Underplayed Gems

Earth 2100 (2009)

Earth 2100 poster
Directed by
Rudy Bednar
Genre
documentary film, dystopian film
Country
United States
Runtime
2h
Rating
6.4 of 10 from 23 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

This documentary speculates on a worst-case future for Earth if current environmental and social problems are not addressed. It follows a fictional character named Lucy through key years as scientists describe potential disasters like climate change and resource shortages.

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What happens

Earth 2100 is a television program and a science fiction documentary film that was presented by ABC on June 2, 2009, aired on the History Channel in January 2010, and was shown throughout the year. The two-hour special, which Bob Woodruff hosted, looked at what "a worst-case" future might entail if people do nothing about current or impending issues that could endanger civilization. The problems addressed in the program include current climate change, overpopulation, and misuse of energy resources. The events following the life of a fictitious storyteller, "Lucy" (told through the use of motion comics, or limited animation), as she describes how the events affect her life. The program included predictions of a dystopian Earth in the years 2015, 2030, 2050, 2085, and 2100 by scientists, historians, social anthropologists, and economists, including Jared Diamond, Thomas Homer-Dixon, Peter Gleick, James Howard Kunstler, Heidi Cullen, Alex Steffen and Joseph Tainter. It ended with a quote from writer Alex Steffen, saying: Kids born today will see us navigate past the first greatest test of humanity, which is: can we actually be smart enough to live on a planet without destroying it? According to executive producer Michael Bicks, "this program was developed to show the worst-case scenario for human civilization. Again, we are not saying that these events will happen — rather, that if we fail to seriously address the complex problems of climate change, resource depletion and overpopulation, they are much more likely to happen." (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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