Last weekend I saw the new movie Digger by the incredible, Oscar-winning Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu. It is a masterpiece with sharp, dark satire that frames the slow-motion tragedy of climate change through outright absurdity. I have never been a fan of Tom Cruise, but here he is marvelous and probably delivers the best performance of his career.

That same weekend, two hurricanes and a tropical storm pounded North America. It is worth highlighting that Isaias and Simon formed and matured into hurricanes at an alarming speed. This has been a record year for hurricanes in the Pacific. Although the region has always been subject to hurricanes, warmer sea temperatures caused by global warming fuel stronger, more damaging storms. Why? Because most of the heat absorbed by the planet due to greenhouse gases from fossil fuels ends up in the seas rather than the atmosphere. That could also be generating the super-strong El Niño we are seeing this year, which is another major factor driving hurricane formation.

As the movie shows, oil companies and governments have known for decades about the long-term impact of dumping so much carbon into the atmosphere. Take as evidence this presentation by the amazing scientist and communicator Carl Sagan from September 1990. It is shocking to see how clearly we understood 36 years ago what was going to happen, and infuriating how little we have done to stop it. It is precisely how Sagan described humanity could behave.

Watch Sagan’s talk for the rational forecast, then watch Digger to see the absurdity of how we have behaved in reality.