We’ve been watching reruns of the 1990s show Northern Exposure.
It’s a classic ‘fish out of water’ story with a New York (Queens) Jewish doctor who was brought to Alaska to practice medicine in exchange for the community paying off his tuition bills.
The show is fantastic and dives deep into the realms of psychology, dreams, mythology and much more. It’s soothing to me at least because there’s a notable absence of technology in the show, which comes as no surprise given the ‘vintage’. Eventually, I hope to do a better analysis and review of the show from the perspective of literature and the topics I just mentioned.
But that’s not why I’m writing about it today.
Actor Anthony Edwards played a guy named Mike Monroe for about ten episodes during 1992 and 1993. He was the ‘outcast’ and ‘paranoid’ person who lived in a geodesic dome outside of the show’s main town, Cicely. The character suffered from magnetic disorientation, allergies and other disfunctions, most of which were proven to be psychosomatic. That said, there are many who suffer real illnesses due to the environment, and that’s where this gets interesting.
Source: IMDB
Source: IMDB
What struck me when watching this is that he made a number statements about the environment:
- Chris: I think this guy’s the proverbial tip of the iceberg.
- Chris: Considering the wholesale thrashing, you know, the daily degradation on Gaea since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, it comes as no surprise to me that we’re not all ticking time bombs, immunologically speaking. The wagons are circled, the siege has begun.
- Mike Monroe: (touring Maggie through the dome) this is the kitchen. Composter. Trash compactor. Solar powered water purifier. Herb garden. Low impact toilet and shower.
- Maggie: Television?
- Mike: Killed me to give it up. There’s just too much plastic in TV. The outgassing game me tremendous headaches.
- Note: I’m curious about the possible double meaning with this, especially in the wake of FCC deregulation of television in the 1980s and the rise of ‘both-side-ism’ that’s killed public discourse and quality information.
- Mike: Going to the supermarket was a nightmare. If it wasn’t the pesticides on the produce, it was the cellophane.
- Mike: I found an ecologist that made a diagnosis that made sense: shut down all heavy industry and start over.
- Mike: I consider myself to be a deeply rational person. For the AMA to admit my condition would be to publicly admit that this planet is becoming dangerously toxic for all living things.
- Mike: I think of myself as a canary in the coal mine. A foot soldier on the front line.
NOTE: All quotes trademark Northern Exposure, Universal City Studios Inc.
As it turns out, Mike Monroe was given the powers of Cassandra: he would describe current situations and suggest potential implications for our future, all of which we as a race have completely ignored.
THIRTY YEARS AGO we were being warned about the perils of climate change, chemical waste, environmental destruction and human terraforming that would ultimately come to roost at our doorsteps if we didn’t take action.
Fast forward to today and multiple organizations reported that 2024 was the hottest on record.
EVER.
I wrote ‘Extinction Event’ precisely because these warnings are getting more and more dire and we humans still can’t seem to grasp the reality that we have to change our ways.
If we don’t, the planet will change them for us.
Over the last thirty years, the list of climate-related calamities is pretty much endless.
It’s 2025 and already in the last couple of weeks, I’ve watched in horror while significant parts of Los Angeles burned down.
Can we as individuals make choices that might help reduce our impact on the planet?
The answer is the somewhat nebulous response of ‘Yes … and no’.
Yes: go vegan (or at least vegetarian). Industrialization of food accounts for roughly a THIRD of all emissions on an annual basis. If you can’t live without devouring animals, at least cut out beef or reduce what you consume from cows. Everything after that rests with simply reducing demand for pretty much anything under the sun.
No: our system rewards inefficiency. Economics is a failed philosophy that doesn’t account for waste, disequilibrium or political grandstanding like we have today. Over the last one-hundred years, governments have consistently shifted public funds to private power and the middle class has borne the cost of this. Poor planning, bad infrastructure and our inability to change all contribute to a slow decline. The hope is that systemic change may be around the corner when (no longer ‘if’) things get bad enough.
So … when I talk about records, I want to talk about old vinyl that’s recycled from the sin bin at the local music shop. I don’t want to be worrying about our planet’s atmosphere becoming inhospitable to all creatures on this planet.