We have seven days remaining until the 2016 Election season is officially over. It’s now crunch time for politicians and their voting constituents. Several social and economic issues are on the ballot this November, with climate change being a controversial one. Rampant disinformation routinely spread by both media and politicians leaves many confused about the causes and reality of climate change. Before the Flood aims to tackle the climate change issue head on.

Before the Flood explores the causes and solutions of climate change as it relates to humans. The film is narrated by and follows Leonardo DiCaprio on his three-year journey of education and advocacy around climate change. He travels the globe with his film crew shining a light on the effects of warmer global temperatures. This documentary comes 10 years after Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth and does a masterful job of showing the present-day climate changes that Gore’s documentary predicted.

Before the Flood highlights human contributions to climate change including carbon emissions, industrial farming of cattle, and our dependence on fossil fuels.  We learn about the science of carbon dioxide vs methane gas and the effects each compound has on Earth’s atmosphere. This film sheds light on how the rainforests and oceans, Earth’s natural environmental buffers, are being destroyed and polluted in the name of capitalism.

While the human impact is devastating, it is also reversible. The film has actionable steps that we can each take to help save our planet, with voting being key. We have to hold our leaders accountable and cannot allow the denial of climate change to continue when the science is clear. We have to stand up to fossil fuel companies and politicians bought with their money. We have to push for renewable energy investments and subsidies instead of oil. We have to use our voices to spread awareness about the urgency of addressing climate change. The time to act is now.

This election year is too important to sit out. We are at an environmental tipping point and you don’t have to be a tree-hugging hippie understand what is happening. You can see it with the clash between Indigenous protestors protecting their water and the private companies hellbent on building the Dakota Access Pipeline. It’s evident as each year is recorded as the hotter than the previous with “unseasonably” warm temperatures. What kind of society do we want to have? One that destroys the planet for our children and grandchildren or one that takes action and protects Mother Earth? It’s time for all of us to take a stand and protect the Earth that gives so much to us.

For more information about where to watch check out www.beforetheflood.com.