The Eleventh Hour

The 11th Hour is a film about the many problems that the environment faces today, such as global warming, species extinction, deforestation, and the depletion of ocean habitats. James Woolsey and others explain how hurricanes, earthquakes, and other natural disasters are the result of negative climate and environmental changes. Industrial factory farms systems are one of the major factors that cause detrimental effects on the environment, as they induce pollution, and hazardous chemicals to enter our oceans.

The main message that the film continuously implies throughout the movie is that the future of humanity is in danger with the rate that people are mistreating the environment, but there is still time to make things better. Narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, and with contributions from over fifty prominent politicians, scientists, and environmental activists, the film presents the audience with reliable facts about how the Earth is in serious danger with all the problems that it is currently facing. At one point of the movie, Oren Lyons, an environmental activist poses the question, “What if we choose to eradicate ourselves from this Earth, by whatever means?” He continues on to say, “The Earth goes nowhere. And in time, it will regenerate, and all the lakes will be pristine. The rivers, the waters, the mountains, everything will be green again. It'll be peaceful. There may not be people, but the Earth will regenerate. And you know why? Because the Earth has all the time in the world and we don't.” Lyon’s words lead to the realization that as humans destroy nature, they also bring destruction upon themselves. In time, however, the environment is going to survive. Humans, in fact, will probably be the ones who won’t. And if we do, it will probably be in a world we do not particularly want to live in. If we are to prevent such an outcome, we must take action now.

Basically, the film is reaching out to the audience and telling us to step up and actively seek solutions to our pressing environment issues. We can start to do so by changing some of our habits and become more aware of ways to protect and preserve the environment. Our government of course aids us to save the planet and one of the many things that they can do is to eliminate the CAFO and slaughterhouse systems because those are amongst the main causes of certain environmental problems, such as climate change.