Thought for the Day (Oct 8)

Subject: Thought for the Day (Oct 8)
From: Peter T.
Date: 08 Oct 99 - 09:39 AM

October 8 -- Two weeks ago I saw a film called "The Sixth Sense", which is deeply unsettling for reasons I cannot describe without spoiling the film. Since then, I have been thinking about why this film has been causing me nightmares and affecting whole parts of daily life. The reason I think is that a horror film of this type undermines one's faith in the normal categories of things -- that ordinary objects will stay put, that things won't jump out at you -- and so you temporarily find normalcy threatened and threatening. Hitchcock's masterpiece, the much more frightening Vertigo, is about other things -- but the idea of vertigo is something like this.
In the mid-1980's I happened by chance to be at a private International Meteorological Association briefing on the new results coming in from the British Antarctic Survey which revealed for the first time that there was something startling happening to the ozone layer over Antarctica. I remember being in this room with hardnosed scientists, physicists, climate specialists, and senior government leaders as the computer generated maps (the first) were shown on the screen. I remember that the room filled first with shock, and then with horror as they realised the full dimensions of what was happening; and then there was pandemonium. I can remember 20 minutes later going into the men's washroom and seeing an elegant director of an international agency being violently ill from the shock. It was at that moment that I realised that all our categories of normalcy -- from the bright sun to the beautiful blue sky -- were threatened, and that it could make people physically ill from the feeling of loss. That horror wore off, but it comes back from time to time to remind me of what got me started on environmental issues; and I ironically got a taste of the original feeling again, in this different context, two weeks ago. (p.t.)

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day (Oct 8)
From: katlaughing
Date: 08 Oct 99 - 09:45 AM

How true and how interesting Peter. I've been wondering if I wanted to see this movie or not. Heard an interview with the director which was fascinating. He couldn't say enough about the child actor and how good he was. So....are you recommending it with warning, or is it worth the viewing?

Thanks, kat

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day (Oct 8)
From: Peter T.
Date: 08 Oct 99 - 09:58 AM

Kat, I have not been able to figure out whether to recommend it to people or not. It is a very strange film, badly written in parts, and slightly stupid in parts, but ultimately devastating. If you can't stand the sight of some blood or dead people, you might have a hard time of it. I can't stand gory films, and I would never have gone to see this one (which is not very gory at all) if a friend hadn't been completely captivated by it. I was rivetted from the first second to the end -- completely washed out afterwards. The boy in the film gives one of the greatest performances I have ever seen on the screen. He is just incredible.
yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day (Oct 8)
From: annamill
Date: 08 Oct 99 - 10:24 AM

Peter, I too was completely taken with this movie. I came out thinking it was one of the greatest movies I had seen. Not because of quality of writing, or acting (the kid was great), but because of the effect it had on me and I was resolved to add it to my collection as soon as possible. I still, in moments of quiet (not to often), have my mind wander over to that movie.

To the ozone..you have terrifed me. Please explain to me why these great men were so shocked. Is our earth destroyed? Is there anything we can do? I understand that it could cause skin cancer, but what other affects will there be?

All due respect to "The Sixth Sense". Your description of this episode is much scarier, I think.

Love, annap

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day (Oct 8)
From: Peter T.
Date: 08 Oct 99 - 10:50 AM

Sorry, annap, occupational hazard for environmentalists is scaring people out of their wits. Apologies. The story has its funny side: what happened was that the British had a monitoring system they had set up which reported for a number of years that nothing was wrong with the ozone layer. An expedition went down and discovered that the computer in charge of the monitoring system had been throwing out the readings because they were too low, so it assumed that there was a malfunction. So these were essentially the first maps of the problem anyone had seen -- I have, if anything, understated how stunned everyone was. It was a bit like the scene in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" where the scientists have seen the advance ships and think, oh well, no big deal; and then the mother ship arrives!!
It was these findings that galvanized the global community into signing the Ozone Treaty, which is supposed to phase out the use of chlorofluorocarbons (the big culprits) over the next 50 years. The signs are that this phasing out is occuring, with some fluctuations. The problem (like a lot of environmental problems these days) is that you can't turn these things off with a switch like some politicians think. The hole in the ozone layer off Antarctica has been increasing to the point where it is beginning to affect southern South America and Tasmania. The current theory says that it will gradually go down again, but nobody knows. There are now severe ozone depletion episodes in the Northern Hemisphere, which will continue for the next 30 years or so, and we hope they won't get worse. Nobody knows -- we have not conducted an experiment like this on the earth before.
Skin cancer is obviously the big immediate problem for humans, but there are signs that the increase in ultra-violet rays is affecting some basic ecosystems, such as plankton in the oceans. This is pretty scary; but some scientists argue that these natural systems are developing self-protection, and so we shouldn't worry. We don't know. I personally think it is stupid to gamble with the earth this way; but lots of people seem not to care. We have basically been relying on the earth to be resilient enough to cope: it has up to this point, and it will certainly be able to survive in some form whatever human beings do it -- human beings may not make it, but you can bet on the cockroaches and weeds. There will be something here after this little experiment in human supremacy crashes and burns.
As an working environmentalist, I think that there are more important immediate environmental threats to your personal well-being. Not to depress you further, but if I lived in New Jersey I would immediately go out and buy Sandra Steingraber's recent paperback book "Living Downstream" which is an excellent, very balanced, book on chemical sources of breast cancer and other estrogen related environmental problems across the U.S. THIS IS A BOOK EVERY WOMAN SHOULD READ! (MEN TOO).
Award for most depressing thread, in the mail to me, I'm sure.
yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day (Oct 8)
From: katlaughing
Date: 08 Oct 99 - 11:24 AM

Along that same vein, I just finished reading the non-fiction A Civil Action, same book the movie with John Travolta was based on. The main character, a Boston attorney, went bankrupt after spending ten years and literally everything he and his partners had to prove water contamination on Woburn, MA had caused childhood leukemia and a variety of other lethal and non-lethal disorders in the people who unwittingly drank it, bathed in it, and used it for cooking. The degree to which the guilty companies and certain officials went to to totally deny any correlation is mind-boggling. Hard book to put down, yet very horrifying, too.

So...Peter, I guess we split that award, huh?

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day (Oct 8)
From: Neil Lowe
Date: 08 Oct 99 - 11:47 AM

....so what if there's a hole in the ozone layer? Is it fair that environmentalists are willing to sacrifice spectacular, technicolored sunsets in favor of something so trivial as a sustainable biosphere in which life can thrive? Where's their sense of aestheticism? Who has not stopped to ponder the awe-inspiring beauty and symmetry in a burgeoning nuclear mushroom cloud? Who among us has not been moved to deep, introspective reflection on the irony of seeing a river on fire? And we are to surrender these glorious tributes to the human race's artistic prowess with Nature in favor of fresh air and pure water? Not without a fight!

On or about the 12 of this month, scientists predict the population of planet Earth will reach six billion. IMHO therein lies the rub.....

Regards, Neil (with tongue firmly implanted in cheek)

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day (Oct 8)
From: Neil Lowe
Date: 08 Oct 99 - 12:23 PM

My humble apologies if I offend anyone's sensibilities by treating a subject, which has as its resolution the potential to annihilate the human race, so callously and lightheartedly. Sometimes you gotta laugh to keep from cryin'.

Neil Lowe

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day (Oct 8)
From: katlaughing
Date: 08 Oct 99 - 01:18 PM

(chucklig) It's okay, Neil, sometimes we do have to laugh with the irony. I think you've put your finger on it, population-wise. A billboard went up just the other day, with that info on it, quite effective, but I am not sure we'll see a solution to that as long as certain religions and their leaders and certain governments continue on their campaigns against birth control and responsibility.

kat