Earth Beat, 1 April 2011. What would happen if the world came to an end, at least as we know it? From building bunkers and preparing for the worst, to photographing parts of the Earth that we’ve destroyed, we examine what happens when the end comes.
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The World Without Us
What if, somehow, the world as we know it actually ends? What if the human race disappears from one day to the next, leaving everything else intact? Alan Weisman is the author of The World Without Us, which imagines just that scenario. But he says one thing we always seem to forget is how much a human presence maintains things. He talks to host Marnie Chesterton about what would take over if we weren’t around, and how the planet would look.
Ready for the end
'Preppers' are people who are getting ready for the end of life as we know it by becoming as self-sufficient as is humanly possible. They grow their own food, dig for water, and have carefully-honed survival skills. One of them, Skip Coryell, told Marnie how he’s prepared for an apocalypse.
Joel Stickley
Comedian Joel Stickley paints a humorous picture of post-apocalyptic recycling services, with colour-coded bins for body parts.
How producers prepare
Anik, Louise, Chris and Marijke discuss their own approach to doom scenarios, from storing water to drowning their sorrows with a different kind of liquid.
The end of the earth
We travel to the end of the earth to talk to Tamsin Grey, a meteorologist based out at the Rothera British Antarctic Survey in Antarctica. Tamsin is part of a small team who are totally isolated for the Arctic winter, with no visitors, limited contact with the outside world and definitely no pizza delivery.
Picturing pollution
J Henry Fair is a photographer and environmentalist. His latest exhibition is called Abstraction of Destruction. At first glance each aerial photo could be mistaken for a beautiful and innocuous image of the earth below. But the truth is more disturbing. They’re all pictures of how pollution is scarring the planet. Photos below.
View a slideshow of works from Abstraction of Destruction - courtesy of Eduard Planting Fine Art Photographs.
Click image for slideshow
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the extinction of men is the one hope for the survival of the planet
True or not, the Mayan Prophecies are talking of - not the end of humanity, but of major transformations and this to happen by Dec. 2012. All these natural disasters that have been happening lately are part of these prophecies. Not much longer and we shall see, eh?
Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice. from what I've tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, i think I know enough of hate to say that for destruction ice is also great and would suffice.
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