11th hour

Read and ponder the first set of questions by 9 October ( Friday ) . Also DO NOT FORGET to post your final copy of Rip van Winkle in an email.

You may comment at will.....but at least comment that you read the assignment.

After prairie presentations are completed, we are going to take a wee break and look at experts and how " expert" information is presented by these " experts" . Please read the following synopsis of the 11th Hour ( as presented by Leonardo DiCaprio ) and ponder the questions that follow.

The 11th Hour: A Synopsis of the Film

The expression “the eleventh hour” means the last moment when change can happen to avert possible disaster. In the film The 11th Hour a variety of world experts explore how humanity has arrived at the current convergence of environmental crises while exploring steps that people can take to avert global disaster. In summary, the earth is nearing meltdown, beyond climate change. The process began with the Industrial Revolution, when people started mistakenly looking on nature as external to themselves and exploitable without limits. Forests have undergone major destruction. The ocean is becoming stagnant. Almost everywhere, the soil itself is largely damaged. In addition, 50,000 species a year are becoming extinct; no ecosystem can be identified as improving. Humans suffer from increasing numbers of diseases caused by pollution. At fault is the overproduction of non-sustainable manufactures, immense waste and destruction, and an unsupportable population. The primary cause for much of the crisis is the fuels we use, petroleum being the primary one.Through nature itself, the technology exists to solve some of these crises, and part of the solution is for people to live more consciously in harmony with nature as opposed to dominating it. According to the film, in a few years we will have reached the point of no return. We are not only at the eleventh hour, but at the last few seconds of that hour. Within this century, if nothing effective is achieved, planetary damage will be dramatic and total in every area. Although impossible to predict, extreme disaster could be quick once the balance is decisively tipped in the wrong direction, and it will happen everywhere.The 11th Hour features leading experts from around the world, including former Soviet Prime Minister Mikhail Gorbachev, scientist Stephen Hawking, former head of the CIA James Woolsey, and sustainable design experts William McDonough and Bruce Mau, along with over 50 other scientists and world leaders who discuss the most important environmental issues facing the earth while presenting strategies to avert the crisis.

Glossary: ( Just in case )

• Global Warming: Climate change is the long-term fluctuations in temperature, precipitation, wind, and all other aspects of the earth's climate. Global warming is defined by the United Nations Convention on Climate Change as “change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods.”


• Greenhouse Gases : Greenhouse gases are chemical compounds in the atmosphere that trap heat there. They retain a proportion of the sun’s heat through a mechanism known as the greenhouse effect. Greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide (CO2), are naturally present in the atmosphere in small quantities (less than 1%). Greenhouse gases are those gaseous constituents of the atmosphere, both natural and anthropogenic, that absorb and emit radiation at specific wavelengths within the spectrum of infrared radiation emitted by the earth’s surface, the atmosphere and clouds. It is very likely that greenhouse gases released by human activities are responsible for most of the global warming observed in the past 50 years. The warming is projected to continue and to increase over the course of the 21st century and beyond.


• Biodiversity : The variety of life on earth—or its biological diversity—is commonly referred to as biodiversity. The number of species of plants, animals, and microorganisms, the enormous diversity of genes in these species, and the different ecosystems on the planet, such as deserts, rain forests, and coral reefs are all part of a biologically diverse earth. Biodiversity boosts ecosystem productivity where each species, no matter how small, has an important role to play, and it is this combination that enables the ecosystem to possess the ability to prevent and recover from a variety of natural disasters. This is useful for humanity as a larger number of species of plants means more variety of crops and a larger number of species of animals ensures that the ecosystem is naturally sustained.


• Carbon Footprint : A carbon footprint is made up of the sum of two parts: the direct, primary footprint and the indirect, secondary footprint. The primary footprint is a measure of the direct emissions of CO2 from the burning of fossil fuels. This includes domestic energy consumption and transportation from, for example, cars and planes. The secondary footprint is a measure of the indirect CO2 emissions from the whole life cycle of products we use, those associated with their manufacture and eventual breakdown.


• "Green" Building: Green” building is the practice of increasing the efficiency with which buildings use resources—energy, water, and materials—while reducing building impacts on human health and the environment, through better site planning, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and removal—the complete building life cycle. Other similarly used terms include sustainable design and green architecture.

• While watching the 11th hour, you need to write " gut" reactions to what is being shown and/or being said.
  

Questions:

• What do you see as today’s most urgent environmental crisis?


• Where have you gotten information about environmental issues?


• Do you think the mainstream media present environmental issues clearly and accurately?


• What actions have you taken to conserve and preserve the earth’s resources?


• In assessing your skills as an advocate for something you care about, what do you see as your strengths?

• After you watch the video: think about and be ready to answer these:

• Describe some of the emotions you felt during the film.


• Which aspects of the video had the greatest impact on you and why?


• What information contained in the video was new to you?


• What topics presented in the film would you like to explore further? Do you know what you need to know in order to continue learning about environmental issues? If the answer to that question is no, how can you find out what you need to know?


• Discuss the ways that eating locally produced food is an environmental issue. What can individuals do to support the local production and consumption of foods?


• Who should see this film and for what purposes?


• Who might be unreceptive to the ideas in the film and why?


• Share one issue or item that you wrote on your index card while you were watching The 11th Hour.


• As a result of your having seen this film, what, if any, specific actions do you think you will take?

After we discuss the merits or demerits ( as the case may be) of this film, you will watch Earth: Population Zero. Musings and writing assignment to follow.