Today I am
continuing with what I wrote quite a while ago: documentaries about the
environment. Again I will present 3 documentaries, with links to their websites
and to a website where you can watch them online.
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The 11th hour
The
expression “the eleventh hour” means the last moment when change can happen to
avert possible disaster. In the film The 11th Hour a variety of world
experts explore how humanity has arrived at the current convergence of
environmental crises while exploring steps that people can take to avert global
disaster. In summary, the earth is nearing meltdown, beyond climate change. The
process began with the Industrial Revolution, when people started mistakenly
looking on nature as external to themselves and exploitable without limits. Forests
have undergone major destruction. The ocean is becoming stagnant. Almost
everywhere, the soil itself is largely damaged. In addition, 50,000 species a
year are becoming extinct; no ecosystem can be identified as improving.
Humans suffer from increasing numbers of diseases caused by pollution. At fault is the overproduction of non-sustainable manufactures, immense waste and destruction, and an unsupportable population. The primary cause for much of the crisis is the fuels we use, petroleum being the primary one.
Through nature itself, the technology exists to solve some of these crises, and part of the solution is for people to live more consciously in harmony with nature as opposed to dominating it. According to the film, in a few years we will have reached the point of no return. We are not only at the eleventh hour, but at the last few seconds of that hour. Within this century, if nothing effective is achieved, planetary damage will be dramatic and total in every area. Although impossible to predict, extreme disaster could be quick once the balance is decisively tipped in the wrong direction, and it will happen everywhere.
The 11th Hour features leading experts from around the world, including former Soviet Prime Minister Mikhail Gorbachev, scientist Stephen Hawking, former head of the CIA James Woolsey, and sustainable design experts William McDonough and Bruce Mau, along with over 50 other scientists and world leaders who discuss the most important environmental issues facing the earth while presenting strategies to avert the crisis.
Humans suffer from increasing numbers of diseases caused by pollution. At fault is the overproduction of non-sustainable manufactures, immense waste and destruction, and an unsupportable population. The primary cause for much of the crisis is the fuels we use, petroleum being the primary one.
Through nature itself, the technology exists to solve some of these crises, and part of the solution is for people to live more consciously in harmony with nature as opposed to dominating it. According to the film, in a few years we will have reached the point of no return. We are not only at the eleventh hour, but at the last few seconds of that hour. Within this century, if nothing effective is achieved, planetary damage will be dramatic and total in every area. Although impossible to predict, extreme disaster could be quick once the balance is decisively tipped in the wrong direction, and it will happen everywhere.
The 11th Hour features leading experts from around the world, including former Soviet Prime Minister Mikhail Gorbachev, scientist Stephen Hawking, former head of the CIA James Woolsey, and sustainable design experts William McDonough and Bruce Mau, along with over 50 other scientists and world leaders who discuss the most important environmental issues facing the earth while presenting strategies to avert the crisis.
Home
The
documentary chronicles the present day state of the Earth, its climate and how
we as the dominant species have long-term repercussions on its future. A theme
expressed throughout the documentary is that of linkage—how all organisms and
the Earth are linked in a "delicate but crucial" natural balance with
each other, and how no organism can be self-sufficient.
The first
15 minutes include footage of the beginning of the natural world, starting with
single-celled algae developing at the edges of volcanic springs. By
showing algae's essential role in the evolution of photosynthesis, it also
explores the innumerable species of plants which all have their origins in this
one-celled life form.
In the rest
of the first hour of the film, the documentary takes on a more human-oriented
focus, showing the agricultural revolution and its impacts, before moving on to
talk about the harnessing of oil, leading to fire, industry, cities and
inequality gaps like never before. It portrays the current predicament
regarding cattle ranches, deforestation, food and water shortages, the use of
non-renewable "fossil water", the over-quarrying crisis and the
shortage of energy, namely electricity. Cities such as New York City, Las
Vegas, Los Angeles, Mumbai, Tokyo and Dubai are
used as examples of the mismanagement and wastage of energy, water and food.
The recession of marshlands and glaciers are shown in vast aerial shots of Antarctica, The
North Pole and Africa, while mass emigration and refugee counts are
shown currently and forecast in the event that these events remains unchanged.
It is at
this point that the film begins to focus on global warming and the
carbon crisis. Home shows how melting glaciers, rising sea levels and
changing weather patterns are ravaging the people who have least to do with
climate change, but also how it soon will affect rich populous areas.
The documentary claims to show the awful
truths regarding our impact on the Earth, but also what we are now doing to
combat and reverse it: including renewable energy, the creation of more and
more national parks, international co-operation between various nations on environmental
issues and the extra education and reform being had across the globe in
response to the current problems facing the earth.
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FLOW: for love of water
Water is
the essence of life, sustaining every being on this planet. Without water,
there would simply be no plants, no animals, and no people. But the global
water supply isn't just at risk, it's already in crisis.
With an unflinching
focus on politics, pollution and human rights, FLOW: For Love of Water
ensures that the precarious relationship between humanity and water can no
longer be ignored. While specifics of locality and issue may differ, the
message is the same; water, and our future as a species, is quickly drying up. Armed
with a thirst for survival, people around the world are fighting for their
birthright; unless we change, we face a world in which only those that can pay
for their water will survive. FLOW: For Love of Water is a catalyst for
people everywhere: the time has come to turn the tide and we can't wait any longer.
Interviews
with scientists and activists intelligently reveal the rapidly building crisis,
at both the global and human scale, and the film introduces many of the
governmental and corporate culprits behind the water grab, while begging the
question “CAN ANYONE REALLY OWN WATER?”
Beyond identifying
the problem, FLOW also gives viewers a look at the people and institutions
providing practical solutions to the water crisis and those developing new
technologies, which are fast becoming blueprints for a successful global and
economic turnaround.
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