Did anyone see "Earth 2100" last night?

[MikeE]

I caught most of it and think this will really connect with people who, till now, have been oblivious to climate change.

[MercutioATC]

1. Any chance of sea levels rising 590 feet?

My GPS insists that I'm 604 feet above sea level and I could really use some lakefront property...

[phantom power]

10. No. Melting ice cannot raise sea levels past about 200 feet.

[MercutioATC]

13. Bummer.

Guess I'll just have to buy something closer to the water...

[End Of The Road]

2. I saw it. Sorry, I thought it was terrible.

Lots of fear, but no science. I thought it was an odd show for the time slot.

[MikeE]

7. I thought it, (content and time slot), was interesting

given that this was coming from the MSM. My hope is that it will connect with people for whom the science would go over their head.

One of the things that caught me was when one scientist was talking about how Easter Island used to have forests, and that the people deforested and destroyed the land, finally turning to cannibalism at the end. But the saddest line for me was when she said, "I wonder what the person who cut down the last tree on Easter Island was thinking". I'm a composer and it just gave me some very poignant imagery for a piece.

[XemaSab]

11. That's just a line parroted from Jared Diamond's terrible book "Collapse"

I say terrible because he repeats that line throughout the book, but he also says that 100% of the tree seeds that they have found have been damaged by rats.

Maybe the trees failed to regenerate, Jared?

Wouldn't that poke a HUGE, MASSIVE hole in your theory that the Easter Islanders fucked up their own environment? :shrug:

[phantom power]

14. That was Jared Diamond on the show last night.

[XemaSab]

16. I mean this with all sincerity:

That book made me want to cut a bitch.

[NickB79]

19. True, but the Easter Islanders brought the rats to the island with them

More of an indirect way that the Easter Islanders fucked up their own environment.

[MikeE]

21. I haven't read the book

I just got inspiration from the line. Of course, with music, that is all you need, if you don't use words, you can still creat a storyline and an atmosphere.

[HillbillyBob]

3. I missed it , what time/channel and will it repeat?

I have believed we were screwing up our climate since I was a kid in the 60s.
There were several industrial factories near where I grew up in WV, plus strip mining and clear cutting of the forests. There was no work for most of my class when we graduated because those resources near where I grew up were exhausted.
The farmland in the area has been overfarmed, the surrounding woods that kept the soils in place are gone or overbuilt.
Around the paper mill that my father worked at the mountains were bare of green life because of the pollution(mostly dioxins from using chlorine to bleach the wood into paper). After the EPA was established and given teeth to curb that pollution there was green things starting to grow back in a few years.
Our environment can heal, but we have to take action soon. There are areas there that have not recovered too.
I have lived in several different states, long enough in each place to see evidence of climate change, for myself.
Those that deny are delusional period. If you cannot observe what is happening around you then you ain't paying attention.

[MikeE]

5. It was ABC, but they have it online

I know what you mean, I was in Ohio from the 60's through the mid 80's. I saw similar stuff.

[RaleighNCDUer]

9. Did you see the Cuyhoga River Fire?

That was what really sparked my interest in environmental protection - I didn't see it or even see TV on it, as I was overseas at the time, but it happened on my 16th birthday, 1969.

Kind of made an impression.

[MikeE]

20. Yes, although I was really little at the time, (5 yrs old)

I did go to Kent State though, and the river runs right through the town. Ironically, now it is extremely clean, and Kent had recycling citywide even in the 80's.

[dgibby]

15. Agreed! Growing up in Va., I lived down river from a large paper mill.

The contamination was astounding. White froth/foam floating downriver, no fish, air pollution, to the point that the mill actually created it's own "fog" when atmospheric conditions were right, and the stench was overpowering.
That river, one of 2 that forms the headwaters of the James River (think Jamestown) was a beautiful, clear stream above the mill, but a mess from below. Considering that this was in western Va, near the Va/WVa line, that meant that the James was polluted all the way to the Chesapeake Bay.

Thankfully, the EPA made them clean up that mess, but we still have a high cancer rate in that area, and the mill is still in operation.

[TreasonousBastard]

4. Saw some of it, but I'm not sure it will...

resonate with the right people. I keep hearing the comment "I'll be dead by then."

(Being "green" is cool and trendy until it isn't any more, or becomes slightly inconvenient.)

[stuntcat]

6. I saw most of it

I fell asleep though :blush: I usually go to bed by 10:00.

I give it a 6 for effort.
And I'm glad they mentioned the species mass-extinction.. it amazes me more every day how few people give a damn about wiping out so many species forever.

I'm afraid most of the people who bothered watching it will forget it completely in a couple weeks, that's how humans are now.

[MikeE]

8. True, that could happen

but I'm encouraged to even see it, (we definitely wouldn't have if the repugs were still in office). I'm reminded of that movie back in the 80's, "The Day After". It really changed the way we viewed nuclear weapons. Maybe this can do something too.

[phantom power]

12. I saw about the second 1/2 hour of it.

I always find it interesting when the MSM bothers to present any scenario that isn't so rosy. At least an attempt to suggest that we have some big problems ahead. I did not see the last hour of it, but I will make an educated guess that they ended on a hopeful note. They always coat the pill with sugar. What I did see felt kind of grim. Which seems about right to me.

I thought it was good that they talked about mass environmental refugees. And extinctions, and food supply problems, and water supply problems. And disease.

But hey, I get that every day here in E/E, so I eventually turned on Deadliest Catch.

[Delphinus]

17. I tried to watch it,

but there was something REALLY funky with the noise. Couldn't hear people speaking but some kind of soundtrack was running.

[JohnWxy]

18. I thought they did a smart thing by making a little story line. This will bring in those who can't

watch a documentary. HElps them to "get it".

They really ought to get an award for that show. - two hours long too.

[kestrel91316]

22. Yeah. I thought their timeline for disaster and the point of no return was

incredibly optimistic. But then, I think it's already too late to save us.

[jamieque]

23. Why do you think that, Kestrel91316?

Please explain to me why you think that way. I for one am not so quick to throw in the 'proverbial' towel. And the reason is simple... I figured out many ways to stop the doomsday vision that 'Earth 2100' program showed from happening.

It is so simple of a solution that it makes me want to laugh. Ask me about the solution and I'll explain.

Well, if you want some wise advise, here it is: "Don't be so quick to give up and say we can't save ourselves or the world. We can and I believe we will. A little hope, faith and effort on our part will make all the difference in the end."