Al Gore Talks 'Inconvenient Truth' Sequel: There's Still Time To Solve Climate Change Crisis

Former Vice President Al Gore thinks we still have time to avoid catastrophic repercussions from climate change, “I think that we’re gonna solve this crisis,” he said earlier this week. The politician turned climate change activist has been a huge proponent for climate change action for much of his career and he didn’t stop just because he left office.

A little more than a week before the release of his second film, “An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power,” Gore sat down with New York Times reporter Coral Davenport for a “TimeTalks ” discussion. Tuesday evening he fielded Davenport’s questions on stage and then took questions from an audience.

Read: What Is The Paris Climate Agreement? Are Accord, Climate Change Goals Dead If Trump Withdraws US?

Gore first brought climate change to the big screen in 2006 with his first film, “An Inconvenient Truth.” While the film won awards, some people had a hard time accepting a future that involved climate change. Now he’s back with his second film in which he covers what’s happened in the last ten years since the first film was released.

The trailer for the new film begins with President Donald Trump speaking at a crowded campaign rally, “We need some global warming!” he says to the crowd, refering to the chilly weather that day. The the trailer cuts to Gore showing and explaining that what his first film predicted has actually come true in some cases.

Gore has met with President Trump to talk climate change, and on Tuesday said he thought Trump had been open to the idea of taking on climate change during their discussions. “I actually thought there was a real chance he would come to his senses and stay within the Paris Agreement but I was wrong,” Gore said.

Read : Global Climate Change: 2017 Second Warmest Year Since 1880

So when Trump announced he was pulling the United States out of the Paris Climate Agreement Gore said he was worried other countries might follow suit. Something other countries have not done. This doubling down on the agreement by other countries, some states, and big companies has also helped to give Gore some confidence in the fight against climate change. He also noted how far the technology has come since his first film. “The solutions are here and they are increasingly affordable,” he said. “All of these technologies are becoming mainstream,” he continued.

But he still believes that the United States needs to play a key role in leading the fight against climate change, as it did under the Paris Agreement and under the Kyoto Protocol that was adopted while Gore was in office. He noted that the Chinese are taking the lead, but said "U.S. leadership is still essential, there is no other country that can lead the world the way the U.S. can."