There are kernels of real science in Apple’s new climate change drama Extrapolations. In the first episode alone, we see raging fires, water shortages, and the disappearance of Arctic ice. These threats are real.
The show also invents tricks to tell a story. (Spoiler alert!) Walruses, for their part, are much more threatened by humans than we are by them. But given their status as a “vulnerable” species in part due to oil and gas drilling and melting sea ice, a little walrus rage in the first episode is probably warranted. There’s also no “summer heart”, a medical condition we see in the second episode. But the heat makes put extra strain on the heart, and it’s already the number one weather-related killer in the United States.
The edge has put together this guide to some of the biggest science themes from the first three episodes of Extrapolations, all of which begin streaming today. We break down how the show compares to the real-life climate crisis on our doorstep and whether some of the solutions it poses could actually work.
We see raging fires, water shortages and the disappearance of Arctic ice – these threats are real
a):shadow-highlight-franklin”>How much is the planet warming up?
The season opens in 2037, with the world facing a warming of nearly 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures. It may not seem like a big change, but it has dramatic consequences for life on Earth. With such warming, 99% of coral reefs should disappear, for example. Things are getting dire for people too, with more extreme weather, severe fire seasons and rising sea levels. above sea level by more than 0.66 feet (0.2 meters). The most powerful tropical cyclones, category 4 and 5 storms, are becoming more frequent. The area burned by forest fires each summer in the Mediterranean increases by 62%. And 388 million people in the world are facing water scarcity.
The historic climate agreement reached in Paris commits countries around the world to limit warming to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius. The world has already warmed by just over 1 degree Celsius. And unfortunately, under current policies, the world is still on track to reach nearly 3 degrees Celsius by 2100.
The season opens in 2037, with the world facing a warming of nearly 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures. It may not seem like a big change, but it has dramatic consequences for life on Earth. With such warming, 99% of coral reefs should disappear, for example. Things are getting dire for people too, with more extreme weather, severe fire seasons and rising sea levels. above sea level by more than 0.66 feet (0.2 meters). The most powerful tropical cyclones, category 4 and 5 storms, are becoming more frequent. The area burned by forest fires each summer in the Mediterranean increases by 62%. And 388 million people in the world are facing water scarcity.
The historic climate agreement reached in Paris commits countries around the world to limit warming to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius. The world has already warmed by just over 1 degree Celsius. And unfortunately, under current policies, the world is still on track to reach nearly 3 degrees Celsius by 2100.
In the show, a billionaire shares patents on his desalination technology with drought-stricken countries, ostensibly to get them to agree to weaker climate targets.
There aren’t many details in the first episode about what makes its “state-of-the-art” desalination technology so special. Modern desalination techniques have been around for decades, on which some parts of the world – particularly the Middle East and North Africa – already rely heavily. Israel, where much of the first episode takes place, desalinates around 70% of its municipal water supply.
But desalination is not a miracle solution. For starters, it’s expensive because it’s very energy-intensive. Two main methods are used: blowing the water with heat to evaporate it and then re-condense it without salt; or using immense pressure to push water through a reverse osmosis membrane to filter out salt.
Desalination is not a silver bullet
Not only are these two processes energy-intensive, but most desalination plants still run on fossil fuels. So, producing clean water this way, with today’s dirty energy system, also produces greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change. Even though renewables replace fossil fuels, desalination has another pollution problem to solve in the form of leftover brine that becomes waste.
a):shadow-highlight-franklin”>Climate change is pushing vulnerable species to the brink. Can we make them disappear?
This episode follows Sienna Miller as a researcher for a company that archives the genes of species on the verge of extinction. The goal is to “bring those creatures back” one day. This is deextinction, one of the most controversial ideas in conservation.
You may have heard of a biotech company trying to bring a dodo-like creature to life and a woolly mammoth-elephant mashup, for example. These initiatives make a lot of noise and lack results. Even if they succeed, they won’t resurrect the same animals that disappeared. The technology they are working with would create hybrids using the creatures’ distant relatives. Imagine a furry elephant with a domed head.
Scientists The edge spoke with argue that there just needs to be a lot more focus on preventing species extinction in the first place. Today, approximately one million animal and plant species are threatened with extinction, more than at any other time in human history.
This episode follows Sienna Miller as a researcher for a company that archives the genes of species on the verge of extinction. The goal is to “bring those creatures back” one day. This is deextinction, one of the most controversial ideas in conservation.
You may have heard of a biotech company trying to bring a dodo-like creature to life and a woolly mammoth-elephant mashup, for example. These initiatives make a lot of noise and lack results. Even if they succeed, they won’t resurrect the same animals that disappeared. The technology they are working with would create hybrids using the creatures’ distant relatives. Imagine a furry elephant with a domed head.
Scientists The edge spoke with argue that there just needs to be a lot more focus on preventing species extinction in the first place. Today, approximately one million animal and plant species are threatened with extinction, more than at any other time in human history.
My favorite character of the season is a humpback whale voiced by Meryl Streep. He communicates with Miller’s character through some kind of animal interpretation technology. This is clearly in the realm of science fiction.