A Documentary Film by Leonardo DiCaprio.
The title of this documentary “the 11th Hour” puts across to me, a viewer, a caution of warning and a
sense of hope about the state of our Earth's condition. It instill fear into us, humans, that time to save
and restore our planet environment to its original state is running short. At the same time, it gives us the
idea that there is still time to change our ways and attitudes towards our actions on our Earth, and help
save its from its and our demises.
In the beginning of the documentary, Paul Hawken discussed about the origin of cells and genes, and
about how the majority of cells in our bodies are not human at all. He said: “The things that makes us
human are not human.”, which I found to be interesting because I had always the perception that what I
know and feel are so life-like and it was actually the combination of these inhuman cells in my bodies
communicating and sending messages to my brain. It is also contradicting that we humans are trying so
hard to rebuild replicas of ourselves through cloning or by the building of robots, when we ourselves
are not really human in the first place. But it was because of the unusual mixture of our cells that we
have attained life from nature and that developed our human mind. As David Suzuki had said, “It was
the human mind that was the very key to our survival.”, which resulted in the dominance of our human
species over the other life forms on Earth. On the other hand, he also said that “ The human mind...
threw us(humans) out of balance with the rest of nature.” The human mind had caused us to be ignorant
of nature's capability and power, resulting in a rebound effect on us today with the issues of global
warming, climate change, natural disasters and so on. Thom Hartmann supports this idea by saying that
“Our culture is built on the assumption that we are the superior life form on Earth.” However, this is
not the end of our species yet as we currently possessed the technology and knowledge to change our
outcome, as asserted by David Suzuki's statement “We are the only animal on the planet that was
actually able to recognize that we could affect the future by what we do today.”
Nathan Gardels introduced the concept of Greek mythology with relationship to climate change that
was “The revenge og the gods, the revenge of nature”. The intensification of natural or man-made
disasters globally is due to our irresponsible ambitions of industrial and technological revolution that
caused the increase in global temperature thus resulting in climate change. The few degree rise in
temperature in the past had caused the mass extinction of life forms on the planet during the last Ice
Age. The prologue of disasters to come could be seen by the destruction of Hurricane Karina on a
developed country's state in New Orleans, USA. What I found most disturbing was the tone and
attitude in the newscaster reporting these news on television lacking the seriousness in reporting these
events and the real cause of them which is us humans. Sheila Watt-Cloutier further introduced an
example of an ice-free Arctic by the end of the century or in a few decades. The illusion of that image
to me is too scary to imagine and I seriously hope that it will not happen. The flooding of coastal
countries and cities globally and the rise of environmental refugees will to occur if the water levels
were to rise. Leonardo DiCaprio supports this by stating that “ As time passed, deforestation, soil
erosion, vanishing wetlands and a whole hosts of other problems continue unabated, we face a
convergence of crisis, all of which are concerns for life.” I felt strongly about Andy Lipkis's comment
“Take that one tree away, and you will get a flood”, which made me think of the importance of our
forests and also with relation to current studio project I am doing on, how can I use this fact onto my
studio project on floods.
Ray Anderson rose the issue of production's wastage by stating that for “Every truck load of products
with lasting value, thirty two truck loads of waste are produced.” As designers, this reminds us to be
aware of the decisions that we make in the design process and how that we reflect on the end product
and the wastes it produces. In order to do so, Wade Davis introduced that as citizens of the developed
world on how “ We forget how majority of the world lives, and indeed how the majority of the world
looks.” Likewise, Nathan Gardels introduced that as consumers and designers that we “change the
objects of desire in order to get to the root of the problem.” Making a product less desirable for the endusers
will never agree to the ideals of the economic corporations, as their goal is to increase the profits
and to do so will result in selling products. In contrast, we, as designers, could design products to
highly desirable to the extent that consumers will hold onto the products for a longer period of time and
instill their emotional values into the product. On how to do so will be a challenge for designers.
William McDonough brought up the importance of design and that people should “see design as the
first human intention.” He further went on to discuss the importance of raw materials and renewable
energy, and the concept of a closed cycle or cradle to cradle. As designers, we should definitely
consider the complete cycle of the design process and pay attention to the different stages a product
passes. Because its effects of an irresponsible decision on the designer's part will be multiply onto an
exponential scale.
Janine Benyus offered the solution for people and designers to look into nature for answers. She said
that “how we make things in our industrial process is 180 degree different from how life makes things.”
The idea of gazing into nature for inspiration is not new with the example of bio-mimicry and designers
like Ross Lovegrove. However, it is the lack of awareness to it that is an issue, as it is same as to the
lack of awareness to our environment.
In conclusion after viewing this documentary, I am more aware and conscious of the negative impacts
of industrial and technological advancements, like our uncontrollable need for fossil fuels, on our
fragile environment. On the other hand, I have also be able to understand to look into technology's
positive aspects for inspiration and and the importance of design and a designer's job in relation to our
environment and the possibilities it offers. Lastly, as designers, we should cultivate our passion for
design and the love of planet, to be more compassionate to its calls for help.
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