Text from here:
In the final minutes of the Hollywood doomsday spectacular The Day After Tomorrow, which opens in Britain at the end of the month, the US president makes a ludicrously over-the-top State of the Nation speech. It is a great deal less realistic than the performance by the undoubted star of this $125 million blockbuster of a film: a 100 ft high tidal wave that engulfs New York.
Indeed, the film loses any credibility long before that. This is not because of any one of the far-fetched incidents that occur in the course of its 125 minutes. It isn't the flash freezing of a presidential motorcade, or even the escape of man-eating wolves from New York Zoo. No, this extremely enjoyable film has been let down by the simple fact that it has got its science all wrong. None of it could happen.
The story goes like this. As a consequence of global warming, the polar caps melt, sending vast quantities of fresh water into the world's salty oceans. The torrent stops the Gulf Stream, a major current in the North Atlantic, precipitating a global storm that instantly creates a new Ice Age. This is an excuse for breathtaking special effects: Manhattan is buried in 30-storey snowdrifts, Los Angeles is hit by 250 mph tornadoes, and a fearless paleoclimatologist, played by Denis Quaid, straps on his snow shoes to trek from Washington, DC to New York to rescue his son.
The bad guy is the vice president, who bears a striking resemblance to the real one. This Dick Cheney doppelganger arrogantly dismisses the Kyoto Protocol - it is too expensive - and rejects concern about climate change as fearmongering. The scriptwriters save him from death only to subject him to a mea culpa public address at the movie's climax, saying roughly, "We thought that we could affect the Earth's delicate systems without suffering the consequences. We were wrong. I was wrong." This State of the Nation address is broadcast live on the Weather Channel.
If The Day After Tomorrow had no claims to be anything more than another cheesy Hollywood movie with some fabulous special effects, we could happily turn a blind eye to its bogus science and concentrate on the sight of the Statue of Liberty up to her armpits in the water. But the film claims to be offering something more than this.
"There's more truth than hype," the film-makers promise in their publicity. The German director, Roland Emmerich, claims he tried to present us with a valuable fund of scientific information. The film's website provides links to news stories published in February about "a secret report prepared by the Pentagon" which warned that climate change would "lead to global catastrophe costing millions of lives". What this publicity does not reveal is that the Pentagon report was merely a hypothetical worst-case scenario - and one that has already been thoroughly debunked. In fact, the respected magazine Science has reviewed this Pentagon report and the alleged scientific support for The Day After Tomorrow and concludes that "it is highly unlikely that global warming will lead to a widespread collapse" of the Gulf Stream, and "it is safe to say that global warming will not lead to the onset of a new Ice Age".
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Article comments
1 - Steve Rhodes
Were you disgusted by the political bias of Rambo or Red Dawn?
I'm more disgusted by the order to NASA employees not to comment on the film.
Was Independence Day realistic (or even very good)?
This is a popcorn movie designed to make lots of money would conservatives should be cheering and film critics probably booing.
2 - jadester
"The problem is that if we overestimate the risk that climate change poses, then we will pay less attention to the other challenges that face us"
i do not believe, now, that it is possible to overestimate the risk that climate change poses, quite simply because the damage that has already been done may not even be fixable, let alone any further damage that we continue to do. Maybe, if we were at a point where it'd be possible to put a complete stop to our climate-damaging activities, then i'd agree that overestimation of the problem were possible. But we are waaaay past the point where we could stop it altogether in any short length of time.
3 - boomcrashbaby
This movie might be taking liberties with what happens with global warming, but it's probably because it's a special effects movie by a special effects director.
Somehow I think a movie about global warming where the seas rise 5 feet and a few species of fish die out wouldn't really generate much in ticket sales. Although I'm sure Tea Leone and Dennis Quaid would love the lead roles.
When Jason kept coming back from the dead in the Friday the 13th movies, I don't recall anybody taking issue with the fact that such things don't really happen.
What bugs you more, the inaccuracy of the global warming or the political bias? Were you outraged by the conservative bias of The Patriot? Or are you only outraged when the bias doesn't match your own?
4 - Alex Steffen
here are some of the takes we found when we looked around on this:
the day after tomorrow as an opportunity to raise questions
move on day after tomorrow
environmentalists and day after tomorrow
bill mckibben day after tomorrow
5 - Alex Steffen
it's *supposed* to be cheezy bad science. that's the nature of a disaster film. the question, to me is, can we use this as an opportunity to talk about the real science around this issue?
here are some of the takes we found when we looked around on this:
the day after tomorrow as an opportunity to raise questions
move on day after tomorrow
environmentalists and day after tomorrow
bill mckibben day after tomorrow
6 - Get The Real Scoop
Tidal waves in Manhattan. Tornadoes in Los Angeles. A blizzard in Bombay. The culprit? Global warming. That’s the story in the new action thriller The Day After Tomorrow. The scenario is over the top. But the fact is, global warming is happening now. Help us make sure that things don’t get too hot to handle. Go to
http://www.gettherealscoop.org/takeaction.asp?step=2&item=52109&ms=scp
to send a message asking your Senators to support cuts in Global Warming Pollution today. Take Action Now and to show you how much we appreciate your help, we’ll give you a free scoop of ice cream when you send your letter.
7 - ben
Whatever your attitude toward doomsday scenarios, try an impartial resource:
http://www.doomsdayguide.org
8 - Duane
But wait. Emmerich says that the science in the movie is -- and I quote -- "very, very real," So, there you have it. It's very, very real, as opposed to being merely very real, of even real. That's miles away from misleading, or exaggerated, of bogus, or alarmist, or very alarmist, or very, very alarmist. He's convinced me.