English Digital Exhibit Main Menu Introduction Timeline A timeline of the ecohorror genre Interstellar Oryx and Crake: Climate Change Eco-Horror in Dystopian Fiction A drawing of the Crakers, the man-made super race created by Crake, dancing in the face of humanity's destruction at the hands of a violent plague. Dark Souls: An Overview A glance over the themes, ideas and potential complexities of Dark Souls as we analyze it through an climate change lens. The Last of Us An overview of the ecohorror themes of The Last of Us video games series (2013-now) and The Last of Us show (2023-now) The Day After Tomorrow Works Cited

Climate Change in Interstellar

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Climate change is the driving force behind the plot of the movie. Without it, the entire mission to find a new home for humanity would not be needed. Despite this, the film places majority of its focus on the exploration of outer space, leaving the beginning to depict the climate change that is tearing society apart at the roots. Diseases are killing crops and causing massive food shortages driving humanity to the edge of extinction. The most profound example of climate is the dust storm that ambushes Cooper and his family when they are watching a local baseball game. Take a look at the following clip:

This dust storm is based on the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, when overfarming caused there to be loose soil that was picked up by the wind to create massive dust storms that did a lot of damage to the Great Plains. The situation that Earth finds itself in Interstellar is similar to that of the agricultural Midwest during the Great Depression.

A big question when it comes to climate change in Interstellar is whether it addresses climate change effectively. On one hand, it could be argued that it makes an argument for investment in space exploration, which could be a possible solution to save humanity. But what about Earth? Film critic Noah Gittell argues that by focusing on humans leaving Earth and finding a new home rather than saving their current one, Interstellar is not delivering the appropriate climate change message. He writes, “The heroes in Interstellar do not talk much about their mistakes on Earth…And so it stands to reason that whatever planet the humans in Interstellar end up colonizing, they will destroy it just as surely as a virus destroys its host (Gittell 42).”
 

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