Film: The 11th Hour

Global warming is not only the number one environmental challenge we face today, but one of the most important issues facing all of humanity ... We all have to do our part to raise awareness about global warming and the problems we as a people face in promoting a sustainable environmental future for our planet.

—Leonardo DiCaprio.

We watched The 11th Hour and have learned that it's 11:59. We do not have 30-40 years to stop the clock of destruction.

The film's premise is that the future of humanity is in jeopardy. With contributionsfrom over 50 politicians, scientists, and environmental activists, (such as physicist Stephen Hawking, Nobel Prize winner Wangari Maathai, and journalist Paul Hawken) the film documents the grave problems facing the planet's life systems. Global warming, deforestation, mass species extinction, and depletion of the oceans' habitats have combined to possibly destroy this unique planet.

The film proposes potential solutions to these problems by calling for restorative action by the reshaping and rethinking of global human activity through technology, social responsibility and conservation.

It's not just global warming and fossil fuel depletion, the population explosion: the deterioration of our planet reflects our inner selves. The earth has all the time in the world to heal itself; our human/animal population does not have the luxury of time.

View the trailer for this important film write down some questions that the film raises for you.

Small groups: Share unanswered questions; attempt to answer each others' questions.

Whole class synthesis: What are some significant thing we have learned from the video? What questions remain? How can these guide our study?