11th hour

Produced and narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, The 11^th Hour is a documentary that showcased environmental and social problems that this generation is facing. It is an eye opener and a good strategy to increase public awareness on current issues that concern us and our planet.

In the film, Kenny Ausubel said “We are part of nature. In fact we are nature.” The documentary was successful in building a strong relationship between humans and Earth. Environmental issues in the planet are worsened by social problems. Likewise, environmental problems have impacts to the quality of life. The assumption that natural resources can be equated to monetary value has affected our culture and attitudes toward our resources, environment and other living species in the planet.

Our actions affect our surroundings. How and what we do today will always impart consequences to the nature. Going back to what David Suzuki said “If you do something to offend the natural world, we’re going to pay a price for that.” hereby suggesting mutual respect from humans to Earth and to its living creatures. Nature gets back to us through environmental catastrophes in forms of tsunamis, hurricanes, droughts, earthquakes and among others; in the end, we always suffer.

It has been pointed out that industrialization brought the idea of limitless progress and usage of resources. With today’s advancement of technology, we can turn the table as we can use it to lessen the impacts of our actions to the environment. In time, our ways of living degraded the value of nature. For instance, our common negative practices in transportation and agriculture contributed in diminishing the quality of our resources and our surroundings. Thus, the need for environment friendly living arises. Green living supports sustainable development. By definition, it refers to “Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Brundtland Commission).  And in order to uphold this idea, innovation is vital. However, these innovations should be anchored with the principles of sustainable development. To come out with new designs and processes, today’s developers should consider our scarce resources and the forthcoming generations. Sustainable development should be prioritized in every community as it minimizes negative impacts of our activities and it will improve the well-being of the people.

Clearly, The 11^th Hour was efficacious in bringing the message to its audiences. It was informative; as there was consistency in facts and figures while claims were backed up with scientific explanations. Moreover, it encourages us to be part of a society that cares and persuades us to transform the planet into a better place to live in.  Turn mankind’s darkest hour into its finest. It dares.