We are legend... but not as we wish to be.

On Saturday night, I settled in with a handful of friends to watch the film "I Am Legend" for the first time. I'd heard from a lot of people that this film was really good, so I was looking forward to it. I was worried that it might be gratuitously violent, and I avoid films like that at all costs. However, my good friend Sasha warned me that it wasn't really that violent, just "really, really scary". Yes, I'm a movie wimp, I'll admit it. However, that wasn't what struck me most about this film... something ran a little deeper and I felt the need to write about it.

As we were watching it, I wondered why a film like "I Am Legend" was appealing to me. I think because it has that eerie, lonesome, post-apocalyptic feel to it, which has always interested me... I find it fascinating to imagine what the world would be like if these events (or more realistic ones) ever actually happened, and to see how filmmakers would depict this world on screen. Call me twisted, but I also like to occasionally ponder just how far and deep the human heart can go, to the extent of the most isolating feelings of utter despair and loneliness that one human being could possibly withstand.

I found the opening of the film to be beautifully, morbidly haunting. I mentioned to the people I was watching it with that I thought it was interesting how the designers had allowed Mother Nature to make such a serious comeback after only 5 years - the grass was actually growing up through the concrete, there were wild animals running all around the city, all very encouraging stuff... the kind of stuff that makes you feel like our little planet could survive anything, and that Mother Earth will eventually just shake us off like an unwanted pest. However this is, of course, merely a cinematic illusion.

Movies appeal to people because of the deep emotions that they can stir within us, in any number of ways. The reason "I Am Legend" is so appealing on so many levels is because it caters to one of our major fantasies as a society (and I stress the word "fantasy"): that we will, as a species, manage to somehow heroically overcome the end of the world as we know it, in a blaze of glory and passion just as Will Smith does in "I Am Legend", and that the earth will spring back to life and heal herself and flourish once more. This movie in particular, and movies that are similar to this (Armageddon, The Day After Tomorrow, etc.), sort of allow us to drift off into la-la land and feel comforted, safe and secure about our future; they allow us to feel the way we really want to feel - invincible and strong - even though Hollywood and the real world are millions of miles apart. They allow us to believe that nature will indeed be able to overcome the extensive, severe (and in some cases irreparable) damage we have done to her, and that we really can save ourselves, if we just keep the faith, and struggle ever onwards.

But I beg to differ.

The end (or near end) of the real world, the world as you and I know it now, as opposed to the Hollywood world of "I Am Legend", will be much less flashy and romanticized. It will not culminate in a mass evacuation of Manhattan, as a deadly and unstoppable virus wreaks havoc upon millions of citizens. No, nature will not overcome concrete and reclaim the planet for her own as it was in the beginning of time, not as long as we rule this earth the way we do. Rather, the end will creep in quietly, slowly, as it is doing now, and we will largely ignore it for years to come, as we have for years past; in fact, we may not even have the mental capability to fully comprehend just how quickly devastation will be arriving at our door. The "apocalypse" of the 21st century will not star Will Smith, and there will be no computer graphics or dramatic rescue scenes - a virus that causes human beings to turn into blood thirsty non-human creatures of the night will most likely NOT be the cause of the end of our little world. No, it will be much less impressive with a lot less show and a lot less humour, which makes it seem rather pathetic that so many of us are still ignorant to these pressing issues. It's as if we need to be hit in the head with a brick before we look up and really accept the truth about that slow-moving but deadly snail that is creeping ever closer to us. We are so accustomed to "instant" everything - instant communication, instant results, instant food, instant coffee, instant LIFE - but the reality is, the effects of our misbehaviour on this planet are not happening "instantly" at all (which is kind of a sick joke played by nature); no, they are building up stone by stone, compounding over time, moving in slowly, but absolutely still promising to crush us eventually, no matter how slow the changes occur.

We would really like to believe that we are heroes or that we can be, that these horrible, predicted events (viral, ecological or otherwise) won't actually come to pass, while movies like this feed that illusion. I have to admit, it's gloriously indulgent to watch a movie like "I Am Legend" (which I did enjoy as a film), and feel inspired by the human spirit and imagine that we can overcome anything, against all odds. But this way of thinking can be so dangerous, because truthfully, it's foundations are made of sand.

The truth is, we are bringing about this end ourselves and have been ushering it in for years; it is moving in slowly, ever so slowly so that we might not even truly realize it until it is much too late. There are so many discussions and so much information being passed around in this century about global warming, and yet, much of our individual lives remain unchanged. David Suzuki wrote an article recently for "Common Ground", a small independent newspaper here in Vancouver, and it spoke so clearly and poignantly that I've included some of it here:

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From the article, "Kilroy was here", by David Suzuki*"

[...] it seems that we've entered a new epoch: a period of geological time usually reserved for distinguishing between massive periods of change on the planet. In this case, we've moved from the era that geologists call the Holocene, which has been this relatively stable period since the last ice age 10 to 12,000 years ago, to the Anthropocene, a time when human activities have become the dominating force of change on the planet.Changing epochs is not like changing your socks. In scientific terms, this is a big deal. Epochs tend to be delineated by periods of upheaval. Think ice ages and mass extinctions. When Nobel Prize-winning chemist Dr. Paul Krutzen brought up the idea back in 2000 and again in 2002, it was still considered pretty radical and somewhat impetuous for our little species to have its own epoch.But a team of scientists writing in a new paper in the journal GSA Today, published by the Geological Society of America, now argues that it's becoming increasingly difficult to deny humanity's growing influence on a planetary scale. In their paper, they examine the case for change and conclude that it's time to accept the obvious; we are in the Anthropocene.According to the researchers, just about every natural process on the planet now bears a human signature. For example, if you look at the soils, humans are now the dominant force behind changes to physical sedimentation. Dramatic increases in erosion from agriculture, road and urban development and dams have pushed people to be the largest producer of sediment by an order of magnitude over nature.If you look at life on the planet, human activities are causing the extinction of many species, possibly leading to a "major extinction event" that rivals others, such as the demise of the dinosaurs. Humans are also rapidly replacing vast areas of natural vegetation with agricultural crops. As the researchers point out, "These effects are permanent, as future evolution will take place from surviving (and frequently anthropogenically relocated) stocks."So, there you have it – the case for the Anthropocene. We've done it. We've written our name on the wall. We're the king of the hill, lord of the sandbox. We're now the most powerful force of change on the planet, so much so that we actually get our own epoch. A pretty big responsibility for a naked ape that emerged on the plains of Africa only 150,000 years ago.So what now, little human? What now?"

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Yes indeed... in our own special way, we ARE legend. But not as we wish to be... not even close.