ABC's Earth 2100

[mos6507]

I'm thinking that this piece following the Nightline interview of the peaker a few weeks ago is no coincidence.  I think some of the movers and shakers at ABC might be doomers.  We may see more where this came from.

[DarthBruder]

They're also tinfoilers. Or at least Peter Jennings was. He did that big UFO special shortly before he died.

[Cycling in Hollywood]

I really enjoyed the program and I think it will shock at least some people into a bit more awareness of what's going on.

Although it focused more on climate change and less on energy depletion, I thought it gave a realistic portrayal of the future in at least one important sense:

it showed how people will go on trying to live 'normal' lives even while the American way of life is collapsing all around them.

The protagonist and her husband move around USA from job to job in the first part of the program, looking for opportunities to get ahead just like now, even while they see starving masses roaming the streets outside their car windows. They even manage to stay ahead of the curve and maintain their relatively affluent lifestyle in San Diego and NYC with good jobs for quite some years, until the ice storm hits and destroys the city (and kills the narrator's husband).

I think this is quite realistic in a way: I don't expect everything to fall apart all at once, rather a slow fraying (how slow is slow is another question of course). Some people will do better than others as always happens. I suspect many of the ppl on this board will do better than most as at least we have considered what is coming and made some preparations of some kind...

For example: for a lot of the show, while the narrator's family wandered the US, I felt like MY family would still be fine if we were on our family's organic acreage in Nebraska. We wouldn't even have noticed most of the problems they depicted if we had been down on the farm...

Of course climate change will reach our farm too, but we'll just have to adapt to that in terms of what we grow and how, what else can we do?

[Cycling in Hollywood]

BTW can one of the moderators grab the 3 or 4 threads on this and consolidate them please?

[drusillus]

I watched the full two hours too and thought it was definitely a step in the right direction, to at least expose Joe Plumber to these issues.  It was great to see JHK, Heinberg, Diamond et al on prime time tv 

The scene with the US border guards firing into the crowds of Mexican refugees was definitely a "whoa" moment... I almost expected to see a "We are experiencing technical difficulties..." screen after that!

However, one thing that was totally disregarded throughout the whole show was WAR.  What wars are currently being waged as the world is trying to get through this mess?  What new wars are going to spring up in the midst of all this chaos?  But I guess if they included that the show would have only been 35 minutes long with the world going poof around 2020 

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Earth2100/

[mos6507]

This is just one scenario.  There are obviously other ones equally if not more horrific.  WWIII being one.  I also don't think they looked at the future of agriculture thoroughly enough.  They see disease being the great die-off vector and dustbowl conditions merely causing people to move around.  They touch on famine with talk about easter island and such, but only in generalities.  They don't connect the dots between fossil fuels and agriculture, well they do briefly, but they don't show the endgame of that.  New York seems to be able to feed its huge people with urban greenhouses, although a growing underclass doesn't benefit from this ecotopia.  And how do these enclaves prevent massive influxes of desperate people?  They make it seem like as long as you can run the gauntlet in your car to get of the Southwest then you're in the clear.  Really, in order for them to be more visual and artistic, a lot of the details were left vague.  But doomers have constant arguments over future scenarios as it is.  There is no one perfect future scenario.

[wordnerd]

I think it was a good "introduction" to our situation for people who have been completely unaware
Showing hope at the end was to keep people from panicking - just like the H1N1 Who mentality
(btw - Who is now saying "moderate" instead of "mild" )
I didn't like the cartoon parts - I got up and wandered around - lost my interest.
But lots of people really like the cartoon stuff - so maybe it will reach someone that just "news" would not have reached. (People learn differently - that is why when I did training, I always used several different styles - to try and reach the most people)
I taped it and plan on going back and watching the entire thing at a time when I am not "rushed"

[wordnerd]

P.S.
 like I said a good introduction
BUT the timeline was off too
I believe things will deteriorate way faster than their timeline
Yes - and they did not mention War or Peak Oil - etc.
I don't think they even covered the reality of what the economic collapse could do to us
But - it was a start to help people begin to see that change is coming

[Harcken]

I watched the entire two hours, and it only got overly ridiculous in the final few minutes. Although it didn't mention peak oil directly, it did allude to it, but then dropped it to focus on climate instability. And things like driving were still taking place for a long time.

I did enjoy the way the story was presented in comic book fashion, but there were of course flaws in the story. The American Southwest going down was interesting/expected. (Oh, and the part where Molly, Lucy's daughter, sticks her head out the window of the vehicle to film and then gets a gun pointed at her was stupid. There are dying and desperate people on foot outside your vehicle while you are stuck in traffic and you stick your head out the window? What were the parents thinking letting her do that?)

The part in which the border police fires into the crowd was a big "Oh shit" moment, perhaps because that is easy to envision happening sooner than later.

Then when the die-off happened because of the virus, with the image of a counter ticking down was a little chilling. And toward the end, after the flooding...they realized no one was coming to rescue them. That should be a lesson to people now: do not rely on government to ride to your aid. The people must act to save themselves. Hurricane Katrina victims could have used that advice before the storm.

And finally, it switched to a reassuring ending. Just use environmentally friendly lightbulbs, cars, invest in green jobs, etc. I understand that there may be technically enough time to reverse and prevent some damage, but even that is ridiculous because of human nature. People will never voluntarily reduce population, stop driving and consuming, or anything else. They will take advantage of whatever resources they can, even if it means death to future generations. I think ending on a reassuring note just cheapens the warning. "This is the worst case scenario, but there is still time to prevent it so don't worry." It is such a cop-out and endorsement of staying asleep. 

[wordnerd]

I FINALLY watched the whole thing
It was well done - except I believe things will fall apart much faster than they portrayed
But - still - a great introduction for people who are in denial
I thought it was wonderful that someone FINALLY said climate change does not happen in a progression - but in huge leaps
I did not hear the term "peak oil" but I heard them say several times that we were running out of oil - as well as other resources - mailnly water.
I wasnt real crazy about the cartoons  - but I think I like them better than I would have liked actors trying to act out those scenes!!! So , I'm now okay with the cartoons. 
I, too, also thought the ending was a little bit -"and then they lived happily ever after" - type of ending. IN other words a "fairytale'
But there are many people who need to believe that - at least at this point.
Anyway - I'm going to bed
If anything else occurs to me about the show - I'll write it later
Goodnight, you all! 

[PonyBoy78]

Pretty good stuff, especially considering where it was broadcast.  I didn't have too many expectations of Peak Oil coverage.. it seemed to be more of a "here's a sample of everything that can go wrong in the next 91 years" deal.  I might try to get my parents and sister to watch.

For example: for a lot of the show, while the narrator's family wandered the US, I felt like MY family would still be fine if we were on our family's organic acreage in Nebraska. We wouldn't even have noticed most of the problems they depicted if we had been down on the farm...

After watching the show, I thought about this and have decided that I need to go back and watch it again with this at the forefront of my mind.

[wordnerd]

Quote from: Cycling in Hollywood on June 03, 2009, 10:48:17 AM
For example: for a lot of the show, while the narrator's family wandered the US, I felt like MY family would still be fine if we were on our family's organic acreage in Nebraska. We wouldn't even have noticed most of the problems they depicted if we had been down on the farm...

After watching the show, I thought about this and have decided that I need to go back and watch it again with this at the forefront of my mind.

Yes, it made me think about moving north to the top of a mountain
- after seeing that is what the animals are doing
I live in Indiana in a valley!
Indiana at least is not in the extreme south or the southwest
but I am in the Ohio River valley - which is good for a water source
bad if water rises

[luna201]

I watched this online Friday night and I thought it was great, for what it was. I can't believe they actually broadcast this. I kept expecting them to cut it off. I felt that the timeline was off, but other than that it was pretty good. The last 15 minutes sucked, but <i>every</i> documntary has that last 15 minutes of pie in the sky hopeful solutions. Some things I didn't expect to EVER see on national TV:
-Kunstler being Kunstler
-starving hordes in the streets
-firearms being portrayed in anything like a positive light
-U.S. border guards shooting at immigrants
I also liked the Lucy story. I've seen a lot of doomer sites criticizing that, but it really helps things sink in for people who are just starting to wake up. Most people just 'don't get' stats and figures, but a visceral punch to the gut like that -this is what your child's life may be like -really sinks in.

[Cycling in Hollywood]

I watched this online Friday night and I thought it was great, for what it was.

Where did you find it online ? 

[mos6507]

It's on Hulu.

As long as you're in the US, you can watch it.  If you an't, I also downloaded an .mkv file of it in 720p off usenet.  It might show up on bittorrent.  The file doesn't play well on my laptop, though.  YMMV.