Case Studies
ScottishPower brings Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth to Scottish schools
ScottishPower brings Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth to Scottish schools
A joint initiative by ScottishPower and the Scottish Executive will mean every S4-S6 schoolchild in Scotland will be offered the chance to see former US vice-president Al Gore’s film An Inconvenient Truth.
ScottishPower will provide DVD copies of the film to schools, thanks to a pledge from Stephen Dunn, ScottishPower's HR and Communications Director.
Stephen said: "In helping get this film out to schoolchildren, we are giving them the opportunity to think about what we are doing to this Earth in a very simple way - young people take very complex things and make them very easy, much better than adults can."
It is intended that the DVDs will be included in the curriculum for the 2007 school year and will be a key part of a package of educational materials being developed by The Scottish Executive, through Learning Teaching Scotland, which will help raise awareness of the challenges we all face from global warming.
David Eaglesham, General Secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers Association, said: "The film certainly puts across a view about how the environment could be affected in the coming years, and climate change is something that is already being looked at in many areas of the curriculum."
ScottishPower is committed to reducing the impact of power generation on air quality and on the environment, and is already the biggest developer of onshore wind energy in the UK and is developing biomass and wave generation to reduce emissions and combat global warming.
An Inconvenient Truth explores data and predictions regarding climate change, interspersed with personal events from the life of the former Vice President. It explains what is happening to the planet and what we have to do to help fight climate change.
Environment Secretary, Ross Finnie, said: "I am very grateful to Scottish Power for their support in making DVD copies available to Scottish Secondary schools and I am delighted that Learning and Teaching Scotland have agreed to help develop materials to demonstrate how climate change and sustainable development messages can be presented in a new and exciting way to pupils. We aim to pilot materials towards the end of the current academic year and roll-out the full package for the start of the next school year."
A spokesperson for Mr Gore said; "Clearly, one of the hopes that vice president Gore, the producers, and director had in mind was that An Inconvenient Truth would serve as an educational tool. It's wonderful to see that in practice in Scotland."
