Narz
keeping it real
You can watch Earth 2100 here (containing some ads)
Earth 2100 follows a fictional character named Lucy (born in 2009) thru the remainder of the 21st century. The storyboard style timeline of her life is broken up by brief explanations of the scenarios & historical sidenotes from various experts (authors, scholars & scientists).
I watched it last night & was a bit disappointed by it overall, though I think it might be a good starter for people unfamiliar with many of the issues it tackles. It was sweet to see Joesph Tainter in the flesh (the author of Collapse of Complex Societies, a great book which I read cover to cover, much more readable & concise than Jared Diamond's book who also appears in the film) and guys like Richard Heinburg on mainstream TV but I'm not a big fan of the quality of the production (graphics, scenes chosen) and the timeline seemed a bit unrealistic (overly optimistic) & it was very UScentric (some talk about events happening in other nations but not a realistic sense of how this would effect the US, I found the idea of a perfect ecotopia in New York City [2060] while much of the rest of the world is in ruins to be unlikely). I don't think it really drove home how dependent we our on the globalized economy and, I think, promoted too much the idea that other countries (and even parts of the US) can crumble but some cities (New York as an example here until 2070something anyway, IIRC) will still be ok.
Definitely worth a watch though.
Cheers,
Narz
Earth 2100 follows a fictional character named Lucy (born in 2009) thru the remainder of the 21st century. The storyboard style timeline of her life is broken up by brief explanations of the scenarios & historical sidenotes from various experts (authors, scholars & scientists).
I watched it last night & was a bit disappointed by it overall, though I think it might be a good starter for people unfamiliar with many of the issues it tackles. It was sweet to see Joesph Tainter in the flesh (the author of Collapse of Complex Societies, a great book which I read cover to cover, much more readable & concise than Jared Diamond's book who also appears in the film) and guys like Richard Heinburg on mainstream TV but I'm not a big fan of the quality of the production (graphics, scenes chosen) and the timeline seemed a bit unrealistic (overly optimistic) & it was very UScentric (some talk about events happening in other nations but not a realistic sense of how this would effect the US, I found the idea of a perfect ecotopia in New York City [2060] while much of the rest of the world is in ruins to be unlikely). I don't think it really drove home how dependent we our on the globalized economy and, I think, promoted too much the idea that other countries (and even parts of the US) can crumble but some cities (New York as an example here until 2070something anyway, IIRC) will still be ok.
Definitely worth a watch though.
Cheers,
Narz
