Honolulu- State Representatives Hermina Morita and Cynthia Thielen have joined forces in an attempt to raise awareness about the impending impacts of global warming. Morita, a democrat and chair of the House Committee on Energy and Environmental Protection, and Thielen, the committee’s sole republican representative, are sponsoring a showing of “An Inconvenient Truth.”
Directed by Davis Guggenheim, the critically acclaimed film follows former Vice-President Al Gore on his quest to raise awareness about global warming before it’s too late to reverse the negative effects of climate change.
“I’m honored to be part of such a noble cause,” said Rep. Thielen. “Rep. Morita and I both believe that this is an important film for everyone to see, but we’d particularly like to raise awareness among our colleagues in the Legislature. As an isolated and oil-dependent island state, Hawaii is uniquely jeopardized by the dangers inherent to global warming.”
Thielen said her participation in recent disaster-preparedness hearings served as inspiration to show the film and raise awareness. “One effect of global warming is that we have warmer SST’s (sea surface temperatures), which can give rise to more potent storm systems,” said Thielen. “Hurricane Katrina fed off the warm water in the Gulf of Mexico. If such a system were to threaten Hawaii, we would be completely paralyzed. We can’t evacuate, and help is very far away, especially when considering FEMA’s response times. It’s in our best interest to prevent these climate changes from occurring.”
The film is scheduled to air in the Capitol Auditorium on Friday, January 19th, at 1 P.M., and is open to anyone who would like to attend.