Science Resources RSS Feeds
|
 |
 |
 |
| View Larger Image | National Geographic: Six Degrees Could Change the World | DVDStarring: Alec Baldwin
Directed By: Ron Bowman
| List Price: | $19.98 | | Price: | $14.99 | | You Save: | $4.99 (25%) | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | DVD | | Rating: |  | | Run Time: | 90 minutes | | Format: | Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC | | Studio: | National Geographic Video | | Number of Discs: | 1 | | Aspect Ratio: | 1.66:1 | | Release Date: | April 08, 2008 | | Sales Rank: | 25,029th |
|
FEATURES | - In a special broadcast event, National Geographic explores the startling theory that Earths average temperature could rise six degrees Celsius by the year 2100. In this amazing and insightful documentary, National Geographic illustrates, one poignant degree at a time, the consequences of rising temperatures on Earth. Also, learn how existing technologies and remedies can help in the battle to dial
|
EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Description
In a special broadcast event, National Geographic explores the startling theory that Earths average temperature could rise six degrees Celsius by the year 2100. In this amazing and insightful documentary, National Geographic illustrates, one poignant degree at a time, the consequences of rising temperatures on Earth. Also, learn how existing technologies and remedies can help in the battle to dial back the global thermometer. |
Amazon.com
In the 2004 eco-thriller The Day After Tomorrow, director Roland Emmerich dramatized the potential consequences of accelerated global warming. By combining stock footage with computer-generated imagery, the National Geographic special Six Degrees Could Change the World serves as a sort of nonfiction counterpoint. As NASA climate scientist James Hansen cautions, even two degrees Celsius represents a tipping point (from which there is no return). Based on Mark Lynas's Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet and narrated by Alec Baldwin, the program roams from the bushfire-ravaged suburbs of Southern Australia to the drought-stricken farmlands of Nebraska to the rapidly melting glaciers of Greenland. In the process, aerospace engineers, marine biologists, and ordinary citizens share their experiences and predictions. In the end, it's the actual events--rather than the speculative scenarios--that prove most alarming, like the 30,000 deaths that resulted from 2003's European heat wave. While a skeptic might dismiss that tragedy as a statistical anomaly, every continent bears the scars of climate change, like the deforestation of the Amazon and the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina. In order to inject some levity, Six Degrees detours to look at a British grape grower who has actually benefited from his country's drier environment and the carbon footprint involved in the creation of that all-American favorite, the cheeseburger (suffice to say, it's considerable). While some of the special effects are hokey--Hansen sitting at a floating desk, for example--the preponderance of compelling data helps to compensate for such lapses. --Kathleen C. Fennessy Also of Interest Six Degrees Could Change the World on Blu-ray More DVDs About Global Warming and Climate Change More National Geographic DVDs Stills from Six Degrees Could Change the World (click for larger image) |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 3.5 based on 25 reviews)
|
The best compilation of scientific predictions by Brian P. Fikes (SF Bay Area, CA)  5 Stars
September 20, 2009
This DVD and the book it was based on by Mark Lynas are the only attempt I know of to put together much of what scientists are predicting for the effects of global warming. They answer a question I have had since learning about the problem: what will happen if we let temperatures rise a certain amount? The answers are organized into one degree steps. The book and DVD overlap but each covers quite a bit that they other doesn't, so it is well worth getting both.
Some people will give one star to anything that conveys what climate scientists are saying about global warming. If you have already made up your mind despite the overwhelming evidence, don't bother watching this DVD or reading the book. They make no attempt to prove anything, they simply lay out what scientists are predicting. But if you can at least tentatively accept that what the vast majority of experts are saying might indeed be true, then you will want to know what they are predicting for our future.
Of course you can't expect everything scientists are predicting to be 100% accurate. But I have been following the science for several years, and I can tell you without a doubt that in the vast majority of cases where the scientists were off, they were too optimistic, often by a large amount. Global warming deniers criticize the computer climate model predictions, but in the wrong way. As a whole, they are much more optimistic than they should be, and the reason is that they don't know how to include the various positive feedbacks in their equations. The simplest proof of this is that when they run the models for years in the past for which we have paleoclimatology data, they consistently predict the changes will be slower and less drastic than what actually happened. If they do this for past changes, they will probably do so for future changes too. This DVD has predictions based on these models and on the paleoclimatic data. The scariest predictions come from paleoclimatology, and unfortunately those are probably more accurate. So keep that in mind as you watch it.
The data that has come out since the DVD was made already indicate that some things will be happening sooner than was thought then. For example, arctic sea ice is melting much faster than predicted, and coral reefs are dying off faster than anyone thought possible. Here is another thing to keep in mind. Because of thermal inertia, the albedo feedback that is already in full force, and global dimming effects, temperatures are already guaranteed to rise at least one more degree and probably two. And two to three derees more warming are when other feedbacks are predicted to take over. So please realize that we have very little time left to prevent the worst things shown in this DVD. Do whatever you can to convince Congress and the President to treat this threat as more serious and urgent than a world war. If we don't make at least the same quality of effort as we did when fighting past world wars, we will not win this battle, and the consequences will be far worse than if we had lost those wars. We all have a patriotic and moral obligation to do our part, and the most effective thing you can do now is make our leaders do their duty to protect our future.
| |
6 Degrees Works in Both Ways by Michael Garza (Houston, TX)  1 Stars
June 09, 2009
Six degrees works in both way. In the late 60's and early 70's environmentalist were preaching that CO2 would cause the earth to go into another ice age. Funny how they can reverse this theory when we go through a few years of hotter than normal temperatures. Guess what? We're going through cooler temperature again for the next several years and their regrouping again even trying to explain why the perma frost will not melt as quick as they had predicted. What's next?
| |
Key Word is COULD by Shoppin 4 U (Monterey, CA) 5 Stars
June 09, 2009
This is not based in fact, but presents a possibility. Never is it presented as fact.
| |
Propaganda by Denon fan (Toronto) 1 Stars
June 09, 2009
This bears absolutely no relationship to reality.
Your money would be better spent on the Firefly series on blu-ray, far more believable.
| |
Six Degrees DVD by Thomas J. Cargill 5 Stars
April 02, 2009
I am a geography/earth science teacher. This DVD spells out in concrete terms what each degree of temperature increase means to us and planet Earth. It is a real eye opener.
| |
SIMILAR PRODUCTS |
| National Geographic: Human Footprint
Starring: Elizabeth Vargas
Directed By: Clive Maltby
Also With: Gregers Sall (Editor)
In a National Geographic special event, The Human Footprint reveals the extraordinary impact that each of our lives has on the world around us. In a playful, surprising and thought-provoking portrait of our time on earth, National Geographic demonstrates, in a series of remarkable visuals, what makes up an average human life today and how everything we do has impact on the world around us. In this unique journey through life, it shows all the people you will ever know, how much waste you will...
| 
| The 11th Hour
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Thom Hartmann, Kenny Ausubel, James Woolsey, Wangari Maathai
Directed By: Nadia Conners, Leila Conners Petersen
Environmental documentary 11th HOUR resides at the polar opposite of escapist summer fare its mission to firmly confront viewers about the indelible human footprint that humans have left on this planet and the catastrophic effects of environmental neglect and abuse. Produced and narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio and ably directed by Nadia Conners and Leila Conners Peterson the documentary doesn't get much fancier than talking heads news footage and the occasional animated illustration but its...
| 
| Planet in Peril
Starring: Jeff Corwin, Anderson Cooper, Dr. Sanjay Gupta
CNN takes viewers around the world in a comprehensive 3-hour documentary that examines our changing planet. This worldwide investigation, shot in high definition, looks at four key issues: climate change, vanishing habitats, disappearing species and human population growth. To tell this story, Anderson Cooper, Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Animal Planet's Jeff Corwin traveled to some of the most remote and remarkable places on Earth. From exposing illegal wildlife trading undercover in Southeast Asia to...
| 
| National Geographic: Earth Report - State of the Planet 2009
Starring: John Benjamin Hickey
Also With: Kris Kral (Editor)
Earth Report investigates the impact that development has had on the environment and explores what is being done to protect our planet. The Northwest Passage opened for the first time in recorded history, much of the United States honeybee population mysteriously died and China bypassed the United States in total carbon emissions. Despite all of Earths ailments, there are glimmers of hope countries, businesses and individuals making great advances in eco-friendly policies and practices. In...
| 
| National Geographic: Aftermath - Population Zero
Starring: Reg E. Cathey
Also With: John Whitcher (Editor)
Movie DVD
|
|
|
|
