The 11th Hour

Last night we went to see this new film on the looming environmental crisis and we found it powerful, effective and very well done. While the film at times presented facts and figures at a breakneck clip, it kept your attention and never became over-preachy. Relying on a series of short interviews with scientists, business leaders and philosophers interspersed with footage of the beauty and degradation of the biosphere, and punctuated with occasional narration by co-producer Leonardo DiCaprio, the film makes a clear, convincing case that we need adapt our economic and social systems to include the Earth as a partner, rather than treating it as an object of profit-motivated exploitation. If we don't, we risk mass starvation, millions of environmental refugees and possibly even extinction.

One interesting concept in the film is that humans have been able to live and thrive beyond the planet's natural ability to support us because of our use of "ancient sunlight" stored in non-regenerative fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas and coal. According to the film, the earth's natural systems (particularly the dawn-to-dusk cycle of daily sunlight) can only support about a billion people. And since we are at or nearing the time when oil and gas supplies will start dwindling (called Peak Oil) it could become increasingly difficult to support the 6 billion already on the planet, not to mention the additional 3 billion expected in the next 30 to 50 years. Our population has doubled (from 3 billion to 6 billion) since 1960 and is still growing at an alarming rate.

The film also makes the point that if we don't start making major changes soon (on the scale of a World War 2 buildup) then we risk losing control over how our society can affect the weather, if indeed it isn't already too late.

But the film doesn't just lay out a doom and gloom scenario. The last third of the film focuses on what can be done, and is being done, to mitigate climate change. There are existing technologies and many emerging ones that, if adopted widely, could make huge reductions in our pollution rates NOW. But while converting our energy supply to renewable sources over the next 50 years is doable, the political will, vision and leadership needed to do so is sorely lacking on the federal, state and local levels. Worse yet, the current administration in Washington has done more to thwart sound environmental policy, and has so badly mismanaged our natural resources in favor of short term corporate profits, that it will take nothing less than a clean sweep in '08 to start to turn the corner towards a sustainable future. I am very hopeful that we are well on our way to making this a reality.

I urge you to see this film and to spread the word to others about it. This is an important educational source about global warming, and it's a great starting point for discussions with family, friends, neighbors and co-workers about the problems we are all facing and what we might do to help. It's real strength lies in its willingness to address the philosophical as well as scientific issues before us. And it will take all of us, together, through the ballot box, our buying decisions and our attitudes to make the changes we need to make.