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American Morning

Global Warming

Aired January 14, 2003 - 09:39   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We were told anyway the world is ending. That's the word from two scientists writing a book saying destruction of life as we know it has begun but the process won't be complete for 500 million years. We're not going to miss the Super Bowl next weekend. Why do we care? Don Brownlee is making us that way, an astrologer professor at the University of Washington, coauthor of the book "The Life and Death of Planet Earth." He's with us today in Seattle.
Good to see you, Sir. Good morning to you.

DON BROWNLEE, COAUTHOR, "THE LIFE AND DEATH OF PLANET EARTH": Good morning.

HEMMER: Why do you believe then we've already started the process, the end of the world?

BROWNLEE: The earth age, its ability to support complex life changes with time. Some people think the Earth actually peaked out in the past, at the time of the dinosaurs, when the Earth was actually warmer and had more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

HEMMER: So you're saying we're already on the down slope?

BROWNLEE: Some people believe that we're on the down slope, but the end of advanced life is about half a billion years in the future.

HEMMER: Let's stop you there, because I want to help explain this to our viewers. This is your theory, you're saying, if we look at a time clock, we'll put on the screen, a time clock representing 12 hours, which equals 12 billion years, that's the Earth's lifetime, humans and other advanced life forms only exist for 500 million more years, as you've stated, which is, essentially, a half hour on the clock, is that right?

BROWNLEE: That's right.

HEMMER: Following that theory, there is nothing we can do, I would assume, to reverse that course?

BROWNLEE: There are things that we can do on the long term. But on the short term, we can try to make our environment as nice as we can.

HEMMER: How would that change the clock then if the environment were improved? BROWNLEE: Well, we can't change the long term, but we change the short term, you know, in terms of pollution and putting global warming materials in the atmosphere. We can protect the environment in our lifetime scales, but not on scales of millions of years.

HEMMER: If we're talking about 500 million years, by then we're all living in space anyway, right?

BROWNLEE: Maybe. We'll see.

HEMMER: But a good chance, you would offer, probably, right?

BROWNLEE: Well, I don't know. We would talk about this in the book, we have been to the moon, and we probably can send a few people to Mars, but living, humans living in space for a long period of time, especially outside of the solar system, is a really open question. Most people believe it's just a matter of time. But personally, my coauthor and I doubt that it will ever happen.

HEMMER: Back to the timeline right now for what you consider Earth's death, by 5:00 on that clock, animals and plants will have died off, by 8:00 the oceans will have evaporated, at 12:00 the sun will vaporize the Earth.

How you go about determining these factors on the timeline?

BROWNLEE: Well, this is -- the book just reporting what science has done over the last few decades. A lot of people that have done this research, and the major driver of all this is amazingly enough just the evolution of the sun. The sun is a star, and all stars get bright with time. And as the sun gets too bright, the Earth really can't keep up in terms of its ability of supporting higher life.

HEMMER: Don, I think a lot of people may take the news and shrug it off, and other people might get a sense of depression of sorts, or pessimism. Give us the good news in your theory.

BROWNLEE: It's like Hawaii, Hawaii is a wonderful place, but you know in the future all the Hawaiian islands will sink below the surface of the sea and be gone, but that makes it even more precious. The Earth is a precious place, and people should appreciate the fact that they live in a wonderful planet in space, and also a wonderful time.

HEMMER: "The Life and Death of Planet Earth," Don Brownlee, thank you for sharing your theory. We'll check in another 500 million years, how's that?

BROWNLEE: OK. I'll be here.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired January 14, 2003 - 09:39   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We were told anyway the world is ending. That's the word from two scientists writing a book saying destruction of life as we know it has begun but the process won't be complete for 500 million years. We're not going to miss the Super Bowl next weekend. Why do we care? Don Brownlee is making us that way, an astrologer professor at the University of Washington, coauthor of the book "The Life and Death of Planet Earth." He's with us today in Seattle.
Good to see you, Sir. Good morning to you.

DON BROWNLEE, COAUTHOR, "THE LIFE AND DEATH OF PLANET EARTH": Good morning.

HEMMER: Why do you believe then we've already started the process, the end of the world?

BROWNLEE: The earth age, its ability to support complex life changes with time. Some people think the Earth actually peaked out in the past, at the time of the dinosaurs, when the Earth was actually warmer and had more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

HEMMER: So you're saying we're already on the down slope?

BROWNLEE: Some people believe that we're on the down slope, but the end of advanced life is about half a billion years in the future.

HEMMER: Let's stop you there, because I want to help explain this to our viewers. This is your theory, you're saying, if we look at a time clock, we'll put on the screen, a time clock representing 12 hours, which equals 12 billion years, that's the Earth's lifetime, humans and other advanced life forms only exist for 500 million more years, as you've stated, which is, essentially, a half hour on the clock, is that right?

BROWNLEE: That's right.

HEMMER: Following that theory, there is nothing we can do, I would assume, to reverse that course?

BROWNLEE: There are things that we can do on the long term. But on the short term, we can try to make our environment as nice as we can.

HEMMER: How would that change the clock then if the environment were improved? BROWNLEE: Well, we can't change the long term, but we change the short term, you know, in terms of pollution and putting global warming materials in the atmosphere. We can protect the environment in our lifetime scales, but not on scales of millions of years.

HEMMER: If we're talking about 500 million years, by then we're all living in space anyway, right?

BROWNLEE: Maybe. We'll see.

HEMMER: But a good chance, you would offer, probably, right?

BROWNLEE: Well, I don't know. We would talk about this in the book, we have been to the moon, and we probably can send a few people to Mars, but living, humans living in space for a long period of time, especially outside of the solar system, is a really open question. Most people believe it's just a matter of time. But personally, my coauthor and I doubt that it will ever happen.

HEMMER: Back to the timeline right now for what you consider Earth's death, by 5:00 on that clock, animals and plants will have died off, by 8:00 the oceans will have evaporated, at 12:00 the sun will vaporize the Earth.

How you go about determining these factors on the timeline?

BROWNLEE: Well, this is -- the book just reporting what science has done over the last few decades. A lot of people that have done this research, and the major driver of all this is amazingly enough just the evolution of the sun. The sun is a star, and all stars get bright with time. And as the sun gets too bright, the Earth really can't keep up in terms of its ability of supporting higher life.

HEMMER: Don, I think a lot of people may take the news and shrug it off, and other people might get a sense of depression of sorts, or pessimism. Give us the good news in your theory.

BROWNLEE: It's like Hawaii, Hawaii is a wonderful place, but you know in the future all the Hawaiian islands will sink below the surface of the sea and be gone, but that makes it even more precious. The Earth is a precious place, and people should appreciate the fact that they live in a wonderful planet in space, and also a wonderful time.

HEMMER: "The Life and Death of Planet Earth," Don Brownlee, thank you for sharing your theory. We'll check in another 500 million years, how's that?

BROWNLEE: OK. I'll be here.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com