I just got back from seeing this very impressively done documentary about the intersection of crises that the human race faces that centers around population, energy use, and unsustainable industrial processes that degrade life on the planet.
I rate this movie a 10/10 because in a limited time, in a non-technical way Leonardo Di Caprio narrates a documentary that pulls many different problems together in many different ways and for the most part does it in a way that is not condescending, boring, preachy, but is hopeful and inspiring.
DiCaprio narrates and holds together the movie which is really excerpts of interviews and statements from all kinds of distinguished speakers and does an excellent job of keeping the documentary human and adult.
One focus in on temperature. Global Warming, Climate Change call it what you will. The concensus is explained to people in a way non-scientists can clearly understand. One example is how the polar ice caps function to reflect some of the heat radiation from the Sun away from Earth out into space. As we warm the planet the polar ice caps melt and we lose this balance so that not only do we not reflect excess heat to space, we actually absorb more heat causing a positive feedback loop. This feedback system is pushing us past a tipping point from our nice comfortable zone of termperate stability into an unknown weather system that could conceivably runaway and take up to the extreme of our other to solar neighbors, Mars or Venus.
Another focus of this movie is human population which I think most of us intuitively know is a problem. The population of the planet has doubled from 3 billion to over 6 billion since the Kennedy administration in the 60's. The problem is explored in terms of the net energy use by our species and the need to "mine" stored solar energy in the form of oil/coal since we surpassed the number of humans the Earth can comfortably support living on current solar energy the way we used to live in non-technological times.
Some solutions are then explored, and new terminology is explained. I have been familiar with these ideas and terms for a long time, but I was glad to see a well done popular explanation of them in documentary form that was not a political diatribe and in fact had a spiritual twist to it. A profound spiritual change is going to be what is needed as most scientists agree not only are we in the 11th hour, we are at the 59th minute of that hour and counting and not just in terms of Global Warming but in all the aspects of human life on the planet that are affected by more and more hungry people swarming on the planet looking to consume.
Humanity has to move fast, and it has to do something it has never done before and may not be capable of doing, and that is to change our nature and act like the intelligent creatures we purport to be rather than the unthinking animals who foul their nests and destroy their habitat.
This movie is not in a very wide release, and many places where it shows up I have already seen some really nasty comments about it. Sadly this is part of human nature that is hard to change, the idea that we can determine reality for ourselves and isolate ourselves in our own heads and ignore the laws of physics. We need not only education, but all of need a lot more humility and patience so that we can actually talk to each other and if not maintain our humanity, then invent it finally.
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Comments: 31
Thanks for the review. It is well-written, and I scored it a "10". It will begin to air in my area around mid-Sept., and I plan on seeing it. I'm glad you mention that the population has doubled since the Kennedy administration. I don't think most people are aware of that. Good article.
11th Hour Time Capsule
A very achievable step in trying to control the population before the Malthusian hypothesis shifts into high gear would simply be for the Catholic Church to accept its responsibility for the preservation of the planet and stop promoting unbridled expansion in areas that can least afford it. So far, the church has contributed mightily to the problem...
Then you will see a couple on tv with 17 kids, these are the people that need to be nutured, it just makes me mad. Are these people brain dead or what?
Thanks Bruce, for calling this documentary to our attention.
yeah, i ranted freely on that thread about the family with the 17 kids. And then somebody replied "maybe they just love their family".
Shheeeeeeez.
All these facts that we know what are going to destroy us must be denied if our minds cannot accept change. It is as if we have all been programmed to play a game and the people with all the power to stop it or change are the biggest winners and the least likely to see it is just a game or allow it to change because their worlds would be destroyed. The cannot allow themselves to see that THE world will be destroyed if we do not change, and ultimately all of our talk about religion and democracy is useless because our brains just compute about us and this life, not about the future or anyone else's existence.
How do we all in some kind of fair and agreeable way decide to drastically cut back on population? The age old method has always been war.
I read a book a year ago by Tim Flannery, University professor in Australia, called
^^The Weather Makers.^^ He did a great job explaining how and why the weather is changing, he used information given to him from scientist arond the world.
I have found inspiration and hope listening to people at TED conference on line.
----- www.ted.com --- changes are occuring voluntarily, people are aware and
working hard on finding alternatives.
Change begins with each one of us, I have changed some habits to reduce use of gas , electric and built a home with extra insulation to conserve energy, and try to encourage other to do the same, by spreading information, when appropriate.
Another good book is" Life after petroleum" by Albert Bates. He gives many good idea on how to reduce our footprint in the world.
Kowledge is everything.
The Gore movie caused me make some big changes in my life - and I am still working on it and believe I can only make personal changes - and it is going to take RADICAL personal changes for all of us - we can't point to others, but have to see what changes we can each make.
I really believe that going vegan is one of the biggest ways I can PERSONALLY help - pull myself out of the loop of the unsustainable, polluting, factory farming - I hope others will please consider this possibility, start with one day a week (Like Steve!) - it just isn't that hard today, so many alternatives - visit us at vegancooking.gather.com
Anytime, anyone, whether movie or not; states factually that we are the fundamental cause for the destruction of earth, space & society, it has negative feedback.
And mostly when a movie or a group of people ask us to inconvenience ourselves for the good of human kind, it will have negative feedback.
Great review, I can't wait to both rent it and defend it!
Chris W. - I plan to get "11th Hour" on DVD too, as well as "Sicko" and some of the other good documentaries I have seen lately.
Shian Morningstar - I find it hard to be optimistic about this as well. As I see how life ends by watching grandparents and parents I think most of us now living will have the added sadness of seeing the planet passing away, and perhaps humans struggling against each other as we reach that stage in our lives. There would be nothing nicer than to be proven wrong and see some hope blossom, but it is a long shot I'm afraid.
David McGill - I think all nations and all relgions that "compete" with each other all support higher than normal population rates, or they "lose". They fail to realize that now that we are all so successful we will all lose if we do not slap ourselves hard and wake up.
Nalita - I was surprised that Leonardo DiCaprio was so active in this movement. The documentary did not focus on him in anyway except his name and narration. I feel supportive of it since if I had a lot of money I would hope that I could do something similar. I cannot think of anything more important.
Gery Waas - I think if government (and religion) could become more efficient at incentivizing us to sustainable behaviors and thoughful technology we might be able to make a difference. People who have children should pay more for the privilege, and also should be confident they can do raise health productive children who can save the planet, not more criminals. Putting this in the tax code makes sense. Maybe a tax that goes to the UN, a global tax for a global problem.
Elise - I am a carnivore, or omnivore, but I am starting to realize that meat eating is very expensive, and that the quality of the product and the existence of these industrialized forms of life has gotten sickening in many cases. I am not against killing and eating animals completely, but where is the appreciation to nature in the degradation we engage in now?
One of the main problems I see about this thing is that there is overpopulation, global warming, climate change, pollution, genetic diversity, over fishing ... many people argue about the specifics of some of these, or the truth value of them, and do not see the problem for what it really is ... we are destroying the legacy of what created us, nature, with a contempt that is totally unthinking and arrogant. We are moving into a situation that has no precedent, except perhaps for some of the situations that were documented in the book "Collapse" by Jared Diamond. People are so busy playing their people games ... the many different kinds of war, that they do not realize they are killing themselves.
We have to become a different species, homo sustainius?
Gore concentrated on his own studies and experiences with specifically
global warming in "An Inconvenient Truth" whereas Leonardo DiCapro
was more a narrator giving time to man experts who spoke their own
points of view not just on global warming.
Sometimes I think there is too much focus on the Global Warming
part of the environment, and the media/corporate spin on these
things where they want it to go, as opposed to looking at the
whole humanity environment issue.
I really liked this movie and it highlighted the many problems
our species faces, and our effects on other species as well.
I wouldnt want to go too far with the Malthusian theory but i think i should mention that increase population is only significantly affected if on average couples of the world have 3 or more children (and not any less since 2 at most only manage to replace population numbers;namely the parents).
In any case regardless of any such discussions on population or any limitations on population, what is important to note is whether the worlds populations are being acknowledged as a problem and more importantly whether solutions are actually being in this regard and within what context these are being suggested.
What i most often get to hear about involves the global warming problem & how human beings are affecting it and also how increasing populations contribute to these problems. But the discussion is most often ends at this point without acknowledging the fact that solutions (which involve eugenics population control)have been suggested since a long time now (even before this mass concensus on man made global warming, although now global warming seems to drive such suggestions to quite a degree at the moment). I did put up these links in my article as well and people should stop pretending that those advocating these suggestions arent global warming advocates (links in the following comment)
Also we must stop distinguishing between the powers & financers behind the green movement, oil giants & large international banking powers. They are all one and the same. One example of this are the rockefellers (see my article for reference links). It is also important to remember that besides funding the green movement the rockefellers also funded eugenics(even during/before hitlers time). To a significant degree, population control & the depopulation movement stem from eugenics and its time to stop pretending that these sugestions arent real or that at the moment global earming isnt being used as an excuse to put forward such proposals(the kind that have long existed).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics
http://www.sas.org/tcs/weeklyIssues_2006/2006-04-07/editorial-p/index.html
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2132089,00.html
I believe the discussion on whether global warming is man made or not is a seperate issue altogether. Whether or not man kind will be made to pay for it(property rights,restriction of supply of natural resources such as oil (peak oil), global taxes or eugenics) is another matter.
I still have yet to see it.
Thank you for your steps/efforts!