I recently watched a documentary that I believe provides reliable evidence of global warming. The film follows James Falog, an acclaimed environmental photographer, as he embarks on a quest to publicize the drastic effects of climate change. Falog felt that using time-lapse photography to depict the ramifications of global warming would be more effective that statistics and charts. He embarked on a mission known as “EIS” or the “Extreme Ice Survey in which he and his team strategically place cameras in view of glaciers; more specifically the end of the glacier where calving takes place. The cameras were set on remote timers and took pictures of the glaciers every hour during daylight for 3 years. After three years, Falog and his team put the pictures in order in a time lapse and played them forward at a rate where the audience could clearly see the retreating glaciers. We already know that the gradual warming of the atmosphere results in the melting of the ice caps and glaciers. The photographic evidence the Falog provides clearly shows the glaciers are melting at an astronomical rate; and that the problem at hand may be more severe than we originally thought.

The film can be found on Netflix. The link provided goes to the IMBD page.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1579361/

In “The Day After Tomorrow”, they discuss the idea of desalinization disrupting the North Atlantic current, which is scientifically accurate. The North Atlantic Current is a flow of water in the Atlantic Ocean that delivers warm water to Europe. The ocean regulates the climate, so if it changes, the climate changes. If enough fresh water is dumped into the ocean, it could technically disrupt this current, and it theoretically, it could happen rather abruptly once the “tipping point” is reached. However, it’s highly unlikely that the world as we know it would suddenly plunge into an ice age in the time span of a week. The main idea of the movie is good, but like most movies, the idea is exaggerated because moviegoers like drama and suspense. The down side of this is many people may actually start to believe that something like this could actually happen. In a sense, they’re not wrong. But what Hollywood doesn’t tell the public is that there is still plenty we can do to change our ways, and prevent such events from actually happening.  

I think “The Day After Tomorrow” brings awareness of global warming/climate change to an audience that might not otherwise be interested in it. Obviously it depicts the most extreme scenario possible, but it makes people think twice about how their lives impact the environment.