The creator of "Don't Look Up" spoke with a climate scientist about how the movie contributes to the discussion about global warming.
The interview, exclusive to Space.com, is a 24 minute audio conversation between Adam McKay and Kate Marvel, an associate research scientist at both Columbia University and the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
McKay says he went into a state of terror after reading "The Uninhabitable Earth" and couldn't sleep for three nights.
McKay explained in the interview that he went on a fact-finding mission just to talk to people. I kept asking questions when I talked to climate reporters and scientists. Every answer I got was worse than I thought.
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The plotline of "Don't Look Up" uses the metaphor of an impending world-killing comet to describe the reaction of the public, scientists and policy-makers to climate change.
McKay said that climate change is the biggest story in human history and the biggest threat since the comet 66 million years ago.
In the conversation, she said she agreed with McKay's assessment of climate change.
She said that many of the predictions of global warming made in the 1980s are "more or less spot-on" today. In March of 2021, the climate has warmed by 0.18 degrees per decade since 1981 according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Concentrations of carbon and other greenhouse gases put into the atmosphere from human activities such as industrial emissions or car exhaust is what causes global warming. We can see the emissions in real-time through websites such as "Bloomberg Green", which is horrifying.
The movie "Don't Look Up" has a sense of sympathy and horror to it, especially the character played by Kate Dibiasky, who is an astronomer.
I trained as an astronomer. "So I am related to the astronomer." It was very painful for me to watch a scientist communicate their results and be bad at it because they have no media training.
As a scientist named Kate trying to warn the world, I felt personally attacked. The Kate character didn't sign up for this, so I really relate to her. She wants to study comets. She just wants to do some science, and suddenly she's in a world that she doesn't understand. That was something that I really felt.
Adam McKay directed "Don't Look Up." The credit is from the video streaming service, Netflix.
She has faced personal attacks, but she doesn't engage with people who don't believe in climate change.
She pointed to the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication's periodic surveys of American public opinion concerning global warming, as well as the internet's full of cranky people who are saying mean things all the time. She said the survey statistics show that less than seven percent of the population think climate change is real.
She said climate change communication was poor for a long time, as she said it used to be. The polar bear is going to die. It's your fault. "I think that doesn't really appeal to people," said Marvel.
A map of water. Satellite measurements might have underestimated past warming according to research. The image is from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
She said that the science of attribution has increased in recent years because global warming is so clearly visible. She said that the Pacific Northwest heatwave that happened this summer would have been impossible without climate change.
She said that the scientific community recognizes the need for outreach with people who tell stories, with social scientists, with environmental justice advocates, and with other groups. We need to explain why this matters and help people come up with solutions.
Climate change is a stand-in for an impending comet impact in "Don't Look Up." The credit is from the video streaming service, Netflix.
Ordinary people can do something. Marvel doesn't believe in engaging in activities that contribute to global warming. Call Congress now. Call your senators. Tell them that you want to see action on climate change. Tell them that this is important to you. She said that it's really cathartic to yell at senators or their voicemail.
She said that to keep the world below the Paris Agreement's 2 degrees Celsius of warming, we need emissions to fall by seven percent every year. She said that shutting down global activities is not sustainable.
A lot of that is already underway, according to the good news. It's not fast enough. We can make it go faster. This is a problem with a solution if you organize, yell, or demand political action.
She said she loved the comedy tone of the film because she is pro-laughter. She suggests that Hollywood make a "climate change rom-com" and a "climate change revenge movie where Liam Neeson punches a bunch of fossil fuel executives" in the future.
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