Special Screening of An Inconvenient Sequel Aims to Inspire Better Environmental Policy

Photo courtesy of The Art Theatre.

The most criticized scene in An Inconvenient Truth (2006) was an animated depiction predicting that the combination of sea level rise and storm surge would flood the 9/11 memorial site, which was then under construction. Viewers said it was a terrible exaggeration. In October 2012 that very site was flooded by Hurricane Sandy, and so begins the trailer for An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power.

Ten years after An Inconvenient Truth showed climate change as a crisis in dire need of worldwide attention, comes a follow-up showing we’re closer than we think to an energy revolution.

An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power, to be screened at The Art Theatre Wednesday night, shows former Vice President Al Gore as he travels the world as an influencer, training climate champions to build a better tomorrow and “pursues the inspirational idea that while the stakes have never been higher, the perils of climate change can be overcome with human ingenuity and passion.”

Following the screening, the starting point of the panel discussion will be how Long Beach can achieve the requirements of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy, which combines the Compact of Mayors, a pledge Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia signed in 2015, and the Covenant of Mayors.

Garcia stated in May—before President Donald Trump officially pulled out of the Paris climate accord, impeding global efforts to combat global warming and the damaging consequences projected—that the City of Long Beach would still implement the goals and emission reductions of The Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy.

“This is just the beginning,” Jan Van Dijs, a local architect, and an organizer and sponsor of the event, told the Post. “That plan is going to have to be vetted in the community. There’s going to be people who love it and then there’s going to be people who are going to hate it, and they’re going to fight it […] we need to start having that conversation and we look at the Art Theatre as an opportunity to have those conversations.”

While we can’t make an impact on a federal level, Van Dijs said, we can create an impact at a local level. The speakers on the panel include Ed Mazria, founder and CEO of the nonprofit think tank Architecture 2030, Sara Hickman, sustainability director at Long Beach-based Studio 111 Architects, and Long Beach City Planner Fern Nueno, who will answer how the city can implement this movement.

Mobility & Healthy Living Programs Officer Michelle Mowery and SoCal Gas Project Manager Nate Taylor will also be speakers on the panel.

“The number one thing I’m hoping to accomplish is that we create a core group of champions who will support what has to be done in order to have better environmental policies in the city,” Van Dijs said. “And it’s not going to happen without an effort, a personal effort, a community effort, and so there have to be champions for that effort, there have to be people that say, ‘Look I realize it’s a short term cost but it’s a long term gain,’ and they have to understand that it’s going to create a better community, it’s going to create a more livable community, but it’s not going to happen without a struggle.”

The 17-minute short Don’t Be A Sucker will also be screened before the reception at 6:00PM. The anti-racist, anti-nazi film was produced by the US Department of Defense in 1943. The short went viral, according to Vox, just hours after the Charlottesville rally and seeks to warn against fascism and racism in the US by illustrating the German Nazis’ divide-and-counquer method.

The short is free for anyone who has purchased a ticket for the special screening of An Inconvenient Sequel.

Attendees are encouraged to walk or ride a bicycle to the event. Free bike valet will be provided. A reception will take place at 6:30PM, followed by the screening at 7:00PM, a director Q&A at 8:30PM and the panel discussion at 8:45PM.

For tickets and more information, visit the Art Theatre’s website here or Facebook event page here.

Editor’s Note: This story was updated on 8/15/17 at 11:25AM with information on the screening of Don’t Be A Sucker.

The Art Theatre is located at 2025 East 4th Street.

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