The Day After Tommorow

TDAT came out worldwide today and that started me thinking.

What if the things that happen in The Day After Tommorow happend? would the world be in total disaray, unable to come back after plummeting into an ice age? Don't say it'll never happend because it could. How? I'll tell you how:

***scientific babble zone***

The polar ice caps are melting due to global warming (The massive CO2 blanket over the world is letting heat in from the sun, but not back out). When the ice caps melt it releases lots of FRESHWATER into the seas, raising the sea level. Meanwhile, the Gulf Stream, the massive stream that takes warm water to the UK from the Americas and such, is doing its cycle. An important part of the cycle is near Ireland, where the water from the Gulf Stream SINKS because of the salt in the SALTWATER. Now, add lots of FRESHWATER to SALTWATER and that'll make the salt be spread over a wider area. That, in turn, will stop the gulf stream water from sinking, stoppping the Gulf Stream.... Bad news for UKers then eh? And the whole of Europe for that matter.

***end scientific babble zone***

Discuss.

It'd be bad for humans, good for everything else once it all settles down.

Are we talking about the polar caps melting or an ice age? I'm confused.

Polar caps melting is no big deal. Some cities might get wet, but I don't think it's that bad. The ocean is huge, and I don't think there's so much ice that it would raise the sea level more than a few meters. If it's actually that life threatening, I would be geniunely surprised.

Ice age is survivable thanks to our knowledge of stuff. Granted rules of overpopulation (population/food source ratio) would force lots of us to die, but so what?

The Day After Tomorrow is the classical Hollywood crap movie done basically to sit down and get entretained with great special effects, but all that shows there is an exageration of the actual menace.

However, yes, a dissaster can occur. I doubt it would ever happen as in the movie, because the movie exagerates in order to bring something more spectacular. If the ice caps melt, the level of water will go up and people will have to emigrate from cities because they will be flooded, but nothing to do with big tidal waves as shown in the movie, and an ice age coming just afterwards.

Then again, of course we are facing a problem, that is why I believe goverments and companies should follow some rules, such as the whole Kyoto tract thing.

And then, we, as individuals, should just collabortate with the simple things. I mean, I just don't consume much: I don't want to buy a car because I know it pollutes the air (I use the bus, yes, it also pollutes, but it takes 30 people, not one) and it's quite expensive anyway, and I also try to recycle, buy enviorment friendly producrs, refuse to consume products done by companies that are known to destroy nature for economical reasons (McDonald's, for example) and all that crap. Then the classical colaboration on some projects and all that crap. I can't say I do that much, I just do what it's my responsability, something I prefer to put in front of my pleasure. Yeah, it would be easier to have a car and don't recycle, but hell, it's not like my life is so hard. I already leech enough from the planet, I want to minimize the waste I produce. And well, maybe when I finish the studies or in summer I'll try to do some more stuff, you know, I feel my little gestrues are not enough in proportion to the problems I cause.

Well, I don't have much to say. It's up to us, I guess, but then again, the capital is more important than the enviorment, it seems.

I've always thought that the melting of the ice caps would be gradual enough to let humans adjust to the new environment, and we'd survive (for the most part, anyway). How quickly can the caps possibly melt?

The only thing that surprises me about this movie is that nobody thought of it before.

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Originally Posted by Shadow Nexus

but nothing to do with big tidal waves as shown in the movie, and an ice age coming just afterwards.

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Well then again... should global warming affect El Nino... then it's a totally different story. El Nino is an unpredictable "strange" weather system the makes monsoons and such (i think). Should that go haywire then who knows what could happen?

The polar ice caps can melt relativly quickly, within a few years methinks.

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Originally Posted by Kegsay

Well then again... should global warming affect El Nino... then it's a totally different story. El Nino is an unpredictable "strange" weather system the makes monsoons and such (i think). Should that go haywire then who knows what could happen?

The polar ice caps can melt relativly quickly, within a few years methinks.

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According to a friend of mine, The Day After Tomorrow is one of the worst movies ever, with lines such as:

-Ice age will come in six...

-We have six years?

-..six weeks.

Oh, for God's sake, ice age dosen't come in six weeks, for God's sake.

And ice caps don't melt from one day to another, it is a gradual process that takes years. For example, in south Chile, the glacier of San Rafael has reduced itself in 200 meters since 1981. OK, for the ice caps to melt Waterworld style, you need more than two centuries. Still, in 2050 the water level is predicted to have rised two meters. In all the world! It may not sound like a big deal, but in fact, it is. If the rate of melting continues, in a few centuries whole cities may sink. No, no, I don't think many people would die with that, but take into account the changes in the enviorment, temperature, etc, and how this would affect on natural resources and enviorment. It is not only about humanity surviving, it is also about not destroying this damn world with our filthy greed. Then again, in postmodern times, there is no other ruler, God, law or king than the forsaken money, and well, any pig can burn the Eden to recive an insurance. XXIst century, Man is dead, hail the Capital!

A leading climatologist commented on this film during last night's news. The process, he said, could potentially take as little as two years, in extreme circumstances. Remember, we're dealing with human interference here - something that wasn't a factor in previous ice ages.[q=Immortal]Are we talking about the polar caps melting or an ice age? I'm confused.[/q]The idea in this film is that the melting of the ice caps disrupts the gulf stream, the warm ocean current which is the only thing keeping you northern folks from freezing over. A rise in temperatures melts the ice caps; the gulf stream peters out; everyone gets frozen.[q]Polar caps melting is no big deal. Some cities might get wet, but I don't think it's that bad. The ocean is huge, and I don't think there's so much ice that it would raise the sea level more than a few meters. If it's actually that life threatening, I would be geniunely surprised.[/q]Even a few meters would greatly increase the threat from tidal wives and spring tides, even in relatively high areas. And there are plenty of Pacific islands that will literally be underwater. Some already are - Tuvalu, I think, is actually about a meter below sea level; it's just got a high rim keeping everyone dry. But hundreds of islands are going to be uninhabitable within a few years, or decades, at the current rate. There is one heck of a lot of ice in the North Pole (just look at any globe); that'd make a significant difference to sea levels, as well as all the other climate disruptions.

I haven't actually seen the movie, probably won't...

Cities like Amsterdam, New Orleans, and Jerusalem would all be toast if the sea level rose a few meters.

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and Jerusalem

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Jerusalem is nearly 700 meters above sea-level, thankyouverymuch. But my home city, Tel-Aviv, would get drenched. I wouldn't be alive when it happens... but still, a pity.

Anyway, I haven't seen the movie, nor read the script... but makes little sense. I mean, it's BOUND to happen at some point... but we should be able to deal with it. Taking the cities on stilts, you know?

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Originally Posted by War Angel

I mean, it's BOUND to happen at some point... but we should be able to deal with it.

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Well, maybe it wont happen. How about...humanity not being :love: stupid? Or am I dreaming too much?

Banned from this forum for a week. --Unne

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Originally Posted by Shadow Nexus

-Ice age will come in six...

-We have six years?

-..six weeks.

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I never said it would be THAT quick. Over about 5-10-15 years in extreme conditions. The economic effect would be painful since you'll be loosing lots and lots of towns and cities (NY anyone?). Plus, what's do you expect UKers to do? Freeze our butts off? It would cause chaos in many parts of the world.

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-Ice age will come in six...
-We have six years?
-..six weeks.

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I just saw the movie, and it turns out that even this estimate is too optimistic, the ice age finally arrives in about 48 hours. Which is ridiculous, yes. The moral of the story is the same though: please please please take care of the planet, or this could happen to your children. It's hammered very well into your head.

As a side note (since this is World Events and not The Lounge) I must admit, when I saw the trailers and saw people running for their lives from frost, I thought it was the stupidest thing I ever saw, but it turns out to be entertaining, if you can suspend your disbelief that well.

And, unfortunately, I have to admit that I agree that's it's bound to happen sooner or later. *sigh* The global effect is very hard to imagine, it's too catastrophic. Extremely reduced population, economic shutdown, etc. I wonder if we would still respect the different countries' bounders. What for?

So why didn't Captain Planet and the Planeteers come and save the day?

I imagine that if the world is ever to come to an end, it'll probably be due to one of those hundreds of dangerously close asteroids that would get pulled into a collision with the Earth. A freak asteroid impact is much more believable than any overnight icecap melting / iceage garbage that the movie tried to promote. If an asteroid can kill dinosaurs, it can kill us too. The world has already had an iceage, several of them, and for that matter, cave people were able to weather it out. If a club weilding trogladite with a bearskin loincloth can survive an iceage, you can bet modern humans with all our technology can do so also.

I've heard many things about this film, mostly bad to be honest. Chief among them is the fact that it seems you can walk from Maryland to New York in a matter of a few days in weather that kills people who step outside, yet if you're a "hero", you can endure it just fine. Pure Hollywood popcorn fun.

As for the actual topic. I'm getting very concerned with the environmental issues our world faces and am increasingly more peeved that so many world leaders seem to disregard these troubles. It seems that old saying, "It's not OUR generations problem.." still is a paramount ideal. I believe we can do many things to improve the problems, but it will take a lot of work and actual time and resources, i.e. money, from people in power to really accomplish anything. Hopefully, with the development of the hybrid car and soon electric car, the toxins caused by the current cars will finally be controlled. Here's hoping.

We all have to live here on this planet for the near future, so I do honestly believe it's our responsibility to make this place a cleaner, safer place to live.

Take care all.

As a matter of fact, global sea levels rising a mere 5- 10 meters would drown New york city, parts of London, Lisbon and other major cities. Them rising 50 metres (which COULD happen) wouls result in half the world's land surface being drowned.
Of course, the Gulf Stream could also shut off any time now- in fact, as I was reading in Focus, May issuse (I think), Britain and in fact the rest of Northern Europe by 2030. Or, it could take milleniums.
The fact is, we ARE still officially in an ice age, because of the glaciers in antartica and Greenland. Common practice on Earth is for there to not be ice at both or even one ice cap.
Although it would not take as early as it does in the film, which I actually really liked, it could happen. Also, if global warming were to happen, it wouldn't just make everywhere hotter. Some places would freeze, others would drown, yet others would experience monsoon seasons above the equatorial region and the tropics.

I saw the movie the day after it came out (no pun intended), and I have to say it had some eye candy, and gave you the "woah damn what it that were to really happen!?" effect, at parts like the giant tornadoes tearing my beloved city of Los Angeles apart, and the ocean flooding New York City. Besides that though, yeah, the movie sucked, even though Bilbo Baggings was in it.

Anyway, enough about the movie itself. Personally, I don't believe in the global warming theories. I don't believe in that "hole in the ozone" thing, and I don't believe that the icecaps are gonna melt and drown everyone. I mean, if they icecaps even were to melt, I think it'd take a good hundreds of years before we noticed any significant change. And besides, its not going to be like that movie (water rising in a matter of seconds). As the water rises, people will move inland. As the world changes, humanity will adapt to it. Its not a huge deal, really. I mean, we survived a fricken iceage, so I'm sure we can survive a little bit of moving our asses inland a few miles.

And, lets just assume that some big disaster would happen that kills off a good percentage of humanity. Is that a bad thing? Humans are the ones doing it after all (if you believe in the whole global warm, ozone hole load of info). And even if yopu don't theres no arguing that humans tearup and rape the planet based on greed (FF7 anyone?).

[q=dmka]I don't believe in that "hole in the ozone" thing[/q]The ozone hole isn't related to global warming, but it's a very real threat. It's observable, with the right equipment, and has serious effects. My country has a far higher rate of skin cancer than it should have, because of excess UV radiation levels. In summer, spending 10 minutes outdoors without sunscreen can be enough to get burned.
Ozone depletion is a genuine threat, believe me.[q]As the water rises, people will move inland.[/q]Yep, but lots of places won't have an 'inland'. We're talking entire island nations that'll simply cease to be. It's already begun, and it'll keep on going, too...

Oh yeah and about the Ice Caps melting, as far as I can remember, a few years back, the "rossa ice shelf" or some kind of ice shelf broke off and plunged into the ocean. It was a pretty big chunk aswell.

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Yep, but lots of places won't have an 'inland'. We're talking entire island nations that'll simply cease to be. It's already begun, and it'll keep on going, too...

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True, true, but then they'll just have to move to a different piece of land...if they'd rather die though, thats their business.

And geez you people are making it sound like it will happen in a matter of hours...people will have time to move...sheesh.

What if? What if? What if? What if? What if? What if?
1. what if i say... go kill everyone before the had the chance to kill me on "final fantasy: not in development" at level 1 with a plastic short sword?
2. what if say... the second/first(depending on religion) coming actually happened?
3. what if... i think that[the day after tommorow] movie's stupid?
what about the part where 1(I could never do that! I would never do that! The programmers would never do that!) won't happen, 2 wont happen(see my religion reply if your interested), and i actually believe statement #3?
what if the day after tomorrow sucks?
"Ya know, I don't believe in the future. I wake up every day and its the same boring present." Kale, Titan A.E.

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Originally Posted by Kegsay

Oh yeah and about the Ice Caps melting, as far as I can remember, a few years back, the "rossa ice shelf" or some kind of ice shelf broke off and plunged into the ocean. It was a pretty big chunk aswell.

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