Don't Look Up
With temperatures rising and the risk of disasters growing, our world is increasingly vulnerable. Before the film, Dr. Samantha Montano will discuss why we aren’t doing enough to prevent or prepare for disasters, the critical role of media, and how our approach to recovery was not designed to serve marginalized communities.
In Adam McKay’s Sloan Award-winning satire, two astronomers go on a media tour to warn humankind of a planet-killing comet hurtling toward Earth.
Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence), an astronomy grad student, and her professor Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio) make an astounding discovery of a comet orbiting within the solar system. The problem — it’s on a direct collision course with Earth. The other problem? No one really seems to care. With only six months until the comet makes impact, managing the 24-hour news cycle and gaining the attention of the social media obsessed public before it’s too late proves shockingly comical — what will it take to get the world to just look up?!
About the Speaker
Dr. Samantha Montano became interested in disasters following a trip to New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina and the Levee Failure. Currently, she is an assistant professor of emergency management at Massachusetts Maritime Academy, where has taught courses on disaster preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation, vulnerable populations in disaster, the political and legal foundations of emergency management, disaster communications, and disaster nonprofits. She is also the co-founder of the Center for Climate Adaptation Research.
Her most recent book is Disasterology: Dispatches from The Frontlines of The Climate Crisis, which was named one of the Best Science Books of the 2021 by NPR’s Science Friday.
