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See the world we come from. There's no green there... They killed their mother, and they're gonna do the same here.
Jake Sully, while praying to Eywa at the Tree of Souls.

Earth (Na'vi name: 'Rrta)[1] is the third planet from the Sun, the largest of the four terrestrial planets, and the fifth largest and densest of the eight planets in the Solar System.

According to Frances Ardmore, Earth is a dying planet by the year 2170 due to various reasons including deforestation, resource depletion, air pollution, famine, human overpopulation and mass flooding, causing humans and animals to face extinction, with most large animals (megafauna) already long extinct.[2] Jake Sully also claims "there's no green" on Earth, suggesting trees, grass and other plants no longer exist on a mass scale.

Astrography[]

Earth is the third planet of the Solar System, and the home planet of humanity. It is a relatively small planet compared to other and much larger planets in the Solar System such as Saturn and Jupiter, though it is quite large compared to most terrestrial planets in the Solar System, such as Mercury and Venus. The RDA also established orbital factories on the Earth's moon.[3]

Geography[]

Earth is divided to various nation-states and regions of the planet belonging to ever-shrinking forests and national parks. Earth was once fertile but by the 22nd century production consisted of protein farms. Most seaside properties are dedicated to mariculture, extracting phytoplankton and spirulina.[3]

In the 22nd century, much of Earth's lands have been reduced to wastelands. One example are the Nevada Toxic Flats. The towering Yosemite granite domes were converted to an upscale condo development; the nearby former cascade Yosemite Falls had been reduced to a polluted drizzle.[3]

History[]

Earth's Condition[]

Not long after the Resources Development Administration (RDA) was formed in the 21st century, hundreds of orbiting factories were built on the Earth's moon, Mars, and the solar system's asteroid belts. These factories caused a pollution of toxins to frequently rain down on Earth.[4] A memo written by Alexander Tremayne reveals how Earth became sent on a death spiral so quickly, the major cause being underestimating how delicate ecosystems actually are:

On Earth, by the time we realized the importance of surface marine biomes, that they were invisible keystones of the marine ecosystem, it was already too late. With that one link, entire food chains started to crumble. Hundreds of thousands of species were lost in mere years. It was the beginning of the end. Depletion of natural resources, groundwater, air pollution, ecological collapse.

In the 22nd century, the population of the planet more than tripled since the previous century, topping out at around 20 billion people.[5] Humanity itself has faced famine and wars over remaining resources. Earth was rocked by a significant intercontinental conflict in the 22nd century—the conflict in which Jake Sully was paralyzed during a tour in Venezuela - and from which the global energy crisis arose, with a great demand for natural resources. Avatar: Collector's Vault 3D mentions "Unlike Earth in the 22nd century, Pandora has plenty of clean surface water" suggesting it is hard to find lakes and bodies of water that have a non-polluted appearance.

FuErath

People wear face masks to breathe in the polluted air; it seems most simply walk in the streets instead of using cars.

Due to pollution, Earth's atmosphere is covered in a haze of greenhouse gasses. Overpopulation, nuclear warfare, environmental terrorism, significant deforestation, world hunger, ozone depletion, resources depletion, water shortages, and overhunting of what is left of Earth's very few still living animal species are the main things that are slowly consuming what is left of the once beautiful planet.[5] Excessive mineral mining in Africa also expedited the planet's natural resources.[6]

Much of the western coast of America was damaged in a tsunami event in the 2140s.[7] As the Earth's atmosphere decayed, ocean levels rose across the globe, flooding coastal areas and decimating cities and landmarks. The American deep south was transformed into bloated waterways known as The Glades.[8]

Finding Solutions[]

Earth City HD

An electric train with advertisement holograms filling the sky.

Due to the destruction of the natural environment and vast urban expansion, the RDA began to grow vast sea farms of edible protein and nutrient-rich algae, which was flavored with spices and other ingredients, in order to feed the population of Earth both cheaply and effectively. Algae became the staple food for many humans on Earth and the Moon. The RDA also constructed a vast mass transit system that connects the entire globe, a maglev which requires unobtanium to function.[9]

With much of Earth's natural resources depleted forever, all eyes on the planet turned to extraterrestrial worlds. Earth's space programs had, by this time, evolved to the point of being able to send a manned mission to the Alpha Centauri System, a nearby trinary star system, in which humanity found a diamond in the rough, the habitable moon of Pandora. In the hopes that the vast deposits of unobtanium located on Pandora could save Earth from its energy crisis, humans began vast mining operations that cut deep scars into the moon's surface.

By 2170, Earth has become a near-inhospitable planet and Mars is still not terraformed enough to sustain a large human population, sparking the recolonization of Pandora and the construction of Bridgehead.[10]

Trivia[]

Futureset

New Zealand set for the Earth alley.

  • There were over four and a half minutes of Earth scenes that were originally supposed to be included into Avatar's opening sequence, but James Cameron felt that the film "started twice" and decided to take them out.[11] All that is left in the original release are the flashbacks of Jake and the two RDA agents in the Municipal Crematorium. In the Extended Collector's Edition Blu-ray and DVD, however, these scenes are included in the Collector's Extended Cut.
  • It seems that the US, Brazil, China, Germany, Nigeria, Paraguay, Spain, and Venezuela still exist as sovereign government bodies on Earth by 2148, as they appear on the TV screen at the beginning of the bar sequence (Alternate Earth opening). A news broadcast also mentioned that the Bengal Tiger had been cloned back into existence at the Beijing Zoo. Quaritch also mentioned that he had toured with the First Recon in Nigeria and Jake Sully in Venezuela. The Survival Guide also states that there were massive deforestations in Brazil.
  • Many of today's brands still exist by 2148; these include Pepsi, Panasonic, Discover, McDonald's, 7-Eleven, Converse, etc.
  • According to an advertisement hologram, Mars has been heavily colonized and is a popular vacation spot.
  • According to the Project 880 script, all whales and half of the fish species on the Earth had become extinct due to overfishing and toxification, and the last lion living outside of captivity had died in Kenya. Whales being extinct is canonical since it is mentioned in Avatar: The Way of Water: The Visual Dictionary.
  • In Project 880, it is said that everyday people are unable to wash themselves due to water shortages.
  • Association football and pool are still popular sports and games, as shown in the opening Bar Scene.
  • Grace often wears a Stanford shirt while in her avatar body, indicating that Stanford University might still be in existence, or has existed in the recent past.
  • Dr. Seuss books are still read in the time period, as The Lorax was one of the books used at Grace's school.
  • The UN DOT system for categorizing hazardous materials is still used by 2148, indicating that the UN still exists in some form.
  • It has been stated that Earth will be featured in both Avatar 4 and Avatar 5, although it is hinted that neither movie will actually have Earth as the main setting.[12]
  • It can be seen as quite ironic that humans struggle to breathe Pandora's air when they ruined Earth so terribly that they are unable to breathe properly on their own planet. In reality, there are many cities such as Beijing where the air is full of toxic smog, which is shown to create lung disease, detrimental health effects, and studies have shown the poor air quality has reduced people's IQs.
  • A globe of Earth can be seen in the non-canon James Cameron's Avatar: The Game showing that parts of eastern Africa have been submerged due to the rising ocean levels.
  • Also from Avatar: The Game, there is an unused map of Earth present in the game's data. It shows a much stranger Earth where the continents have shifted, been flooded, and parts of Africa and the Middle East appear to be covered in snow, assuming they aren't clouds. Also, Japan no longer seems to exist and appears to be entirely submerged.

Gallery[]

Avatar[]

Concept art[]

References[]

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