Julia Louis-Dreyfus has a great interview in InStyle. She is promoting her movie with Will Ferrell, the Force Majeure remake, Downhill. I think they are both really funny so I’m worried that I will raise my expectations too high with this film. It’s the first time they’d even met, let alone worked together. The movie story revolves around an avalanche at a ski resort (Julia’s character protects the kids while her husband, Will’s character, run away). Although avalanches have always occurred in nature, climate change is making snowbanks less stable. So, among the many topics covered, InStyle asked Julia about climate change and she said we didn’t have to worry about it because if we didn’t get our sh*t together, we would all be extinct anyway (we could fit the line about getting our sh*t together in the headline).
On having doubts about filming Amy Schumer’s last f*ckable day skit, which addresses ageism in Hollywood: All of a sudden I thought, ‘Wait a minute, why is this funny?’ (But) that’s just the kind of thing I like to skewer.
On forcing herself to speak up: I’ve always been very opinionated, but, honestly, I’m constantly fighting that female kind of mode: ‘Should I say it? I’m sorry!’ But in my head, I’m always like, ‘Do it, do it, do it
On Elaine Benes (her Seinfeld character) being a ground-breaker: I was one of four players, the rest of whom were men, and we were all equally unlikable. And I wasn’t selling romance or sex appeal — it was about something else. That was really important.
On going to Veep table reads during her breast cancer treatment: That was fantastic. Because it kept me hopeful, and I could focus on work instead of…trying to stay alive. You know, making a funny show is a pretty joyful undertaking. As opposed to, say, getting chemotherapy toxins in your veins.
On fighting for health-care post breast cancer: I had felt strongly about the issue before, but now, here it was, stark and real. The notion that someone might have a diagnosis like that and have no insurance, no means to get treatment, was inconceivable to me.
On climate change: The truth is, the planet is going to be fine — because it’s going to eradicate the human population if we don’t get our shit together. There has to be a complete recalibration of how we conduct ourselves and do business.
The whole write-up is delightful. Julia’s voice always comes across so strong in interviews. The sad part is, she’s right about climate change. We cannot sustain life at the rate we are destroying the planet. And yet, I am constantly shocked at the number of people who stick their heads in the sand about that fact. Like, can we build a biosphere for all the climate change deniers? They can destroy their bubble while we set about trying to save our planet.
Much more optimistic is her comments about how attending the table reads for Veep gave her hope. Lord knows when I’m struggling, I’m grateful to focus on something else. I imagine being able to focus on something that not only brought Julia joy, but she knew would bring joy to so many others. To get to do that surrounded by people who adored her was probably just what she needed. I’m so grateful she gave us that last season.
Photo credit: WENN/Avalon and Twitter
If God created the Earth, the devil created humans to destroy it. We should all be ashamed of our selfish selves for what we’ve done to this beautiful planet. Plus it’s only fair humans go extinct considering we made certain animal species go extinct.
We should be ashamed,you are correct,sadly.I once read an essay that talked about how God gave us this planet Earth *in trust * as in we are granted this beautiful planet,with the expectation that we as a human race do right by it.
So many religious people I know choose to ignore climate change,because they say God is in control,but they don’t consider that we have the intelligence therefore the responsibility to take care of what we have.
@Spicecaker EXACTLY! Whenever my religious father tries to deny climate change I bring up two points:
1) God gave us the planet and the animals to care for them.
2) Greed is a sin
Any politician that pursues profit over the planet isn’t living true Christian values.
Then he will back track and say climate change may be real but it’s not man-made 🤦♀️
Do you really believe we are all equally responsible for the state the world is in and that we should ALL feel ashamed? I am certainly not ashamed of doing my best to be environmentally responsible and campaigning and voting for green policies. Meanwhile a minority of inconceivably wealthy people continue to push through policies which are killing OUR planet. So they can get….richer.
We all have some blame…some more than others. We all played a part in destroying the earth so we should all play a part in combating climate change…however we can, big or small.
Agree 200%
I’m excited to see Downhill. I loved Force Majeur. And Julia is everything
Yes, same. Force Majure was great. Very dramatic, so I’m looking forward to the comedic version.
Another uneccesary remake because Americans don’t like subtitles. Plus Force Majeure had plenty of humour in it
I love this woman!
She has a really good point. Climate change is terrifying, but the planet will no doubt outlive humanity, and it’s most likely that we won’t succeed in making the earth a total barren wasteland before we go. It’s awful to think how many animals have and will continue to go instinct, but at the very least prokaryotic life will continue to thrive. Most likely there will still be plenty of vegetable matter after we are gone. Quite possibly other mammalian species will outlive us. And even if we do manage to wipe out all animal life, there will be enough life left on the planet to evolve new species.
If anything an apocalyptic event that wipes out humanity could be the best thing for the planet, similar to how the K/T boundary event led to a massive surge in evolution and ushered in the mammalian age.
Exactly. We are like parasites on the organism, and the biggest threat to the organism. Eventually the earth will shed us, and sadly that is the most hopeful thing I can say because at least the earth will regenerate. We don’t deserve this planet. But I too feel sad for all the innocent species we will take down with us, and those we have already driven to extinction.
“it’s most likely that we won’t succeed in making the earth a total barren wasteland before we go”
Look up Venus Syndrome. It’s not about adding heat – and stopping and everything will stop and be saved – but adding enough heat-generating factors initially to set off a feedback loop that then goes on a runaway trajectory without us doing anything more. Guy McPherson summed up the data. I personally believe we’ve doomed everything on this planet already with our emissions and things like air travel and pollution are ironically helping alleviate it temporarily. The problem was economics is the religion – mainstream economics that assumes endless consumption is possible. However, don’t worry too much; they will spray the atmosphere with all kinds of poisons to keep the heating under control so we can keep breeding and consuming irresponsibly until we reincarnate ourselves as AI so we don’t need to rely on anything but a server to exist.
It’s kind of a dirty rotten shame that we have mucked up things so badly that we won’t have lasted as long as the Neanderthals did.
Julia has always seemed to me to be a class act. I just love her. So glad she is in remission. Agree with her on planet (nature) vs. humanity. We either get our shit together or we are going to be the losers. Unfortunately, we will probably take every other life form with us.
She’s right. The planet will recalibrate itself. Just like it did with the dinosaurs. And we all know what happened to them. The earth shook them off and renewed itself. It will do the same to us.
I laugh at people who think humans will destroy the earth. We are doing damage but the earth could wipe us out in no time.
How anyone thinks the world will be destroyed and humans will somehow survive it, is comical to me.
The earth is wiping us out (because we polluted it). Look at all the natural disasters just in the last decade…and it’s only getting worse. The only humans that will survive are the rich ones like Elon Musk who plan to live on Mars lol.
@Gina humans absolutely could destroy it, we already have the technology to do so. Unleash enough nuclear bombs and there you go. But you are right that we would not survive that either.
@Alisha. No, we cannot destroy the planet. Even if we drop all the bombs and wipe out all life as we know it and it becomes a barren wasteland – this planet has millions and millions of years for new life to appear out of the ashes. It has ‘reinvented’ itself several times already. The human species is the tiniest tiniest blink of an eye in its history. Earth will only probably end in five to six billion years when the sun will change though it is unclear exactly what will happen. People need to look up at the night sky and realise that we are totally irrelevant in the vastness of space, and that the planets and suns and everything else in there couldn’t care less about us.
We won’t destroy the planet but we’ve already done most of the work to the biosphere, which sustains life as we know it. We’re already in a runaway climate change situation where you don’t need to add anymore as there are something like 70 plus feedback loops. Guy McPherson summed up the data on his site Nature Bats Last. All credible info but too extreme and hopeless for mainstream news to report. Give it 10 years and Australia’s 19/20 summer will look like a walk in the park.
She is stunning in that blue dress.
She looked AMAZING on Sunday. Not that that’s a surprise.
There is no end time here. Study how the bees make honey.
This planet is not what you think it is.
Remember who you are, what this place is, why you are here and Return.
This sounds like a message from the “aliens” lol. I like it though, very interesting.
thank you
Stop being cryptic.
Glow harder dine and dash. I see you.
To everyone: Remember. Tap in. Invite the Truth in. It is always waiting for you.
I wanted an explanation and you flicked me on the nose. Not very lovingkindness, more culty. Since I have to guess, you’re Evangelical Xtians and this is about the Rapture.
@snowybison, you made my day ❤️
The bees are dying.
And we may all starve because of it.
That is the truth!
The sad thing is, we already have so much of the technology to stall climate change. Yet everything bows to fossil fuels and the almighty dollar, from Trump’s destruction of clean water and air and anything-Obama-era environmental acts, to Europe shipping off its redundant plastics to the Asias where they destroy biodiversity and clog deltas, to China’s 19 new airports this decade, to Morrison’s ‘coal? It won’t harm you!’ as Australia burns. And so, so many other culprits. Greed will be the end of us unless somehow, somehow we can learn to be less selfish
There are just too many of us. Hydrocarbons gave us the energy to breed so irresponsibly – I know pop control is a huge taboo subject – and they will be our downfall. I love kids but am so glad I never had any and I am deeply committed to having none. My heart breaks for my nieces and nephews though.
She is correct. It is ultimately about saving ourselves as a species.
Remember the universe bears us no ill.
As Werner Herzog said; it’s up to the microbes to stop us now.
This is a psychological problem, not a problem of technology which is why we aren’t going to fix it; that’s what Franzen was getting at with his essay about giving up on saving the planet.
I am tired of greentech acting like we can hack our way out by making slight modifications to our way of life. I’m sorry, but unless we all goes back to living like medieval monks, no unsustainable megabladed wind power, rare earth mineral solar battery stuff is going to fix the underlying problem.
So let’s kick back and await our inevitable turning back into a nebula, like that Joni Mitchell song.
I agree that greentech – still endless consumption – won’t save us because there are just too many of us. Degrowth is something no leader will seriously consider because pensions, retirement nest eggs, sharemarket, and everything under the sun is dependent on. We locked ourselves into this perpetual growth system and there’s no way out.
Greentech won’t save us because greentech is not sustainable, full stop. Population isn’t the problem on a planet where a minority of the population is causing the lion’s share of the pollution. Get rid of everyone except the global north and we’ll still trash the world like there’s no tomorrow.
Dine, you’re so wrong. The Global South is aspiring to and will get to the consumption level of the Global North. Apart from that, volume totally does matter. Most Chinese don’t consume anywhere close to what average GN people do but so what: The ol’ China used more concrete in three years than the US did in a century is a great example. You’re completely wrong on the population not mattering – it’s a huge matter but the Global North of course needs to cut back too. And sorry, some greentech is sustainable but at our volumes of consumption, it’s just not going to help. Rearranging the deck chairs on the….
And to add, the Global North have the lowest birth rates and in most GN countries, zero immigration would mean population contraction and all else staying the same, consumption decline. Everyone’s at fault here; there’s no pointing the blame just at the industrialising and yet to industrialise nations and telling them to stop improving their living standards. On the other hand the GN / the Western World started this hydrocarbon-fueled consumption binge and invited everyone to jump on board. We’ve certainly had our fun but trashed the planet in the process.
I agree with Julia. The planet will eradicate the “infection” (humans) that’s causing it injury and will eventually recover and flourish.
My daughter got engaged this weekend. I have this pang of sadness over what awaits her children and their children and future generations after that as far as the planet goes. We are so happy to welcome children into this world, and those children and their children deserve to enjoy that same kind of happiness.
She’s not wrong. This is the anthropocene. We’re living through a mass extinction event, but of our own making.
She’s right. Human beings are a cancer, a pestilence, and we’re all on the edge of annihilation. The future is going to be a bleak and dystopian place and I feel sorry for babies being born today, they’re going to inherit a untenable mess. I think the next world war will be fought over water. One in 9 people on earth don’t have safe drinking water, and our use of water is growing twice as fast as the world population.
As someone who works in the environmental field, let me say that that is a hugely ignorant statement. Yes, the big rock that is the planet will be here long after humans are gone, but we can, and are, driving the extinction of countless species through our lifestyle choices. We do not have dominion over the planet but we choose to cause so much suffering and death.
I love Julia and always have. I power-watched every ep of VEEP and, of course, followed Seinfeld and she did a spot with Jerry S. on Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.
Anyway, I agree that we can do a lot more for the Earth.
We’ve done quite a lot. I remember when people threw litter out their car windows, there was no recycling, no water-saving appliances, no electric cars, no solar panels on houses and the only windmills were tiny and on farms but, of course, we could do much more and I think we are.
The wind farms around here are impressive!
Now that I said that, I’ll say this: I don’t think humans will become extinct due to our damage to the planet.
I think it will be a bio-hazard attack and I’ll recommend a book:
The Stand by Stephen King. This book is older but still relevant especially now.
Basically, the Russians contaminated the water, soil, air of the US and everyone died save a couple of 1000 with a natural immunity. They drowned in their own snot much like Flu or Pneumonia.
It’s a big book but you won’t get bored. Skip the movie.
It wasn’t the Russians. There was a leak at a US biological warfare lab in New Mexico or Arizona. One worker escaped the lock down and that’s how it spread. And I agree it’s a timeless book.
Are you sure?
I haven’t read it since 1980 or so but I remember it being the Russians and the Americans nicknamed it Captain Tripps. I don’t remember the reason but my husband says you’re right.
Funny, he and I were stationed in New Mexico and we had some training for bio-warfare but mostly the chemical kind.
I don’t want any part of either.
OMG I remember that book! I remember reading it in one sitting, in my dorm room when I was at UCSB. I started it on a rainy morning, and literally read through the day into the night, and through dawn the next day. I literally couldn’t put it down! I’d say one more chapter, one more, one more…and the next thing I knew, the sun had come up! GREAT book!
I think it was his best but The Shining was probably his best movie. 🙂
This is interesting. So if sperm concentration of human males has declined by 50 percent in the last 40 years. Has the same thing happened to other animals? It is interesting how humans are fighting this. When they cant get pregnant they freak out and get these things called “fertility treatments”. They dont see it as a sign of something bigger. The planet has naturally found a way to depopulate the human species and it doesnt matter how much privileged (mostly white people) make it financially viable for scientists to figure out ways to impregnate them the planet will just keep decreasing that sperm concentration. So she is right. The planet is getting rid of humans but are they getting rid of other animals thru decline in fertility?
I think the planet likes animals. Animals have done nothing to it. Humans on the other hand…
Well Thinking, I don’t think it’s the planet causing the problem if you want to call it that.
Infertility has more to do with chemicals found in our foods, water, milk, and – hold on – substance abuse.
That’s right. A lot of people think Weed is harmless even for young teens but it isn’t and more and more young people are abusing prescription drugs (often stolen from parents and grandparents or sold on the streets) then add in meth, alcohol, ‘shrooms, etc.
This crap is dumbing down the kids and harming their health and they come in all colors.
Then there are those who yell, “Weed never hurt anyone!” That’s a lie and those who say, “Look at Snoop! He’s a big pothead and has about 100 kids.” He’s one and I don’t know how much he smokes, how much is an act or if all those kids are even his.
Infertility is coming from chemicals inhaled or ingested and the kids doing it are getting younger.
I’m sure time is a factor and I think some people are waiting longer to have kids which is good but maybe they have trouble later getting p.g. and maybe they regret some of the stuff they did when they were young or maybe it’s just age but it isn’t the planet.
Weed is the least of it. The toxic chemicals in everything from drinking water to food to air pollution are way worse than weed. Tobacco is worse. Even alcohol is worse.
Your greater point is correct, but blaming it on pot smoking is ridiculous.
I also agree with the OP that maybe just maybe it’s not bad that people can’t reproduce. They go through contortions to conceive when so many babies languish without families to love them. There are TOO MANY people!
#AdoptDontShop
We have survived bottlenecks before and we will again. I think most people will die, a few will live, the earth will recover and we will start again. https://www.businessinsider.com/genetic-bottleneck-almost-killed-humans-2016-3
Love JLD. Hate will Ferrell.