We can't believe what's going on today either, Pete.Courtesy of The Age of Stupid

"Why didn't we stop climate change when we had the chance?" asks the main character of Franny Armstrong's new film, The Age of Stupid. Living in a world of climate catastrophe, this solitary character, played by Oscar-nominee Pete Postlethwaite, serves as humanity's moral hindsight from the year 2055. He scans video archives of events unfolding between 2004 and 2008, shocked that the world at that time knew it was flushing its future down the drain. Humankind's stubborn refusal to act on climate compels him to dub contemporary times "the age of stupid."

Fortunately, we don't (yet) live in this climate-ravaged scenario of the future, and we have opportunities like The Age of Stupid to knock our thick skulls into action.

Before The Age of Stupid's U.S. premiere in New York City on September 21, director Franny Armstrong took a few minutes to chat with me about the film's part documentary, part back-to-the-future format; its scare-tactics approach; and what it's supposed to inspire (or depress) you to do:

Look for big names at the film's eco-premiere Monday, such as former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, musicians Thom Yorke (Radiohead) and Moby, X Files actress Gillian Anderson, and our own Umbra Fisk, who will be appearing at -- if not walking down -- the green carpet that night. Check back here Tuesday for her video coverage. The live New York event and film screening will be simultaneously broadcast to 440 U.S. theaters Monday. However, if you don't catch The Age of Stupid at a local movie theater that night, you'll have to wait a while to see it on TV or DVD ... most likely after the Copenhagen international climate talks in December, and by then, Armstrong would argue, you'll likely be too late to have the most climate impact. Which would be stupid.

Synchronize your watches because The Age of Stupid film premiere is part of both the high-profile Climate Week NYC and the TckTckTck Campaign's Global Climate Wake-Up Call. Climate Week will see hundreds of world leaders in business and politics meeting in New York to address climate change in anticipation of the Copenhagen talks a mere seventy days away. The activist-organized Wake-Up Call is a day of rallies and actions to call on world leaders to commit to serious greenhouse gas reductions. Find (or organize) a Global Climate Wake-Up Call event near you on Monday, September 21.

The Age of Stupid looks to be an unforgiving examination of the actions (and inactions) of today, portending extreme consequences for mankind if it doesn't get its act together on climate. Will this film wake up the masses to the climate crisis or will its chilling predictions eventually be realized?

Watch the trailer and decide for yourself:

The Age of Stupid USA Trailer from Age of Stupid on Vimeo.

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Recently, I read about a professor at Columbia who teaches a course about the signs of the apocalypse. With the financial collapse and threats of a swine flu pandemic in mind, he told the New Yorker he decided to create the class because "now seemed like a good time."

I don't know if Professor Taussig's students have looked toward the oceans for signs of the apocalypse, but if they do, the students will find unsettling news coming from the marine world. Whether you believe in end times or not, the oceans are sending clear signals that they are in distress.

In Chile alone, a trio of strange occurrences has unsettled scientists and observers in recent weeks. More than a thousand dead penguins were found on a southern beach, followed by tons of dead sardines so smelly that schools were forced to close. Lastly, thousands of rare flamingos abandoned their nests, leaving 2,000 chicks to die.

Elsewhere on the planet, the ocean throws up another mystery. In California, hundreds of emaciated seabirds, mostly Brandt's cormorants, littered beaches in a dozen locations early in May in perhaps another example of Hungry Oceans.

And as summer approaches, we can expect more curiosities from the sea. Jellyfish swarms thrive in warm water, and vast glowing herds will most likely create a stir again this year, much as they did when a swarm killed 100,000 salmon in pens off Northern Ireland. Arctic ice will probably shrink as far or even further than recent record-breaking years.

A scientist may shrug her shoulders when you ask what is causing these strange phenomena to happen. She also may say it could have something to do with human intervention. After all, less than four percent of the oceans remains untouched by human activity. Overfishing, pollution and global warming have thrown the oceans out of whack, resulting in an increasing number of unsettling sights like the starved seabirds on our beaches.

I like to think positively, though. Fish populations have demonstrated the ability to rebound once fishing pressure backs off, and simple habitat protection can ensure that diverse marine ecosystems thrive. We have the ability to reduce our carbon footprint, if leaders and industry find the will.

So is this the apocalypse? Probably not. A wake-up call is more like it – and it's one we should not ignore.

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