Earth 2100 - discussion

reply to post by TeslaandLyne


Except that plenty of people eat those foods in the past as their basic nutrition, and still got very far. Democracy and freedom are not fed to us. Quite oppositely, we are told they are bad things in these days and that we should all let the government take freedom temporarily. In essence, the complete opposite.

Sadly, I was not home last night to watch the program, so I recorded it and I just finished watching it. I must say that while I did learn a few facts, I also realized how politically biased national television has become. When are we going to see a program about how Global Warming is a myth? When are we going to see a program about how global cooling is going to happen? The answer to these questions is, probably never. The government is paying tv stations to run eco-ads and programs in support of their policies. Anyhow, let me say that while I do think that recycling and using energy efficient materials are good, I do not believe in brainwashing people into the government policies.

I watched it too. One thing I noticed was how society-centric the disasters were. There was no mention of big-time geological disasters, just a population-depleting disease. I know major earthquakes or super-volcanic eruptions aren't exactly an immediate certainty, since Yellowstone could erupt 300,000 years from now for all we know. At the same time, a super-disease is also not a certainty.
I think it would have been a lot greater if the show hadn't focused so much on an oil crisis and presented a TRUE worst-case scenario, one that wasn't quite so selfish and centered only on poor little mankind's self-inflicted suffering. And a single nasty hurricane over Miami doesn't count!

Well, seeing as it's 2015 (a milestone in Earth 2100) I thought I'd take a moment to compare our modern world to the one predicted by the film. Granted, we're only five months in, but still.

Dragonfly migration: There was one incident I can find, four years ago, but not really. I haven't noticed any reports of large insect migrations from southern areas north, but I could be wrong.

Wave farm off Scotland: shut down two months after its opening in 2008.

Vatican city: "greenest city" with more solar panels than anywhere else apparently, but "totally solar"?

Soaring gas prices: not at all, in fact, it's way down. Blame it on the "Great Recession", I guess?

Rising food price protests: Rising prices, yes. Protests, no. Not in the US or Europe, as far as I can tell.

US population growth of 20 million: correct

Empty gas stations: no. Not yet, at any rate, and from the decreased use of fuel, probably not going to happen

Hottest summer on record: depends where you ask around. The Weather Channel says it'll actually be cooler than usual across most of the US, although Florida and the West Coast may be above-average.

Gas snatching: not with these low prices and low level of oil consumption.

Coal plants: no demand for them yet.

Superstorms: Sandy, I guess. Was it actually as horrible as predicted? Will the next one be? We'll see.

Climate Summit 2015: wait for November/December.

Did I miss anything or get anything wrong?