1 00:00:12,490 --> 00:00:13,790 Thrown out of orbit. 2 00:00:14,690 --> 00:00:17,490 Drifting into the outer reaches of space. 3 00:00:18,070 --> 00:00:24,770 A world thrown into dark and cold in the face of an eternal ice 4 00:00:24,770 --> 00:00:25,770 age. 5 00:00:34,190 --> 00:00:36,430 Leading minds join forces. 6 00:00:37,770 --> 00:00:41,770 To craft scientifically plausible scenarios of Armageddon. 7 00:00:43,270 --> 00:00:49,950 And find the secrets to human salvation in the 8 00:00:49,950 --> 00:00:51,710 face of ultimate disaster. 9 00:01:02,810 --> 00:01:06,490 When we take a look around the solar system, it becomes very clear. 10 00:01:06,780 --> 00:01:08,820 that the Earth is in a very special place. 11 00:01:09,460 --> 00:01:12,780 Its orbit is perfect for sustaining all our life. 12 00:01:13,900 --> 00:01:17,140 So we're going to get there on time, right? Yes, sir. We'll be out in about 13 00:01:17,140 --> 00:01:18,140 minutes. 14 00:01:18,580 --> 00:01:22,640 If something were to happen to take the Earth outside of this perfect zone, 15 00:01:22,880 --> 00:01:24,240 everything would change. 16 00:01:24,960 --> 00:01:28,360 And the first signs of such a change could take us by surprise. 17 00:01:49,990 --> 00:01:55,450 There are forces in the universe that we're only beginning to comprehend. 18 00:01:55,970 --> 00:01:59,590 Forces powerful enough to change mankind's course forever. 19 00:02:00,050 --> 00:02:01,550 Why are they asking about our altitude? 20 00:02:01,870 --> 00:02:04,510 You see right there in front of us? That's the landing strip right there. 21 00:02:04,510 --> 00:02:05,510 going to land there. 22 00:02:35,020 --> 00:02:39,120 Reports of multiple plane crashes around the world and several massive ships 23 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:40,120 have run aground. 24 00:02:43,320 --> 00:02:47,440 The National Transportation Safety Board has still issued no official 25 00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:52,500 explanation for the worldwide navigational disaster that began 48 26 00:02:53,760 --> 00:02:57,200 Anonymous sources at the Department of Defense have confirmed that the GPS 27 00:02:57,200 --> 00:03:01,180 networks across the globe, which affect everything from our smartphones to major 28 00:03:01,180 --> 00:03:04,180 transportation hubs, have been malfunctioning all at once. 29 00:03:05,480 --> 00:03:09,420 Officials are unsure what may be causing the malfunction at this time. 30 00:03:13,540 --> 00:03:18,760 What if we suddenly discovered that all of our navigation systems are GPS 31 00:03:18,760 --> 00:03:23,820 devices? We're wrong. We're sending it in the wrong directions, putting us in 32 00:03:23,820 --> 00:03:25,500 the wrong places worldwide. 33 00:03:26,820 --> 00:03:31,700 We would immediately have to ask the question of whether something has 34 00:03:31,700 --> 00:03:32,780 to our own satellites. 35 00:03:39,690 --> 00:03:41,130 Good day. Let's begin. 36 00:03:41,330 --> 00:03:42,430 We have a lot to cover. 37 00:03:42,690 --> 00:03:47,730 72 hours ago, a massive failure in the Global Positioning Satellite Network led 38 00:03:47,730 --> 00:03:50,470 to a worldwide disaster in navigation. 39 00:03:53,170 --> 00:03:58,710 We have discovered that this occurred because our GPS satellites are no longer 40 00:03:58,710 --> 00:03:59,710 where we place them. 41 00:04:00,210 --> 00:04:03,790 In fact, every satellite has been displaced. 42 00:04:10,090 --> 00:04:13,870 We'd have to ask the question of whether or not something has actually happened 43 00:04:13,870 --> 00:04:14,870 to the Earth itself. 44 00:04:18,350 --> 00:04:21,630 This disruption is not limited to just the satellites. 45 00:04:22,290 --> 00:04:27,470 Ladies and gentlemen, all measurable bodies within our solar system have to 46 00:04:27,470 --> 00:04:29,950 degree been pulled out of their standard orbit. 47 00:04:31,490 --> 00:04:33,270 This includes the Earth. 48 00:04:40,810 --> 00:04:44,850 That Earth could be pulled out of its orbit around the sun is extremely 49 00:04:44,850 --> 00:04:49,610 unlikely. But there are things in existence powerful enough to move entire 50 00:04:49,610 --> 00:04:53,170 planets, things that we're only beginning to understand. 51 00:04:53,930 --> 00:04:57,790 One of those things is something called dark matter. 52 00:05:01,010 --> 00:05:07,310 Dark matter is this mysterious stuff that actually constitutes 53 00:05:07,310 --> 00:05:09,770 85 % of the mass. 54 00:05:10,300 --> 00:05:11,300 in our universe. 55 00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:16,280 So in our universe is normal matter, stuff we're made of, the stuff planets 56 00:05:16,280 --> 00:05:17,280 stars are made of. 57 00:05:17,320 --> 00:05:22,940 But then, over many decades of research, astronomers have realized there has to 58 00:05:22,940 --> 00:05:25,660 be other stuff helping hold everything together. 59 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:33,280 We know that there's this mysterious matter, this extra mass out there, but 60 00:05:33,280 --> 00:05:36,840 can't quite put our finger on it. We don't know exactly what it is. 61 00:05:38,200 --> 00:05:39,500 It's ghost matter. 62 00:05:39,960 --> 00:05:45,120 It doesn't glow, it doesn't reflect light, but it adds to the gravitating 63 00:05:45,120 --> 00:05:46,120 of objects. 64 00:05:46,400 --> 00:05:51,640 And if such a clump of material passes through or near our solar system, its 65 00:05:51,640 --> 00:05:54,000 gravitational force could have a profound effect. 66 00:05:56,120 --> 00:06:00,480 It is our conclusion that these perturbations are being caused due to a 67 00:06:00,480 --> 00:06:03,320 concentration of dark matter near our solar system. 68 00:06:04,240 --> 00:06:09,180 It would pull gravitation on all of the planets and offset the planets. 69 00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:16,400 from their current rather delicate orbit. In time, this instability could 70 00:06:16,400 --> 00:06:21,440 grow and manifest itself as orbits that slowly expand. 71 00:06:22,440 --> 00:06:27,400 So what would happen if Earth's orbit was altered, taking us out of the only 72 00:06:27,400 --> 00:06:29,640 path that Earth's life has ever known? 73 00:06:33,960 --> 00:06:38,460 Our very existence is made possible because we happen to live at the perfect 74 00:06:38,460 --> 00:06:43,180 distance from the sun. This thin band of livable space is known as the 75 00:06:43,180 --> 00:06:44,180 Goldilocks zone. 76 00:06:44,300 --> 00:06:48,840 It's not too hot. It's not too cold. For all life on Earth, it's just right. 77 00:06:50,740 --> 00:06:55,220 If Earth wouldn't leave the Goldilocks zone, life for humankind and everything 78 00:06:55,220 --> 00:06:57,100 we know would be changed forever. 79 00:06:57,900 --> 00:07:00,660 The size of the orbit was to grow. 80 00:07:01,520 --> 00:07:06,840 then the winters would get much, much colder, and the global temperatures 81 00:07:06,840 --> 00:07:08,660 drop significantly. 82 00:07:12,140 --> 00:07:18,340 Projections show that Earth's orbit will continue to spiral away from the sun. 83 00:07:18,760 --> 00:07:21,660 As it does, Earth's temperature will fall. 84 00:07:22,100 --> 00:07:24,660 It will drop one degree per year. 85 00:07:25,260 --> 00:07:27,540 In 20 years, it will be freezing at the equator. 86 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:34,500 96 years from now, the average global temperature could be minus 430 degrees. 87 00:07:41,560 --> 00:07:48,520 As we begin to move away from the sun, out into space, our source of 88 00:07:48,520 --> 00:07:53,020 light and heat would not go away all at once, but it would begin to fade. Our 89 00:07:53,020 --> 00:07:54,520 biosphere would begin to change. 90 00:07:55,000 --> 00:07:56,580 altering our ecosystem forever. 91 00:07:57,740 --> 00:08:04,180 In the short term, we see a rearrangement of both plant and animal 92 00:08:04,180 --> 00:08:09,720 Earth. A drop in average global temperatures would start this chain 93 00:08:09,720 --> 00:08:10,720 going. 94 00:08:11,940 --> 00:08:15,180 Where it stops, we don't know. 95 00:08:19,310 --> 00:08:23,610 Six months after the dark matter incident, bizarre animal migrations are 96 00:08:23,610 --> 00:08:27,330 occurring all over the globe. Birds of giraffe have begun leaving protected 97 00:08:27,330 --> 00:08:31,710 reserves in South Africa, becoming targets for poachers. Thousands of birds 98 00:08:31,710 --> 00:08:34,510 dropped from the sky yesterday on Edinburgh, Pennsylvania. 99 00:08:35,070 --> 00:08:39,510 100 ,000 whales beached themselves along the Chilean coast. 100 00:08:39,830 --> 00:08:43,750 Scientists are blaming these phenomenon on the alteration in the Earth's orbit 101 00:08:43,750 --> 00:08:44,870 and the changing temperatures. 102 00:08:46,520 --> 00:08:50,560 Religious fundamentalism is on the rise and many people are preaching to the 103 00:08:50,560 --> 00:08:51,560 dead. 104 00:09:02,380 --> 00:09:08,980 As Earth spirals away from the sun 105 00:09:08,980 --> 00:09:12,940 and temperatures begin to drop, many of the effects would be surprising. 106 00:09:13,610 --> 00:09:18,130 As that happens, the coldest places on Earth, the poles, would begin to lose 107 00:09:18,130 --> 00:09:19,630 their ability to support life. 108 00:09:20,750 --> 00:09:25,410 One thing's for sure, you definitely could have some movement of that 109 00:09:25,410 --> 00:09:29,410 and interactions unlike some we've seen before. 110 00:09:41,040 --> 00:09:45,980 The Arctic is going to cool at a faster pace than in the lower latitudes. But 111 00:09:45,980 --> 00:09:48,480 don't be mistaken, everywhere on Earth will be affected. 112 00:10:14,250 --> 00:10:19,750 You might think that a drop of just a few degrees is insignificant, but we're 113 00:10:19,750 --> 00:10:22,650 talking about the average temperature of the entire planet. 114 00:10:26,270 --> 00:10:31,150 In the middle of the last ice age, the planet Earth was only 5 degrees Celsius 115 00:10:31,150 --> 00:10:32,810 colder than it is today. 116 00:10:33,350 --> 00:10:35,890 So that's a really narrow window. 117 00:10:37,390 --> 00:10:42,170 A drop of 2 degrees Fahrenheit in the global temperature could mean cold snaps 118 00:10:42,170 --> 00:10:44,690 of 20 to 30 degrees cooler in your hometown. 119 00:10:49,970 --> 00:10:54,970 People who are unaccustomed to winter conditions, at first it's kind of 120 00:10:54,970 --> 00:10:57,450 because it's so extreme and so different. 121 00:10:58,630 --> 00:11:02,910 It was another week of record -breaking summertime cold throughout the 122 00:11:02,910 --> 00:11:04,310 Midwestern United States. 123 00:11:05,070 --> 00:11:08,870 Some, like these folks shown here in Evansville, Indiana, kept their spirits 124 00:11:08,870 --> 00:11:13,190 high by having some fun outside and posting it online for others to see. 125 00:11:13,690 --> 00:11:15,410 I have a cup of boiling hot water. 126 00:11:16,610 --> 00:11:17,610 Check this out. 127 00:11:20,150 --> 00:11:21,430 Negative 19 degrees. 128 00:11:21,970 --> 00:11:23,610 Boiling water turns into mist. 129 00:11:25,670 --> 00:11:28,810 And then pretty quickly thereafter, it gets old. 130 00:11:30,450 --> 00:11:33,490 It's hard to go outside without putting on... 131 00:11:33,920 --> 00:11:35,600 some pretty extreme clothing. 132 00:11:36,140 --> 00:11:40,740 We can handle putting on warmer clothes and layering before we go outside, but 133 00:11:40,740 --> 00:11:45,220 most people won't realize the dangers of a cooling planet until the cold takes 134 00:11:45,220 --> 00:11:46,820 away something that we can't live without. 135 00:11:48,940 --> 00:11:49,940 Our food. 136 00:12:01,360 --> 00:12:05,620 Colder temperatures are going to bring later freezes as plants are trying to 137 00:12:05,620 --> 00:12:09,700 germinate, so we're going to shorten the growing season, and all of that is 138 00:12:09,700 --> 00:12:12,640 going to conspire to limit the amount of food grown. 139 00:12:13,480 --> 00:12:18,040 Despite all of our technological advances, our food supply chain is still 140 00:12:18,040 --> 00:12:19,040 fragile. 141 00:12:19,460 --> 00:12:23,420 In what's become the second straight year of uncommonly cold temperatures for 142 00:12:23,420 --> 00:12:27,080 Europe's farmers, resulting crop failures are affecting millions. 143 00:12:28,110 --> 00:12:31,870 Britons have been warned to brace themselves for sticker shock at food 144 00:12:31,870 --> 00:12:36,430 at some of the worst hit areas, or reporting prices rising by 100 % in a 145 00:12:36,430 --> 00:12:37,430 of days. 146 00:12:40,110 --> 00:12:43,670 In the short term, a food shortage would cause prices to skyrocket. 147 00:12:45,510 --> 00:12:49,430 Anyone with enough money would buy as much food as they could and stockpile 148 00:12:49,530 --> 00:12:52,290 and the poor would begin to starve. 149 00:12:54,870 --> 00:12:57,630 Riots and looting could break out anywhere food is stored. 150 00:13:03,670 --> 00:13:10,670 It will lead in short order to violence, and this will 151 00:13:10,670 --> 00:13:12,990 in turn lead to a breakdown of government. 152 00:13:15,750 --> 00:13:19,570 So there's no good or easy way out of that process. 153 00:13:21,740 --> 00:13:25,780 And that will set in motion a fearsome mess. 154 00:13:27,400 --> 00:13:34,320 No matter what is done, if people believe that their family and loved ones 155 00:13:34,320 --> 00:13:39,660 will die or they'll be in jeopardy, they're not going to accept any way of 156 00:13:39,660 --> 00:13:44,500 this. People would begin to, I hate to say it, but I think they would panic. 157 00:13:50,860 --> 00:13:54,880 While we're fighting amongst ourselves, a much bigger problem is growing worse. 158 00:13:55,080 --> 00:13:59,940 For six years, we've drifted away from our sun, moving further and further into 159 00:13:59,940 --> 00:14:00,940 the cold of space. 160 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:05,640 The freezing at the poles is intensifying and moving down into the 161 00:14:05,640 --> 00:14:06,640 areas. 162 00:14:06,900 --> 00:14:10,360 Survivors are running out of time to find places warm enough to stay alive. 163 00:14:26,350 --> 00:14:31,930 I think we're going to see a mass exodus of people heading for the warmest place 164 00:14:31,930 --> 00:14:36,270 they can find. So the tropics and the countries around the tropics are going 165 00:14:36,270 --> 00:14:38,090 be inundated with immigrants. 166 00:14:39,730 --> 00:14:46,510 And that, of course, would be incredibly disruptive, tremendously threatening to 167 00:14:46,510 --> 00:14:50,630 people who already live in the places that the exodus wants to move into. 168 00:14:51,950 --> 00:14:56,390 Major highways in the Phoenix area are at a standstill for miles as a massive 169 00:14:56,390 --> 00:15:01,330 number of Arizona residents began their exodus to warmer areas following a 170 00:15:01,330 --> 00:15:02,670 national emergency announcement. 171 00:15:03,370 --> 00:15:07,610 I was planning on heading over the West Coast, but I don't think I'm going to 172 00:15:07,610 --> 00:15:08,610 make it now. 173 00:15:09,250 --> 00:15:13,750 It's been snowing all through the night and all day. It hasn't let up at all. 174 00:15:17,270 --> 00:15:19,310 The people who hang... 175 00:15:19,560 --> 00:15:23,500 back and tough it out, I think you're going to end up having a much harder 176 00:15:23,500 --> 00:15:27,460 existence. It's going to be a very difficult place to live. 177 00:15:29,080 --> 00:15:33,800 Even in regions that are normally warm, people will be unprepared for the rapid 178 00:15:33,800 --> 00:15:35,120 cold snaps headed their way. 179 00:16:20,750 --> 00:16:24,390 It's now been a decade of global cooling on planet Earth, and the average 180 00:16:24,390 --> 00:16:26,090 temperature has plummeted by 10 degrees. 181 00:16:27,330 --> 00:16:31,310 Snow and ice are blanketing North America from northern Canada to 182 00:16:36,830 --> 00:16:40,050 By now, less than half the Earth's population is still alive. 183 00:16:50,990 --> 00:16:56,310 You know, some places along the equator might be happy for a while because their 184 00:16:56,310 --> 00:16:58,130 temperatures are reduced a little bit. 185 00:16:59,230 --> 00:17:05,550 But where the majority of the population is, is going to get a lot colder. Those 186 00:17:05,550 --> 00:17:07,250 people are not going to be happy. 187 00:17:10,690 --> 00:17:15,910 We have this clash between the cold air over the continent and the warm, moist 188 00:17:15,910 --> 00:17:19,190 air out over the ocean. We might see it get a lot stormier. 189 00:17:20,930 --> 00:17:23,970 So the Earth is going to respond in dramatic ways. 190 00:17:31,370 --> 00:17:35,450 Ultimately, as we get farther and farther from the sun, we will get to the 191 00:17:35,450 --> 00:17:37,910 where all of the precipitation does fall as snow. 192 00:17:39,890 --> 00:17:43,650 Think about that for a second. There might never be rain showers on this 193 00:17:43,650 --> 00:17:48,170 again. At a certain point, as the freezing intensifies and marches towards 194 00:17:48,170 --> 00:17:52,250 equator, the only precipitation will be snow, and the only season will be 195 00:17:52,250 --> 00:17:53,250 winter. 196 00:17:56,590 --> 00:18:02,910 Instead of infecting places like Seattle and Chicago, they'll be more running 197 00:18:02,910 --> 00:18:05,170 along Houston, Miami. 198 00:18:17,770 --> 00:18:21,950 They would be faced with snows that they'd never seen before, and they'd 199 00:18:21,950 --> 00:18:23,830 develop means of removing that snow. 200 00:18:25,490 --> 00:18:27,670 When it snows, it doesn't melt. 201 00:18:28,210 --> 00:18:33,470 And it piles up and piles up and piles up, and the bottom of that snowfall 202 00:18:33,470 --> 00:18:34,470 into ice. 203 00:18:38,130 --> 00:18:43,150 The weight of those ice sheets and gravitational forces will spread that 204 00:18:43,830 --> 00:18:45,830 down into the main city. 205 00:18:46,030 --> 00:18:48,290 You're going to start to see glaciers forming around you. 206 00:19:12,270 --> 00:19:15,970 Hundreds of terrified residents were barricaded into their homes today in 207 00:19:15,970 --> 00:19:19,890 Jackson, Mississippi as massive sheets of ice surrounded entire neighborhoods. 208 00:19:20,270 --> 00:19:25,030 Much of this population could be at high risk for even death, staying in their 209 00:19:25,030 --> 00:19:26,930 home for that long with no heat. 210 00:19:27,530 --> 00:19:31,170 Volunteer rescue teams are working with the National Guard into the night to 211 00:19:31,170 --> 00:19:32,490 find those still missing. 212 00:19:34,290 --> 00:19:37,450 This drift is over 20 feet high. 213 00:19:37,690 --> 00:19:39,530 You see he's right at the top. 214 00:19:39,930 --> 00:19:40,970 of the edge of the roof. 215 00:19:44,470 --> 00:19:51,210 As more and more of the planet is encased with ice permanently, the 216 00:19:51,210 --> 00:19:53,250 impact is going to be catastrophic. 217 00:19:54,030 --> 00:19:56,150 The roads will be impassable. 218 00:19:57,050 --> 00:20:00,590 The power would be terminated. 219 00:20:01,070 --> 00:20:07,990 If the people did not have a way to get in from the cold, starvation will kill. 220 00:20:08,590 --> 00:20:10,350 And the cold will kill. 221 00:20:11,130 --> 00:20:12,130 They would perish. 222 00:20:22,050 --> 00:20:25,850 With nowhere to run from the cold, people would begin to suffer from the 223 00:20:25,850 --> 00:20:27,510 physical effects of the freezing temperatures. 224 00:20:28,710 --> 00:20:33,150 At 40 below, our skin freezes almost instantly, so it can't be exposed. 225 00:20:33,590 --> 00:20:37,490 It's hard to go outside, and you have to cover pretty much every... 226 00:20:38,180 --> 00:20:41,560 square inch of exposed skin to avoid getting frostbitten. 227 00:20:46,460 --> 00:20:52,100 Frostbite is when the actual cells in your skin start to freeze, the water in 228 00:20:52,100 --> 00:20:56,340 those cells. If it goes deep enough and you actually kill the cells in the skin 229 00:20:56,340 --> 00:21:00,520 that make new skin cells, then you end up with frostbite. 230 00:21:00,970 --> 00:21:05,570 You tend to get frostbitten first in your fingers and your nose and your ears 231 00:21:05,570 --> 00:21:10,510 they're exposed because your body does shut down the circulation to the 232 00:21:10,510 --> 00:21:11,510 extremities first. 233 00:21:11,650 --> 00:21:15,230 You can live without arms, but you can't live without your vital organs. 234 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:30,200 A drop of only 4 degrees Fahrenheit in core body temperature can cause 235 00:21:30,200 --> 00:21:33,400 uncontrollable shivering, confusion, and weakness. 236 00:21:35,120 --> 00:21:39,760 As your organs begin to cool, death can strike long before your body actually 237 00:21:39,760 --> 00:21:40,760 freezes. 238 00:21:57,840 --> 00:22:02,540 As the Earth begins to cool, it can actually be an accelerating process. 239 00:22:02,900 --> 00:22:08,880 And this is because frozen water reflects more sunlight than liquid 240 00:22:09,420 --> 00:22:15,380 As the ice caps expand, the Earth becomes more and more reflective, and so 241 00:22:15,380 --> 00:22:17,980 actually absorbs even less sunlight. 242 00:22:18,400 --> 00:22:23,340 As glacier -like ice sheets move beyond 30 degrees latitude, covering places 243 00:22:23,340 --> 00:22:26,140 like Houston, New Orleans, and Cairo, 244 00:22:26,940 --> 00:22:28,400 we would reach a tipping point. 245 00:22:30,960 --> 00:22:32,700 And it's a runaway process. 246 00:22:33,180 --> 00:22:36,340 Sometimes it's called a snowball earth effect. 247 00:22:43,380 --> 00:22:49,180 With that tipping point, things could move at a faster pace and make it more 248 00:22:49,180 --> 00:22:52,580 difficult for the human race to keep up with it. 249 00:22:53,160 --> 00:22:56,760 We're heading off into territory that we cannot return from. 250 00:22:56,980 --> 00:23:00,140 I think at that point we should be very worried. 251 00:23:25,660 --> 00:23:29,580 Ultimately, as we get farther and farther from the sun, we will get to the 252 00:23:29,580 --> 00:23:32,500 where everything on the surface is freezing. 253 00:23:34,740 --> 00:23:36,540 Ice is enveloping the planet. 254 00:23:36,780 --> 00:23:39,960 We're running out of time. But what options do we have? 255 00:23:40,300 --> 00:23:44,280 The surface is becoming too cold for even the strongest to survive. 256 00:24:06,440 --> 00:24:11,000 about places where people have somehow been generating energy or heat. I'm 257 00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:14,560 getting conflicting reports on where these locations are, but I'll keep you 258 00:24:14,560 --> 00:24:16,080 posted as soon as I hear more. 259 00:24:16,280 --> 00:24:17,280 Stay warm. 260 00:24:17,980 --> 00:24:19,580 Survivor Radio signing off. 261 00:24:23,660 --> 00:24:26,380 It comes down to having a sufficiency of energy. 262 00:24:26,880 --> 00:24:30,320 It really does. If you haven't got energy, you've got nothing. If you've 263 00:24:30,320 --> 00:24:33,860 energy, then you've got a chance. 264 00:24:36,430 --> 00:24:40,150 If we're losing the sun's power, what do we do? Well, we know we have fossil 265 00:24:40,150 --> 00:24:45,350 fuels, but those are finite. We know we have nuclear power, but that's tricky. 266 00:24:45,650 --> 00:24:47,930 It's a problem we haven't faced before. 267 00:24:48,130 --> 00:24:51,230 Many things we rarely think about are powered by our sun. 268 00:24:51,950 --> 00:24:57,050 Photosynthesis, light so we can feed, heat to keep us from freezing. All of 269 00:24:57,050 --> 00:24:59,070 now has to be generated another way. 270 00:24:59,350 --> 00:25:04,550 So we're going to have to start thinking seriously about really producing a lot 271 00:25:04,550 --> 00:25:05,479 more energy. 272 00:25:05,480 --> 00:25:06,520 than we've ever produced before. 273 00:25:07,500 --> 00:25:11,960 If we're clever enough, we can tap into geothermal energy sources. 274 00:25:13,480 --> 00:25:17,780 The Earth itself is an energy source. 275 00:25:20,360 --> 00:25:25,540 Geothermal energy, the heat of the planet, has been with us forever, and 276 00:25:25,540 --> 00:25:27,300 not going away anytime soon. 277 00:25:29,360 --> 00:25:33,560 The center of the Earth is about 9 ,000 degrees Fahrenheit. 278 00:25:34,350 --> 00:25:38,370 There's a lot of heat there that we could use to power our needs on the 279 00:25:38,450 --> 00:25:40,810 but we have to get it from there to the surface. 280 00:25:42,670 --> 00:25:47,990 One of the things you can do in this scenario is you drill down a ways, and 281 00:25:47,990 --> 00:25:50,370 you get deep enough, you can get a lot of heat out of it. 282 00:25:50,690 --> 00:25:53,070 And you can, in fact, boil water away. 283 00:25:53,370 --> 00:25:58,450 And you can use that steam to drive a turbine to create energy and 284 00:26:02,730 --> 00:26:09,090 It's going to give you the heat to power energy, light, and grow the crops you 285 00:26:09,090 --> 00:26:10,090 need to survive. 286 00:26:12,370 --> 00:26:16,770 So if we know the energy we desperately need exists underground, where is the 287 00:26:16,770 --> 00:26:20,050 best place to access it in order to save the maximum number of lives? 288 00:26:23,710 --> 00:26:28,570 Any place where you see a lot of volcanic action is where you would want 289 00:26:28,570 --> 00:26:29,570 to find that heat. 290 00:26:31,660 --> 00:26:35,920 The place you would most want to look would be around the Ring of Fire, which 291 00:26:35,920 --> 00:26:39,120 essentially encircles the Pacific Basin. 292 00:26:40,660 --> 00:26:46,300 There are some major geothermal mining systems that generate electricity for 293 00:26:46,300 --> 00:26:47,300 Southern California. 294 00:26:48,080 --> 00:26:51,580 It's a relatively untapped but very abundant source of energy. 295 00:26:53,200 --> 00:26:57,940 The dream scenario would be to find a hotspot with large infrastructure near a 296 00:26:57,940 --> 00:26:59,820 city that can house a large number of survivors. 297 00:27:01,200 --> 00:27:02,980 And we're in luck. It exists. 298 00:27:04,580 --> 00:27:08,860 The largest geothermal development in the world is the geysers, which lies 299 00:27:08,860 --> 00:27:11,480 72 miles north of San Francisco in California. 300 00:27:14,500 --> 00:27:19,740 You want to be able to tap the most available energy. And if it's near 301 00:27:19,740 --> 00:27:24,540 areas such as San Francisco, then that's what you go for. We know we can use 302 00:27:24,540 --> 00:27:27,400 that geothermal heat for all sorts of things once we tap it. 303 00:27:27,770 --> 00:27:31,590 But we'd still have to find a way to keep that heat in and insulate ourselves 304 00:27:31,590 --> 00:27:32,590 from the cold. 305 00:27:36,170 --> 00:27:41,830 Certainly one option would be to build a geodesic dome. 306 00:27:42,550 --> 00:27:47,130 We've built domes like this on a smaller scale in the Arctic. These geodesic 307 00:27:47,130 --> 00:27:50,830 domes are built in the Arctic to keep people safe from the frigid temperatures 308 00:27:50,830 --> 00:27:52,210 and extreme winds. 309 00:27:53,640 --> 00:28:00,260 And if a geodesic dome has the right geometric configuration, then that's the 310 00:28:00,260 --> 00:28:01,019 way to go. 311 00:28:01,020 --> 00:28:07,180 But there needs to be some creative engineering to best secure that heat and 312 00:28:07,180 --> 00:28:09,120 ward off the cold from outside. 313 00:28:10,980 --> 00:28:15,920 Now think bigger. If you want to protect a large area, an effective way to do it 314 00:28:15,920 --> 00:28:20,000 might be to create a large, massive geodesic dome. 315 00:28:20,220 --> 00:28:23,190 One. large enough to fit over an entire city. 316 00:28:24,850 --> 00:28:28,370 The buildings inside could be heated with geothermal energy, which would keep 317 00:28:28,370 --> 00:28:29,610 everyone warm and safe. 318 00:28:33,550 --> 00:28:37,330 The dome would have to be made from a cutting -edge material designed to 319 00:28:37,330 --> 00:28:38,410 withstand extreme cold. 320 00:28:39,470 --> 00:28:44,790 There are ideas for how you might put carbon nanotubes or other things 321 00:28:44,790 --> 00:28:48,230 impregnated in some of these materials to make them stronger and more robust at 322 00:28:48,230 --> 00:28:49,230 low temperatures. 323 00:28:52,690 --> 00:28:55,990 We'll need these materials because up on the surface the world is going to be a 324 00:28:55,990 --> 00:28:57,370 much different place than we've ever known 325 00:28:57,370 --> 00:29:06,350 As 326 00:29:06,350 --> 00:29:13,650 we 327 00:29:13,650 --> 00:29:18,370 get further and further out the Sun begins to look like a dim ball of white 328 00:29:18,370 --> 00:29:19,630 light in the sky 329 00:29:20,620 --> 00:29:25,620 It's been 35 years since the Earth began moving away from the sun. Over 98 % of 330 00:29:25,620 --> 00:29:28,700 the world's population has either starved or frozen to death. 331 00:29:31,360 --> 00:29:35,080 Those people who are not in the geodesic dome, but have somehow managed to 332 00:29:35,080 --> 00:29:38,340 protect themselves from the cold up to now, won't be safe for very long. 333 00:29:39,380 --> 00:29:44,220 One thing that is almost certain to happen is that the assemblage of 334 00:29:44,220 --> 00:29:47,280 and infrastructure will increasingly start to fail. 335 00:29:47,770 --> 00:29:53,530 The reason for that is that we build largely with a very small number of 336 00:29:53,530 --> 00:29:58,210 of material, generally concrete, glass, and steel. 337 00:29:58,790 --> 00:30:04,970 We know the properties of these materials, but we design and use them 338 00:30:04,970 --> 00:30:06,630 fairly narrow temperature range. 339 00:30:06,890 --> 00:30:10,930 Steel, which seems really strong in our everyday application, when you get to be 340 00:30:10,930 --> 00:30:14,170 100 degrees below zero, can actually be very fragile and very brittle. 341 00:30:15,120 --> 00:30:20,040 Water will infiltrate the pores of concrete and buildings will fall down. 342 00:30:20,480 --> 00:30:21,660 Bridges will fail. 343 00:30:22,540 --> 00:30:26,800 Standing in temperatures this cold would be like soaking these structures in 344 00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:27,800 liquid nitrogen. 345 00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:31,600 Eventually, the slightest tap can make them shatter like glass. 346 00:31:05,230 --> 00:31:06,850 and another one right here in Africa. 347 00:31:07,410 --> 00:31:08,530 There could be others. 348 00:31:09,610 --> 00:31:12,270 Coordinates will be on loop at the end of this message. 349 00:31:12,730 --> 00:31:14,050 I'm headed under myself. 350 00:31:14,570 --> 00:31:15,570 Stay alive. 351 00:31:16,030 --> 00:31:17,790 Survivor Radio, signing off. 352 00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:39,560 By now, Earth has cooled by over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and its 353 00:31:39,560 --> 00:31:41,700 to an icy rock is well underway. 354 00:31:41,900 --> 00:31:45,980 The planet barely resembles the place that survivors remember from their 355 00:31:45,980 --> 00:31:51,480 days. But some have found a way to hold off the cold inside geodomes using heat 356 00:31:51,480 --> 00:31:52,680 from inside the Earth. 357 00:31:53,140 --> 00:31:56,820 While domed cities will save many lives, they won't be the answer for everyone. 358 00:31:57,000 --> 00:32:00,400 There are only a handful of cities near active geothermal areas. 359 00:32:00,660 --> 00:32:02,400 Not everyone will get a spot inside. 360 00:32:02,920 --> 00:32:04,840 So what options are there for the rest of mankind? 361 00:32:07,160 --> 00:32:08,840 We're not entirely out of luck. 362 00:32:09,180 --> 00:32:13,420 With or without a dome, we still have our energy source at the Earth's core 363 00:32:13,420 --> 00:32:15,840 places where that energy is close to the surface. 364 00:32:17,160 --> 00:32:21,620 The surface is too dangerous to stay on for any real amount of time. So the most 365 00:32:21,620 --> 00:32:24,940 important thing for Earth's remaining human beings is to get underground. 366 00:32:39,660 --> 00:32:44,120 Now you go down into mines that go a mile or more underground and it gets 367 00:32:44,120 --> 00:32:45,120 warmer. 368 00:32:45,720 --> 00:32:51,340 You go near geothermal vents and such and it can be considerably warmer. So 369 00:32:51,340 --> 00:32:53,700 there are some places to take cover. 370 00:32:53,960 --> 00:32:58,200 The Earth is a great insulator. It is a great thermal insulator because it stays 371 00:32:58,200 --> 00:33:00,200 at a fairly constant temperature under the ground. 372 00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:05,820 So given enough energy, given the right sort of equipment, we can engineer the 373 00:33:05,820 --> 00:33:06,820 spaces. 374 00:33:11,500 --> 00:33:15,080 But tunneling holes deep underground is a very delicate business. 375 00:33:15,460 --> 00:33:19,640 We're not just talking about a single mine. We're talking about building 376 00:33:19,640 --> 00:33:25,200 underground cityscapes. As we dig deeper into Earth to access more energy, we're 377 00:33:25,200 --> 00:33:27,560 going to have a whole new set of problems on our hands. 378 00:33:31,300 --> 00:33:35,400 While our planet's surface continues its deep freeze, people might find safe 379 00:33:35,400 --> 00:33:38,020 haven underground by building networks of tunnels. 380 00:33:40,600 --> 00:33:44,280 Engineers will have to move very quickly to accommodate the growing numbers of 381 00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:45,620 survivors who want to move in. 382 00:33:48,360 --> 00:33:50,800 But the deeper we go, the greater the risk. 383 00:33:54,820 --> 00:33:59,640 How far below grade are we? We've been getting 300 feet a day, but we've had to 384 00:33:59,640 --> 00:34:02,820 cut production a little bit. We're real close to a methane pocket. 385 00:34:03,140 --> 00:34:07,340 We've altered the alignment slightly so we can get around it. It's killing our 386 00:34:07,340 --> 00:34:08,340 production. 387 00:34:09,030 --> 00:34:12,710 Workers digging those tunnels would be under immense pressure to move quickly, 388 00:34:12,850 --> 00:34:15,949 and this would increase the probability of accidents occurring. 389 00:34:16,350 --> 00:34:19,469 We can't go very long like this. We've got to go, man. 390 00:34:21,469 --> 00:34:25,030 And when you're deep below the surface, one false step could have serious 391 00:34:25,030 --> 00:34:26,030 consequences. 392 00:34:30,110 --> 00:34:31,630 We've got a problem in tunnel 112. 393 00:34:59,210 --> 00:35:03,310 The deeper down we dig, the greater the risk. The supporting structures of your 394 00:35:03,310 --> 00:35:05,830 shelter have to hold up all that weight above you. 395 00:35:06,090 --> 00:35:09,310 And if they can't hold that weight, you get buried alive. 396 00:35:12,610 --> 00:35:14,890 Some accidents will inevitably happen. 397 00:35:15,090 --> 00:35:18,730 But if we're safe and smart about it, we could build underground cities around 398 00:35:18,730 --> 00:35:19,669 the world. 399 00:35:19,670 --> 00:35:24,750 I think all that is possible. It just takes a lot of imagination, willpower, 400 00:35:24,750 --> 00:35:25,750 a total commitment. 401 00:35:26,400 --> 00:35:29,040 and technology that I'm not sure exists today. 402 00:35:30,420 --> 00:35:32,860 But there's a problem we'd have to solve first. 403 00:35:33,080 --> 00:35:35,200 How can we grow food with no sunlight? 404 00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:44,100 If you have good energy supplies and enough space underground, you might just 405 00:35:44,100 --> 00:35:48,360 able to engineer conditions in which you can grow food under artificial 406 00:35:48,360 --> 00:35:49,360 daylight. 407 00:35:49,620 --> 00:35:53,620 As long as I have an ability to 408 00:35:54,320 --> 00:36:00,660 generate the same spectrum of light as the sun, then I can grow the same crops. 409 00:36:05,000 --> 00:36:08,260 Thankfully, in this scenario, we will have access to water. 410 00:36:08,600 --> 00:36:12,780 As long as we can mine ice from the oceans and from the glaciers that form 411 00:36:12,780 --> 00:36:19,620 land. The ice is so fresh that you can actually melt it and 412 00:36:19,620 --> 00:36:20,558 drink it. 413 00:36:20,560 --> 00:36:26,740 As seawater freezes, the salt actually gets rejected into the water beneath. 414 00:36:26,840 --> 00:36:31,500 When they go up on an Arctic expedition, for example, they chop out a chunk of 415 00:36:31,500 --> 00:36:34,520 old sea ice and melt it, and it's fresh enough to drink. 416 00:36:34,980 --> 00:36:40,020 So underground cities could succeed. We have energy, shelter, food, water, 417 00:36:40,120 --> 00:36:41,200 everything we need to survive. 418 00:36:41,520 --> 00:36:45,540 And the small remaining population could thrive, which is good. 419 00:36:45,920 --> 00:36:49,040 Because the surface is transforming into a bizarre landscape. 420 00:36:49,280 --> 00:36:52,240 It's starting to look like the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn. 421 00:37:03,540 --> 00:37:08,200 As the planet continues to move away from the sun, the surface begins to take 422 00:37:08,200 --> 00:37:09,780 strangely alien features. 423 00:37:10,060 --> 00:37:13,120 If the Earth's orbit were to expand beyond... 424 00:37:13,760 --> 00:37:15,980 the orbit that is shared by Neptune today. 425 00:37:16,240 --> 00:37:20,440 At this point, our atmosphere would begin to rain out and collapse away. 426 00:37:24,580 --> 00:37:27,920 Oxygen and nitrogen make up 99 % of our atmosphere. 427 00:37:28,280 --> 00:37:33,560 As the global temperature reaches below a negative 290 degrees Fahrenheit, these 428 00:37:33,560 --> 00:37:38,160 gases will condense to liquid and fall to Earth in the last precipitation the 429 00:37:38,160 --> 00:37:39,320 planet will ever see. 430 00:37:39,680 --> 00:37:45,080 When the last oxygen and nitrogen flakes land, That will be it. Our atmosphere 431 00:37:45,080 --> 00:37:46,080 will be gone. 432 00:37:48,160 --> 00:37:54,080 Eventually becoming a giant solid mass of all of what was once our atmosphere. 433 00:37:55,260 --> 00:37:59,380 At this point, we'd have to seal off our underground home to prevent our 434 00:37:59,380 --> 00:38:00,580 breathable air from escaping. 435 00:38:00,820 --> 00:38:05,080 But that's only a temporary solution because we'd soon use up all that 436 00:38:05,240 --> 00:38:08,340 What we'll need to do is to find a long -term air supply. 437 00:38:10,120 --> 00:38:16,180 If gases like nitrogen and oxygen and carbon dioxide have frozen as solids on 438 00:38:16,180 --> 00:38:20,700 the surface of our planet, we still need them as raw materials. We might be able 439 00:38:20,700 --> 00:38:26,520 to go to the surface, harvest this frozen atmosphere, bring it back with 440 00:38:26,520 --> 00:38:31,220 then thaw it out to make use of the gaseous compounds it contains. 441 00:38:32,740 --> 00:38:37,080 The main problem here is that our atmosphere doesn't just provide us with 442 00:38:37,080 --> 00:38:38,080 breathable air. 443 00:38:38,140 --> 00:38:39,820 It's also our defense mechanism. 444 00:38:40,140 --> 00:38:42,740 And without it, the Earth is left exposed. 445 00:38:49,620 --> 00:38:56,300 When we have objects that fall down on Earth, like an asteroid 446 00:38:56,300 --> 00:39:02,880 or a meteor, the atmosphere flows that debris, and it burns it up before most 447 00:39:02,880 --> 00:39:03,880 it can reach the ground. 448 00:39:04,280 --> 00:39:08,860 If we were to lose our atmosphere, then we lose our shield from all these 449 00:39:08,860 --> 00:39:11,140 things, all these rocks that could come in from space. 450 00:39:11,460 --> 00:39:16,420 With this protection mechanism gone, even small meteorites could do a huge 451 00:39:16,420 --> 00:39:17,420 amount of damage. 452 00:39:45,190 --> 00:39:49,270 off into the depths of space, Earth has become a very different place since the 453 00:39:49,270 --> 00:39:52,650 cold settled in, and the loss of our atmosphere is devastating. 454 00:39:57,370 --> 00:40:01,630 One of the things that would vanish with the atmosphere would be the protection 455 00:40:01,630 --> 00:40:05,250 that the atmosphere fords us from space debris. 456 00:40:06,030 --> 00:40:11,750 All the meteorites, the chunks of ice from comet's tails, would in fact impact 457 00:40:11,750 --> 00:40:14,290 the Earth. The Earth would look very pockmarked. 458 00:40:14,510 --> 00:40:18,730 perhaps like the moon, would further be a dangerous plague. 459 00:40:29,870 --> 00:40:33,910 Without the atmosphere to protect them, the G -domes on the surface will become 460 00:40:33,910 --> 00:40:34,910 vulnerable. 461 00:40:36,470 --> 00:40:40,130 Eventually, those living above ground will feel the full wrath of the cold. 462 00:40:57,560 --> 00:41:01,340 Ultimately, without an atmosphere to protect life on the surface of the 463 00:41:01,480 --> 00:41:04,100 anything trying to survive there is at risk. 464 00:41:05,560 --> 00:41:09,420 Despite our best efforts, we really can't expect to survive on the surface. 465 00:41:13,160 --> 00:41:17,260 But remember, inside the Earth, we'll still have heat and energy for billions 466 00:41:17,260 --> 00:41:21,340 years. And where there's energy, there can be life, including any human 467 00:41:21,340 --> 00:41:23,360 civilization that's thriving underground. 468 00:41:27,560 --> 00:41:29,880 What would the future hold for humans? 469 00:41:30,180 --> 00:41:31,440 We've moved underground. 470 00:41:31,680 --> 00:41:36,080 We're living off geothermal energy. And we're living off our incredible ability 471 00:41:36,080 --> 00:41:37,080 to innovate. 472 00:41:39,980 --> 00:41:44,260 As long as we can maintain an atmosphere underground and provide our survivors 473 00:41:44,260 --> 00:41:49,960 with oxygen, mankind has a chance to live on. For people who have lived above 474 00:41:49,960 --> 00:41:53,340 ground, they're not going to be seeing the sun anymore. 475 00:41:53,740 --> 00:41:56,220 They're not going to feel the wind on their faces. 476 00:41:56,600 --> 00:41:59,700 They're not going to be able to look up at the stars at night, not be able to 477 00:41:59,700 --> 00:42:00,700 see the moon. 478 00:42:01,000 --> 00:42:05,760 All these things that we take for granted make us feel comfortable as 479 00:42:05,760 --> 00:42:06,760 beings. 480 00:42:07,120 --> 00:42:12,420 But if they survive and they have children, and this goes on for 481 00:42:12,620 --> 00:42:19,040 someone who is born in this underground environment, for them, that will be all 482 00:42:19,040 --> 00:42:20,340 that they ever knew. 483 00:42:20,620 --> 00:42:23,780 They won't miss what they didn't know in the first place. 484 00:42:27,280 --> 00:42:31,700 One of the things that's most beautiful about the way life survives on Earth is 485 00:42:31,700 --> 00:42:33,840 that it is incredibly adaptable. 486 00:42:35,160 --> 00:42:41,260 It finds the tiniest bit of energy and thrives in some of the most inhospitable 487 00:42:41,260 --> 00:42:42,260 environments. 488 00:42:43,500 --> 00:42:48,540 So the odds are, since our planet is full of life, and we have a hard time 489 00:42:48,540 --> 00:42:53,620 finding any place that doesn't have any life on it, that life would continue on. 490 00:42:54,160 --> 00:42:58,240 I think to a lot of people this would sound like science fiction, but that 491 00:42:58,240 --> 00:43:04,380 back to both the optimism and my thought that the ingenuity of humanity 492 00:43:04,380 --> 00:43:10,300 being able to bring it back to where we want it to be. I think that without a 493 00:43:10,300 --> 00:43:14,600 doubt in my mind, given enough time, we can do it. 494 00:43:16,420 --> 00:43:23,000 It's possible that the pressure of trying to survive in this extreme and 495 00:43:23,000 --> 00:43:27,880 environment, would actually help us come up with new ways to exist in the 496 00:43:27,880 --> 00:43:28,880 universe. 497 00:43:30,820 --> 00:43:34,080 Conceivably, even new ways to retake our planet. 498 00:43:35,920 --> 00:43:41,780 Perhaps we could find a way to engineer our whole world into something not the 499 00:43:41,780 --> 00:43:44,240 same as it was, but new. 500 00:43:45,940 --> 00:43:49,700 A new world that we could then claim again as ours.