conversations start with "I saw Al Gore's movie and I really want to do something about it..."

I hope that the Oscar - and the publicity surrounding it - will convince even more people to see the movie. If the experiences that I've heard from others is at all representative, this will likely spur more people to realize that our course is not sustainable and that changes need to be made.