(or Sign the Kyoto Accord Mr President)

By Gordon Newlands

‘Dubya’ and his gas guzzling friends should be made to watch this movie. It shows what could happen when we take liberties with nature, the only liberty taken by the producer Mark Gordon was the time scale, a few weeks instead of 5 years.

From giant hailstones in Japan to snowstorms in New Delhi and not forgetting a piece of the Antarctic ice sheet the size of Rhode Island breaking off this was not how to start a conventional movie. Based on the story by Roland Emmerich who also directed, it tells the tale or perhaps foretells the future of this planet when the weather changes.

Everybody thinks global warming will mean we have to buy more sun block factor 5,000, but not according to Professor Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid), he says that the outcome of global warming will be an ice-age. This is because of the Gulf Stream circulating from the Equator north to the arctic carrying warm water that keeps the northern latitudes relatively warm. The Gulf Stream is of course salt water, the arctic ice is fresh water and the balance is delicate, upset the balance and voila the Gulf Stream either stops or is diverted elsewhere. The melting ice sheets from global warming are upsetting that balance NOW.

But enough of the science bit, before I get out of my depth (no pun intended) is The Day After Tomorrow worth the popcorn? – YES.

The cast certainly earned their wages splashing around in 400,000 gallons of water representing a flooded downtown New York - which took 14 days to shoot, and the computer generated graphics just keep getting better. The main characters are a mix of academic kids and scientists and I liked the down and out with his dog. Although the movie is centred on the United States the whole of the northern hemisphere is affected by the weather and when the storm blows itself out a northern ice-age is the legacy.

This movie is not about who played the best part or who made their debut it’s about a warning. It may be science fiction but if things don’t improve and the multinationals don’t stop thinking only of the short term bucks there will be no planet Earth as we know it to leave for our children and grand children.

No wonder ‘Dubya’ and his government banned NASA employees from talking to the media about this movie – maybe they know something we don’t.

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