If
An Inconvenient Truth was the wake-up call we needed to acknowledge our role in global warming, then
Leonardo DiCaprio's
The 11th Hour is the jolt of caffeine that keeps us from falling back to sleep.
I was immediately shocked to attention by the opening scene -- a series of images individually dramatic, but collectively heartwrenching when pieced together to show the story of what we're doing to the earth, the animals and ourselves.
Then one after another, what seemed like dozens of experts in their fields put every one of these images into perspective. Even if I'd given in to temptation and taken notes by flashlight, I probably couldn't have jotted down even a quarter of what these scientists, environmentalists and humanists said. (That's what I'll use rewind for when I buy it on DVD.)
Instead, I simply let
The 11th Hour wash over me, just as I would with any other film. And because I made no effort to memorize details, I'm struck by the facts that have been boucing around in my head ever since:
If the history of the earth were one calendar year, humans didn't come on to the scene until December 31st at 11:59 p.m.
99.9999% of all species that have ever existed on earth are extinct.
We're prematurely shortening the human species' existence on earth by contributing to the creation of an atmosphere in which we cannot exist.
The earth has all the time in the universe to heal from what humans are doing to it, but this is the 11th hour for us.
It's not the earth that needs saving. As the Live Earth Movement has been telling us all year, we need to save our selves.
I was immediately shocked to attention by the opening scene -- a series of images individually dramatic, but collectively heartwrenching when pieced together to show the story of what we're doing to the earth, the animals and ourselves.
Then one after another, what seemed like dozens of experts in their fields put every one of these images into perspective. Even if I'd given in to temptation and taken notes by flashlight, I probably couldn't have jotted down even a quarter of what these scientists, environmentalists and humanists said. (That's what I'll use rewind for when I buy it on DVD.)
Instead, I simply let The 11th Hour wash over me, just as I would with any other film. And because I made no effort to memorize details, I'm struck by the facts that have been boucing around in my head ever since:
If the history of the earth were one calendar year, humans didn't come on to the scene until December 31st at 11:59 p.m.
99.9999% of all species that have ever existed on earth are extinct.
We're prematurely shortening the human species' existence on earth by contributing to the creation of an atmosphere in which we cannot exist.
The earth has all the time in the universe to heal from what humans are doing to it, but this is the 11th hour for us.
It's not the earth that needs saving. As the Live Earth Movement has been telling us all year, we need to save our selves.