Maplewood families hope teens warm to Al Gore’s warning

by Ron Kaplan
NJJN Staff Writer

Like many moviegoers, Stewart Glickman of Maplewood was profoundly moved after seeing An Inconvenient Truth, the documentary about the dangers of global warming hosted by former Vice President Al Gore.

“I was really impacted by [it]. After the film, the folks in the audience just sat, just soaking it in,” he told NJ Jewish News in a telephone interview.

He and his wife, Sarah, came away wondering how they could spread the movie’s message. Chatting with Susan Rinaldi, the manager of the Maplewood Theater, he learned that the movie was well received, but that few young people had seen it. That was his cue.

With their friends Claude and Elana Szyfer, another Maplewood couple, the Glickmans decided to sponsor a screening expressly for middle and high school students.

The screening will be on Friday, July 28, at 4 p.m. A question-and-answer session featuring Davis Guggenheim, the film’s director, will follow the free viewing. Guggenheim’s wife, actress Elisabeth Shue, grew up in Maplewood and attended Columbia High School.

Claude Szyfer, a member of the board at Congregation Beth El in South Orange, sent an e-mail to members of the synagogue announcing the screening.

Glickman, who serves on the board of managers of the South Mountain YMCA, contacted several Maplewood groups that serve young people, including the town’s summer camp program, YMCA teenage camp division, the town’s recreation director, and the Maplewood Adult Education Center, which sponsors a children’s enrichment program during the summer. He also visited local merchants to place announcements in their stores and distributed flyers to teenagers he found “hanging out.”

“We hope to get a good turnout,” Glickman said. “Around town… there’s a positive buzz.” He hopes the program will draw upward of 200 teens.

The screening has gotten an extra boost from its distributor, Paramount Classics, who learned about Glickman’s efforts through a couple from Wayne who saw the film in Maplewood.

“It turns out these people knew one of the owners of Participant Productions, which produced the film,” Glickman said. “Then I got a call from [Paramount Classics]. They found out what we were doing and asked how they could help.” Paramount will contribute “collateral” educational material for the program, he said.

Glickman, 43, who works for PriceWaterhouseCoopers, also sent a letter to Gore’s office, but previous commitments prevent the former vice president from attending.

“Every single person at any age can make a difference,” Glickman said. He emphasized he was “not trying to make global warming a political issue; it’s just a reality we have to deal with.

“I think it’s important for the teenagers just to get the information, and they can decide what to do next,” he added.

An Inconvenient Truth will be screened for middle and high school students at the Maplewood Theater, 155 Maplewood Ave., on Friday, July 28, at 4 p.m. For further information, visit or e-mail.