When I think of the future, first and foremost I think of immense technological development, and further destruction of the natural environment. This has been fuelled largely by my long-time favourite movie, Blade Runner (1982). Blade Runner paints a dark and miserable future of technological and industrial excess amidst a highly polluted and segregated landscape.
Blade Runner (1982)
To a large extent, this dystopian outlook of the future for me still rings true. Despite modern efforts towards clean energy and reducing emissions, a major report on climate research conducted this year by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)posits that a limit on global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius is needed, but that we are still not doing enough. It claims that the “promises made by countries to cut their emissions up to 2030 will not limit global warming to 1.5C even if action is massively scaled up after the end of the next decade… Reaching those levels will require rapid, far reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society.” (Cosoleto, 2018)
In a world where the president of the USA, one of the largest contributors of greenhouse gas emissions, actively denies so much as the existence of climate change, it is extremely hard to believe that these changes will come soon enough. Whenqueried about the recent IPCC report, Trump refuted and ignored it’s clear conclusion, stating that the USA “havescientists that disagree with human-caused global warming… You’d have to show me the mainstream scientists because they have a very big political agenda”. (Nuccitelli, 2018)
In addition to a depleted earth represented in Blade Runner, the film also makes reference to “off-world colonies”, which presumably the worlds rich have used to escape earth and find refuge on other planets. This future of leaving a depleted earth is one that I find very interesting, but am unsure of how realistic it is when considering how imminent of a threat that scientists convey global warming to be.
In particular relation to the focus of food in Lab A, the premise of the film Interstellar (2014) is that a plague has wiped out the worlds crops, leaving just corn as the only viable food source on earth. In response to this, and one which mirrors Blade Runner, space travellers are sent into the abyss in search of a new home for humanity off planet. The emphasis on food in the film is a poignant reminder of the impact of global warming and pollution from a standpoint that I don’t think the general public thinks of immediately when the issue of global warming is raised. Rather it is often the image of melting icebergs in Antarctica or flash floods that grab news headlines. Therefore this is an important film not only in relation to Lab A but as a grave reminder that without a healthy earth, it cannot provide food for its people.
Interstellar, 2014
In a world where Elon Musk is investing heavily in space travel while simultaneously contributing to global warming by producing consumer products in the form of electric vehicles and catapulting his car into space as a sort of sick joke, this pursuit for life beyond a depleted and disintegrated earth represented in Interstellar is one that seems to be active in development, however disturbing.
Elon Musk, SpaceX
The film interstellar also emphasises the importance of lab grown food which was researched within our future scenario. Our quadrant of extreme weather and high technology reinforced the need for food alternatives that can be developed in spite of unpredictable weather events produced by global warming into the future, as space travel and leaving our depleted planet might not be a realistic option. Despite this initial dire outlook, upon further research throughout these films, it is clear that the future is not fixed, but that many different futures are possible.
References-
Nuccitelli, D 2018 “Trump thinks scientists are split on climate change. So do most Americans”. The Guardian, 22ndOctober 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2018/oct/22/trump-thinks-scientists-are-split-on-climate-change-so-do-most-americans
Cosoleto, T 2018 “’We’re not on track’: Major climate change report pushes for 1.5C cap” Tara Cosoleto, 8thOctober 2018, SBS News – https://www.sbs.com.au/news/we-re-not-on-track-major-climate-change-report- pushes-for-1-5c-cap
Image-
https://variety.com/2017/film/columns/how-blade-runner-became-a-geek-metaphor-for-art-1202583468/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmz9lMP6aQU
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/spacex-rocket-record-50-launches-reliability-2018-3?r=US&IR=T
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