This news story originally provided by The Daily Mail

5/27/04

Can sci-fi scenario foster serious debate?

Environmental, industry groups differ on impact

Brian Bowling
Daily Mail staff

Thursday May 27, 2004

Environmental and industry groups, think tanks, etc. tend to agree that the global warming doomsday scenario in "The Day After Tomorrow" is far-fetched.

Where they diverge is on whether the movie can lead to a serious discussion.

National groups have been filling newspapers columns and Web pages for days on the issue. Of course, many of the commentators have at least seen the movie in advance screenings.

In the movie that stars Dennis Quaid and Jake Gyllenhaal, an abrupt climate change brought about by global warming and the greenhouse effect sends the world into a tailspin. Tidal waves, tornadoes, sub-zero temperatures and massive snowstorms are just the tip of the iceberg.

Vivian Stockman, spokeswoman for the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, said all she knows about the movie is what's appeared in print and teasers.

"From what I've been reading, the scenario is sort of the typical Hollywood over-the-top disaster movie, but I believe it will help open up the dialogue," she said.

Dan Miller, spokesman for the West Virginia Coal Association, said that's difficult to believe.

"I don't think it will long-term. I think it will bring the debate forward for a period of days or weeks, but I don't think it's going to have any long-term substantive impact," he said.

Miller pointed out that even the people behind the movie admit its fiction.

"I can't give it any more credibility than I would ‘The Blob' or any of those Japanese disaster movies," he said.

"The Day After Tomorrow" is based on a scenario where global warming causes a sudden shift in the earth's climate. The movie is based on the book, "The Coming Global Superstorm."

As the title suggests, the book is not written by accredited climate scientists. Instead, authors Art Bell and Whitley Strieber have spent their careers writing about ghosts, UFOs and lost civilizations.

Similarly, director Roland Emmerich's previous movies -- "Independence Day" and "Godzilla" -- aren't exactly Discovery Channel material.

That apparently doesn't keep some people from seriously debating the movie's science. Google's news search engine produces no less than 1,510 articles discussing the movie in the last 30 days.

Some of the articles are standard movie previews and promotional fluff. Others, however, are fights over the movie's accuracy.

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