Blaming the developing world for climate change

During a show of the movie ‘Interstellar’, I sat up when there was a reference to an “Indian Air Force Drone”. The hero (Cooper) chases it with his car and shoots it down. He says that these drones carry excellent solar panels, as he proceeds to take out one from the shot-down drone. The whole reference to this drone is in the context of a dying earth facing the consequences of climate change, dramatically picturised through huge dust storms that ruin farming around the world. The only thing left for the human race, according to the script, is interstellar travel to a far-away planet. One of the characters in the movie refers to “six billion people who want everything!” I am quoting from memory, and so the words may be different; but the meaning of this comment was very clear to me. A lot of people in economically better off parts of the world worry about the developing world. With its large population, the developing world will need a lot of resources as its people improve their standards of life. Such large scale consumption, the worriers argue, may tip the world into irreversible climate change. The more developed countries expect the developing world to do with a lot less than what they themselves have and use, but the developing world will not take this lying down. The character making the comment was clearly echoing the sentiments of those who blame this phenomenon for climate change.

I am not going to discuss the merits of the worriers’ case here in this small blog post. I only wish to point the meaning and significance of the hero’s comment, as many participants in an online debate don’t seem to have taken note of this. Visit

http://www.quora.com/Why-did-Nolan-use-an-Indian-Air-Force-drone-in-Interstellar-Does-it-have-any-hidden-interpretation-like-reincarnation-or-something

Srinivasan Ramani