23 September 2009

74 Days - Help! An Alien Climate is Invading the Earth!

A couple of days ago was the birthday of H. G. Wells, perhaps best known today for his 1898 science fiction novel The War of the Worlds, which reportedly caused widespread panic when adapted to radio in 1938 by Orson Welles, who performed it in the style of a news broadcast. In honour of those achievements, I thought I would throw out this suggestion.

What if we tried that stunt again? What if we used all the media — social and otherwise — to announce to the world ...
ATTENTION ALL EARTHLINGS! CODE RED (OR ORANGE OR WHATEVER COLOUR IS THE SCARIEST)! AN ALIEN CLIMATE IS INVADING OUR PLANET!

Is it possible that we could get some panic happening then? What about if we turned it into a reality TV show? Survivor Climate Catastrophe, maybe. Or Biggest Loser: Future Generations?

How about a travel documentary called Walk a Mile in Their Flooded Out Shoes? Or a game show called Eat for a Day, perhaps. Wheel of You're-Fortunate-for-Now-But-It-Won't-Last?

Anyway, sometimes in this saddening and maddening world of "care more about your favourite TV show characters than your kids," it's a stress reliever to imagine off-the-wall ideas that might actually get people to pay some attention.

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I would appreciate hearing your thoughts or questions on this post or anything else you've read here. What is your take on courage and compassion being an important part of the solution to the climate change emergency?