The 11th Hour Reflection

Thankfully there are a lot of powerful, well-produced and credible documentaries, publications and other media focusing on the environment, climate change, resource over-consumption, etc being made and broadcasted these days such as the amazing Home and the more analytical 11th Hour. It is comforting to know that the message is finally reaching the masses, and being delivered in a digestible way for everyday people. As chilling and confrontational as these media are, all underlying concepts are the same, with statistics and examples that draw light on issues surrounding the problem with the current nature of the human race. The 11th Hour doesn't pull any punches when it comes to shocking facts that confront us about the way we live and how we perceive our existence on Earth. I felt that contrary to some other environment depletion documentaries, the 11th Hour was strongly back by a prevalent and continuing element of scientific credibility. Environmental and scientific figures expressed their own opinions next to a detailed insight into the current state of human existence psychology. Referencing our position and apparent insignificance in the history of evolution was thoroughly interesting, I found. This contributed to my feeling that the 11th Hour is probably the most overall revealing and contextualising of the environmental documentaries I have seen.
As to not blab on about the significance of the facts and evidence presented in the 11th Hour, as I have done in previous reviews and reflections on similar topics, I will simply share a few of the quotes and concepts that were interesting and inspiring for me throughout the movie.

I loved part of the film that was focusing on how the advantageous qualities that gave homosapiens evolutionary advantages and caused us to become the most dominant species on the planet. And how we have exaggerated these advantages to the point now where all other species on earth are in decline - no species on Earth other than humans is in a stable or increasing status in terms of numbers.
This idea was championed by the statistical data outlining the exponential growth of the global population in recent years as we grew and expanded.
This concept highlights how we truly are nothing more than a dominant member of a finite ecosystem that has utilised an ability to communicate to it's advantage. We have become vastly disconnected from nature and natural systems, which is terrible because we are nature. Our overwhelming power causes us to think that our existence is mutually exclusive from all other organisms.

Post the industrial revolution, nature became viewed as a resource. The industrial revolution allowed us to harvest the Earth for all of its resources incredibly efficiently, however with little consideration for the repercussions. This again relates back to the incredible exponential population growth. Machines allowed for automated production hundreds of times more efficient than anything seen or implemented by humans.

Initially we lived off sunlight - sun meant growth and we lived within the means of that. Whatever sun fell on the Earth directly resulted the amount we could consume. Then we discovered little pockets of embodied sunlight in coal and oil, which allowed us to manufacture produce at a rapid, unnatural and incredibly efficient rate. Fossilised carbon equalled consumable human biomass. However with unforeseen devastating side effects.

Quantitative data: 1 tree with a 10-12" diameter trunk will absorb 57,000 gallons of water in a flood. It will filter the water and return it to the 'aquafer'. Yet we still insist on deforestation for various reasons, resulting in devastation from natural disasters and soil erosion. Very detrimental to our existence and our social well-being that we have come to value to dearly, yet face losing altogether.

The concept of corporate economic globalisation was an interesting and somewhat frustrating part of the documentary. The greed of human beings, particularly those in positions of economic power, is what is preventing dramatic changes from occurring. "Nature is the property of corporations" - financial resources. "The economy is geared to grow, but the environment is not. So the economy encroaches on the environment."

"Environmental change is a symptom of the problem. The problem is the way we are thinking"

"The US military budget is greater than the entire economy of Australia." - sickening.

"Consumption is not necessarily bad, it's just gotten drastically out of balance."

As do all environmental documentaries and media, they provide solutions and ways that individuals can help to deter massive and catastrophic environmental change.
"We must disengage from consumerism, and not let our lives be mediated by the marketplace."

"Things are thieves of time" - we are prisoners to our possessions. Similar concepts are touched on in the Objectified documentary. We are victims to consumerism, as advertisements by corporations make us feel that we will be left behind unless we work more and more so we can afford the most cutting edge products.

"Frugality does not mean poverty, it is the wise use of our resources."

"The Earth has all the time in the world, and we don't."

I will finish by saying, as I have before, that I do not feel disadvantaged to be born into a time where change is imminent. I actually feel privileged. It is urgent and crucial for our continuation as a human race, yet it is nonetheless an opportunity that has been presented to us to change the way we exist. The future I see is an amazing, near unbelievable, aesthetic and peaceful place, and it is very far from unachievable.