The 11th Hour

The 11^th hour is much like Al Gorses’ documentary ‘ The Incontinent truth’, however lacks Gores optimistic view on world change. In contrast this documentary uses a ‘scare’ like tactic to preach that nature is on its ‘tipping edge’ forcing us to see immediate action must be taken. Through the opinions of  many scientist and environmentalists this documentary exposes us to the past, present and future natural devastations caused by global warming, deforestation, mass species extinction, and the depletion of ocean habitats. However although forceful this doco shows that change is possible but only through the combination of our knowledge of technology, science, conservation and social responsibility.

Wade Davis states ‘you are either a person or property’ which sums up the idea that humans have grown to think they are the superior species. This belief has caused a growing disconnection between humans and nature dramatically since the 18th century industrial revolution, where nature became seen as nothing but a ‘resource’ to our kind. Before this time our kind was dependent on nature- we ate from the land, we dressed in natural fibres and the sun was our main source of energy; this forced nature’s limitations to determine our life. However around the industrial revolution humans found other pockets of energy eg coal and oil and this reduced our limitations and allowed us to rapidly expand our population. However the changes we made and are still making including the production of polluting chemicals are causing the creation of new problems such as disease like cancer, asthma, Parkinson’s. We are really plotting our own death. Our entire human life style is now resting on unrenewable sources and only time will tell how this balancing act will end.

Our lifestyle is created around our economy instead of the biosphere. This has caused companies top priority to be growth instead of the protection of our earth. This doco conveys that due to this focus on money politics priorities are also wrong. It shows politicians see global warming as a religion ‘I believe... I don’t believe’ because they respond to the higher power of ‘oil companies’ instead of responding to the environment. This has caused the bridge between public opinion and public policies to be lost.

Fellow Designers should watch this as this documentary forces us to see ‘good design’ is the solution. It shows this by emphasizing consumerism is the problem however this problem can be fixed by simply changing the objects the consumer desires to sustainable goods. It shows us that consumerism is not bad but the extent of our consumption is out of control. It conveys that ‘bad design’ is part of the problem ‘things are thieves of life’, and as designers we should be particularly careful not to add to the problem. It is made clear design needs to go back to simple terms and be inspired by nature’s ways; follow nature’s blueprint. This doco pledges designers are the solution makers and the welfare of life is in their hands