...I'm okay with being REALITY-based.




Tuesday, June 01, 2004
      ( 9:25 AM )
 
Disaster Central

Although I like to think of myself as a high-minded intellectual who really only enjoys indie films with deep psychological messages - I'm not. Seeing as how you already know I love Buffy and Angel and will watch anything with Jet Li, you probably won't be surprised that I'm also a disaster movie freak. I love them! Whenever entire cities get completely destroyed -- cool. So of course I went to see Day After Tomorrow this weekend. And it didn't fail me. It was great! If you like disaster movies, this is the best in a while. Not only are the disaster scenes really great, the political jabs are truly enjoyable. I can see why the Left is trying to use this movie as a message. I don't think it should be used that way, since it's obviously a disaster movie meant for pure entertainment. I highly recommend it if you like this sort of film.

What was really sort of creepy was coming home and seeing on the news about all the freak tornadoes here in Oregon and in Washington, DC, along with massive storms all over the midwest. So for a dose of reality, we have the Pentagon's October 2003 study, "An Abrupt Climate Change Scenario and Its Implications for United States National Security":

The scenario assumed in the Pentagon study is that this kind of development occurs rapidly, hitting a tipping point, in the 2010-2020 period. Not the three days of the movie's fantasy, but still very different from the more gradual, longer-term danger usually associated with climate change. Although not a celluloid apocalypse, the effects outlined in the Pentagon study are more than scary enough. Consider:

"…average annual temperatures [in Europe] drop by 6 degrees Fahrenheit in under a decade….The climate in northwestern Europe is…more like Siberia."

"Mega-droughts begin in key regions in Southern China and Northern Europe around 2010 and last throughout the full decade….depleting fresh water reserves."

"China…is hit hard by a decreased reliability of the monsoon rains….Widespread famine causes chaos and internal struggles…"

"Persistent typhoons and a higher sea level create storm surges that cause significant coastal erosion, making much of Bangladesh nearly uninhabitable."

"Military confrontation may be triggered by a desperate need for…energy, food and water rather than by conflicts over ideology, religion, or national honor."

"The United States turns inward, committing its resources to feeding its own population, shoring-up its borders, and managing increasing global tension."

"With inadequate preparation, the result could be a significant drop in the human carrying capacity of the Earth's environment."

It's been said that humans are the only species that are willing to go on endangering their own existence, even with the knowledge that they are doing so. How did we get so dumb?

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