The 11th Hour Reaction Paper

10837183

Piñon, Jan Catherine G.

The 11^th Hour Reflection Paper

by Samantha Martrella S. Barretto

The 11^th Hour clearly shows how our world is being destroyed naturally and artificially which became an alarming documentary film to everyone. This film was first shown last August 2007 at the Annual Cannes Flim festival. It was directed by Leila Conners Petersen and Nadia Conners. Leonardo de Carpio is the narrator for this film. He is also the producer. The 11th hour is distributed by Warner Independent Pictures.

The 11^th hour talks about the different issues our environment is facing such as global warming. Several individualities shared their ideas on what is happening to our world and suggested concrete solutions on how we can survive this crisis. I agree with Thom Hartmann when he said that the human culture thinks that we are superior life form on this earth but truth is we are part of nature. We are nature. With this thinking, human beings tend to take things for granted like how we treat animals. Some people kill them after which they will eat or even use them for clothing. Seeing this example makes us very inhuman. We don’t take care of each other that’s why endangered species are starting to vanish in our world. The film also says that we may have technology now but we are not using it properly. According to Lester Brown, we should use our technology to adapt to the economy today but sad to say time is running out. The 11^th hour showcases how important the sun is to us. It has the most energy and it can provide energy to everyone around the world thus we can substitute the sun for the fuel we are using today. Solar powered cars and roofs are being promoted for us to use to be able to maximize our sun light. One solution that struck me the most is the dance club being powered by the human movement. I believe that our advancement of technology today can produce this kind of set-up but we were afraid to take the risk. As what mentioned in the film, this can reduce the human’s footprint by 90%. All of the solutions being presented in the film may mean shifting on what we are used too to something that will make us better humans and surpass this crisis. Nevertheless, the 11^th hour reminds us to use our resources wisely.

What bothers me is that this film was shown last 2007, 5 years ago. If 5 years ago our biosphere is greatly damaged what more now after 5 years. This is one truth that everyone is scared to hear and believe. Watching the film, made me realize and appreciate the small things we have such as the sunlight, wind, water and movement we do. I salute the people who are part of this film that they were able to think of alternative ideas that will surely help us solve this predicament. I also realized that our environment is not really the problem, it is us, humans, who are creating the problem and now we are paying for our own actions. As a Lasallian, I am now more conscious of my actions in my environment. I support the no plastic bag campaign in our country. I bring my own reusable bag where I place all my purchases while in my household; they follow strictly the segregation policy of our village where they should separate biodegradable trash from non biodegradable. These small actions may seem overuse and common but I know and believe that it will have a big impact in saving our mother nature. Personal action is the key in making our world the healthy and fit for the future generations.