11th Hour

'Not only is it the 11th hour, it's 11:59 and 59 seconds'

The 11th hour a 2007 documentary film, created, produced and narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio. This is a important and insightful documentary. This documentary is about how humans have affected and damaged the earth and what chance we still may have of reversing the destruction. 

The film is made with insightful contributions from scientists, environmental activists, including former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and physicist Stephen Hawking to name a few. The film documents the problems our planet earth is facing. Global warming, deforestation, extinction, chemical contamination of land and water and industrial revolution but most especially how human civilization have contributed and affected the earth. 

The film stated that it all began when humans begin to develop technology and came the industrial revolution. One of the primary cause is our reliance on 'oil', the fuels we use, petroleum being the primary one. The increase in economic demands rise to mistakes and the humans exploitation of nature leading to the destruction. In the United States of America, there are almost only about 5% natural forests remaining. Chemical contamination of water and the soil itself is largely damaged everywhere. According to Stephen Hawking 'One of the most serious consequences of our actions is global warming brought about by rising levels of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels. The danger is that the temperature increase might become self-sustaining if it has not done so already'. Global warming is what is resulted from the melting of the polar ice caps, and  the production of greenhouse gases. 

Worst, thousands of species a year are becoming extinct, and only a few actions to saving ecosystem can be identified. Overpopulation and the fact that humans are suffering from increasing numbers of diseases that our pollution causes. Overwhelming accumulation of waste, etc. are  contributing to the larger problems of global warming and climate change and at fault is the overproduction of  manufactures, the waste and destruction, and the sustaining of  more people than the planet earth can support. 

It is not just the 11th hour, but the last few seconds of the sixtieth minute of that hour.  Nature is the greatest resource, and the solution is in realizing that humans ourselves are a part of it, and also realizing that the resources are not infinite. In a few years, we will have reached the point where there will be of no return and before this happens it is our sole responsibility to take responsible actions. In this century, if nothing is taken into action and no effective solution is achieved, planetary damage will be dramatic. Extreme disaster could come very rapidly, and it is hard to predict once we are in the wrong direction, and it can happen everywhere. The film proposes solutions to these problems by shaping and rethinking the global human community through technology and social responsibility. I believe that the process can still be slowed and perhaps even reversed. . We have the science, technology, and the knowledge and if we just put our whole effort and dedication to it the earth will soon be a better place to live in.