Is the next ice age standing on our proverbial doorstep?

The Day After Tomorrow (2004) is a science fiction disaster movie. It features Dennis Quaid and Donnie Darko (woops, I mean Jake Gyllenhaal) and was directed by Roland Emmerich. The movie depicts the possible effects of global warming, which eventually leads to a new ice age.

A summary:

As Paleoclimatologist Jack Hall was in Antartica, he discovers that a huge ice sheet has been sheared off. But what he did not know is that this event would trigger a massive climate shift that would effect the world population. Meanwhile, his son, Sam was with friends in New York to attend an event. There they discover that it has been raining non-stop for the past 3 weeks, and after a series of weather related disasters that occurred over the world. Everybody soon realizes that the world is going to enter a new ice age, as the rest of the world population tries to evacuate to the warm climates of the south. Jack makes a daring attempt to rescue his son and his friends who are stuck in New York, who have to survive not only a massive wave, but freezing cold temperatures that could possibly kill them.

Watch the trailer:

It’s been some time since I last saw this movie, but I remember it quite clearly. I was particularly impressed by the visual effects, which conveyed the idea of “our modern world in an ice age” quite brilliantly.

The characters in this movie were one-dimensional – they were, just like the plot, a bit cliché. The worried dad who warned the whole world about the effect global warning might have goes out to save his son “and is the only one to go north while the rest of the world is heading south”. Please.

Now, story wise, this movie is obviously far from a gem. However, it is a very enjoyable Hollywood blockbuster, as long as you turn off your brain and eat a pound of popcorn.

The reason why I wanted to feature this movie for the sci-fi movie analysis is because the movie does make me think.

We have all been made aware of the possible effects of global warming. Do you, personally think that the next ice age is on our proverbial doorstep? Do you think that climate change will take such a sudden leap that the whole world will be covered in ice in a matter of months?

Do you pay attention to your “ecological footprint“? Have you done anything to reduce it? I especially wonder about my American readers – my National Geographic magazine told me the US citizens are the biggest consumers of our planet’s resources. Were you aware of this?

I am not a big “consumer”, I think. I personally don’t own a car, and although my boyfriend does we use it rarely (because we live in a city center we don’t need it often). I go places mostly by public transport or by foot. I turn off the lights in my house whenever I can and we eat very little meat. Things I could still improve… We don’t have insulated (or double) glazing at the moment – we live in a rented apartment that’s 150 years old and so its insulation could be much improved, I think. However, we can’t afford it and my landlord sure as hell is not going to change it (he’s rather frugal, so to speak). I could take shorter showers, although I think the average  time I take to shower are around three minutes. I should probably fly (by plane) less often, too. If only there was a less polluting alternative for airplanes.

Please share your thoughts and experiences. And if you have any ideas about what we can do to reduce our ecological footprint, please share!