The 11th Hour

What a powerful and interesting video. The 11th hour really shows us how wasteful our lifestyle is, and how the corporate world has gotten a grip on our lives, how we spend, use things etc. It's amazing to see the science and statistics behind the state of our planet, and how in many cases people try to reject this reality.

Tom Linzey makes a very good point, “Today, ecosystems, forests, streams, lakes, they have no rights. Which means they could be bought, sold, destroyed, traded or carved up.” The way people are thinking is really affecting our planet, and naturally people want to own something. There can’t just be a plot of empty land lying around. Someone wants to and will eventually buy or trade this land, or any other natural, undeveloped areas. I think this is about how people are greedy, and they want to own everything and everything is tied to money. By being greedy, people are also selfish, in a way that they would really only do things for their own good. But in reality, it is the corporate world that controls everything, the corporate giants will only do things for their own good and helping the environment isn’t something that would help. Another example of the power of the corporate world, is the episode of 60 minutes (the excerpt is in the 11th hour) where James Hansen talks about how the Bush administration is muzzling him and other scientists who warn about global warming.

“The problem is that our sub-system, the economy is geared for growth.. where the parent system doesn’t grow, it remains the same size, as the economy grows it displaces and encroaches upon the biosphere, this is the fundamental cost of growth” – Herman Daly.

Drawing from the charette a week ago, we found out how wasteful our lifestyle is, by discarding items even when they are still functional. An interest statistic – an average American produces 730kg of waste a year and this really ties in with what Ray Anderson said, “We have a system that is a waste making system”. The way we produce and manufacture things produces more waste than the end product, and this is a huge amount of waste. We simply just don’t have the resources to waste like that.

In all, our planet cannot sustain our current lifestyle, and in order to make things right, there are a lot of things we have to do other than to sign some treaties saying a certain country will reduce its carbon emissions. In order to rectify the damage, we need new intentions for the future, and a new way of thinking. We also need to treasure the resources we have, as they are highly valuable and cannot be replaced in a hurry.