Review of "Six Degrees"

I finally got around to watching the National Geographic special "Six Degrees Could Change the World." They continue to re-air it on the National Geographic channel, so if you missed the premiere a week ago, you can still catch it. If you're not inclined to watch it, here are some of the highlights:

With each slight increase in average global temperature, environmental impacts could become more and more dangerous to the future of our planet and the survival of human life as we know it today:

+1° = Arctic ice melts at an alarming rate; coastal communities suffer devastating floods; hurricanes begin hitting the South Atlantic; severe droughts hit the western U.S., causing shortages in global grain markets.

+2° = Greenland's glaciers begin disappearing, placing some species, like polar bears, in a struggle to survive; insects migrate in strange new directions, creating irreversible disruption in certain ecosystems; new forests emerge in Canada's melting tundra; certain Pacific Islands are completely lost in rising tides; the world's coral reefs... gone.

+3° = The Arctic remains ice-free all summer; the Amazon Rainforest begins drying out; the snow caps of the Alps have nearly disappeared; El Nino extreme weather patterns are the status quo; searing summer heat waves run through the Mediterranean and parts of Europe.

+4° = Rising ocean levels overtake deltas and coastal areas home to billions of people - Egypt inundated, Venice submerged; glaciers disappear, shutting off fresh water to billions; Northern Canada becomes a bountiful agricultural zone; the West Antarctic ice sheet might collapse, further raising sea levels; rivers are drying up; the planet is unrecognizable from the one we know today.

+5° = Uninhabitable areas spread throughout the world; major cities are drying out, displacing millions of people; "environmental refugees" create human conflict throughout the world; it is unlikely human civilization can withstand the extreme changes.

+6° = Oceans are marine wastelands; deserts cover the continents; natural disasters become common events; the world's greatest cities are flooded and abandoned; an environmental "doomsday".

Scientists predict a 1 - 6° increase in average global temperature can occur within a century if certain industrial and social trends continue. While a couple degrees seems slight, it is believed that small of an increase can jump-start an unstoppable string of events leading to, at worst, an uninhabitable planet. To put it in perspective, during the last Ice Age (some 10-20,000 years ago), average global temperature was 6° cooler than average global temperature today.

As expected, this film delivers its message by way of melodramatic music and narration (like "But a shift of only about one degree could transform cattle country into a wasteland of searing heat and relentless drought") over stunning environmental images mixed with disturbing predictions and poorly-acted dramatizations. If you can get past these production hiccups and hear the message, "Six Degrees" tells a relevant story, whether you believe it or not. Perhaps most importantly, it emphasizes that all of these catastrophic predictions are still avoidable with a massive effort by mankind to reduce carbon emissions, convert to efficient energy sources, "green" our homes and cars, and live with an environmental conscious. I think the film is worth watching and made for the average Joe, so expect broad theoreticals rather than in-depth scientific explanations. Definitely makes you think - even if these theories sound crazy, if there is even a slight chance they could be accurate, is it worth risking it?

Oh... and if the soothing, yet at the same time menacing, voice of Alec Baldwin can't get you to go green, I don't know what else will!