14 DAY TRIAL // It would appear that Al Gore's documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, has caused more ripples than anyone anticipated. A lot of people were persuaded by the sound scientific evidence presented in the movie and, among them, were also representatives of the young generation, including Mary Doerr, the founder of the Inconvenient Youth organization.
This group comprises of some 2,000 teens who were impressed by the facts Al Gore showed in his presentation. They took it upon themselves to spread the word against climate change to their friends and family and to try to make a difference at an individual level. The initiative is commendable, considering that the teenagers have no funding to speak of and that all their work is purely as volunteers for a cleaner future.
Furthermore, Disneyland has vowed to incorporate environment-friendly pieces of advice in its tours and to instruct young children visiting its theme parks on how to minimize their carbon footprint on the environment. Also, the company will feature a presentation of Gore's documentary in all its parks throughout the United States.
Critics that don't believe global warming actually exists say that it's hypocritical of Disney to support such an initiative, considering the huge amount of energy it wastes on lighting up its huge theme parks and castles. But company officials argue that, by making more and more children and teenagers aware of how global warming is acting, it may be possible in the future to solve environmental issues when new people take office with a real incentive to make some changes in policies.
Doerr says that "it’s been amazing to see such a strong reception to our efforts so far, and we’ve only just begun." Teens in IY hold awareness lectures for their peers and spread knowledge about global warming and its effects to all the people they know, including in schools, at home and elsewhere.