The 11th Hour

The 11th Hour film was directed by Leila and Nadia Conners.Some of those represented in the film were Richard Heinberg, Stephen Hawking, Thomas Hartman, David Orr, Sylvia Earle, and many more. However, the narrator was Leonardo Dicaprio. In the film were several representatives that spoke on the subject of global warming and the human society balancing with Earth's nature. A argument made in the film stated that "We [humans] are not separate from nature, however we have convinced our selves to be the dominate nature figure." People are apart of nature, but people have not recognized this yet and have began to take over nature because they think nature has no rights like humans. People have participated in over-whelming deforestation, in mixing natural greenhouse gasses with unnatural gasses, and in carbon dioxide wasting. These activities have been taking place because the human species have a desire to sustain a mobilized world. The result to this kind of human thinking had caused problems to global warming, eco-systems, the ocean life span, and failure to the industrial systems. All of which, according to the film, rates of decline are steadily increasing. The collapse that the world is about to experience is the result to human ignorance in terms of the Earth.

Most living systems are not stable, including Earth itself. Humans have increasingly pushed unnatural greenhouse gases into the Earth and has caused it to heat up and global warming disasters to occur more often then they normally would. Dicaprio argues that people have failed to realize global warming is real because they don't know what it looks like. Global warming are those droughts, tornadoes, hurricanes, massive heatwaves, earthquakes, and floods that the world has experienced in the last 10 years. The difference is that these are all responses to damage that they humans have placed upon Earth; this is man-made global warming. The only way to fix what is occurring is by repairing human nature's relationship with nature life.

The Revenge of Gaia by James Lovelock

James Lovelock wrote a book titled The Revenge of Gaia: Why the Earth is Fighting Back – and How We Can Still Save Humanity. In the first chapter, Lovelock describes how he personally feels about the “Earth’s declining health” (Lovelock, 2). The Earth is a living organism in great danger due to climate change, tribal carnivores, and natural-habitat destruction. Lovelock argues that the way the population treats the Earth needs to change immediately and drastically. Humans have exposed the earth to high pollutions of natural gas, fossil fuels, and destroyed primeval forests primarily thinking of only themselves no matter the damage it may cause. This is tribal carnivores. As Lovelock stated, “We have to take global warming serious and immediately and then do our best to lessen the foot-print of humans on the Earth” (Lovelock, 15).The population needs believe that global warming is real and as a whole lessen the harm that humans has placed and is currently placing upon the Earth.
The population must treat the Earth as a sickly patient and give it the medicine to recover. In Lovelock’s opinion, nuclear-fusion energy is an effective temporally medication to repair the sickly Earth. However, “even if they [scientist] are right about its [nuclear-fusion] dangers, and they are not, its use as a secure, safe and reliable source of energy would pose a threat insignificantly compared with the real threat intolerable and lethal heat waves and sea levels rising to threaten ever coastal city of the world” (Lovelock, 14). Nuclear-fusion can be the energy source that protects the Earth, however, just like other energies there are consequences. Its threats on the Earth are not as bad as the Earth’s possible damage if nothing is done. Also, nations need to consider “our future food and energy supplies can no longer be taken as secure from a world that is devastating by climate change” (Lovelock, 17). The larger populations must begin to strategize how to save themselves, but also keep the Earth in mind; they must work together to provide for each other.

What We Know About Climate Change by Kerry Emanuel

The book titled What We Know About Climate Change by Kerry Emanuel addresses human and natural forcings that are placed on the environment that affect climate change. The most important passages in this text took place in chapter five. In chapter five, Emanuel teaches the reader about the “consequential” and slight “benefits” of intense climate and carbon dioxide increases. Some of the benefits include “less energy [use] to heat buildings, previously infertile lands of high latitudes will start producing crops, and there will be less suffering from debilitating cold waves” (Emanuel, 48). Less energy will be used in particular activities, crops will be able to grow in places that they usually wouldn’t be grown, and people will be less likely to suffer from unbearable cold weather, but these benefits do not compare to the consequences. The consequences are much more serious and dangerous to the human species. Some of the consequential affects that Emanuel refers to are based on what high sea level increases will do to land, and how warming sea surfaces have already began to affect the world. If sea levels increase, flooding will occur on coastal regions. Some regions will be underwater and no longer apart of the world. However, warming of sea levels brought “the most active hurricane seen in 150 years of records” in the year of 2005. This was known as Hurricane Katrina.

Unless, Emanuel argues, a positive feedback occurs, these consequences will eventually take place. However, she also argues that these consequences can happen quicker if something unexpected happens that was not originally studied. This is called a negative feedback. The benefits are not so much of a benefit, when the consequences also apply. This is the most important passage to me because global warming is only important when the affects of it are known. Otherwise people would not be so concerned with it, if global warming did not affect the world that humans reside.

"A Hole in the World" by Naomi Klein

The article “A Hole in the World” by Naomi Klein addresses the Gulf of Mexico crisis known as Deepwater Horizon. Deepwater Horizon is an oil spill that is spreading across the Gulf of Mexico due to an outrageously deep drilling by BP. Klein describes this crisis to be about “corruption, deregulation, and the addiction to fossil fuels” (Klein, 15). Because the human population has developed an addiction to the energy source of oil, we as humans are destroying the environment and livelihoods. The fish in the environment are being poisoned and people close to the shorelines are intimately coming in contact with dangerous chemicals. However, it is revealed in the article that BP declared before the spill occurred that there was “little risk” of anything of this matter occurring. They are basically admitting that they were unprepared for any reactions “The Mother,” or Earth, would have to the drilling.

In regards to the facts presented in the article, the most shocking to me was the politician's involvement. The president, weeks before Deepwater Horizon occurred, “announced he would open up previously protected parts of the country to offshore drilling” (Klein, 18). People can personally conclude that President Obama gave permission to BP to drill. He is part of the reason Deepwater Horizon occurred. Furthermore, people such as Senator Mitch McConnell, Sarah Palin, and conservative leader Newt Gingrich also supported the idea of drilling on home bases to search for oil. This is an act that the politician world has been pushing for years. However, now that the damage is done, people like John Curry assume that “nature has a way of renewing itself” (Klein, 18). Nature can’t repair damage done by human-kind. The oil-spill is something that the people must repair.

"Energy, Nature, ans Society" from The Party's Over

Richard Heinburg made a strong argument in Chapter One, “Energy, Nature and Society,” in his book The Party's Over. He argues that the people have “made the most of our advantages,” (Heinburg, 20). People have used their abilities to create, discover, and learn in order to adapt to the environment. The knowledge of concept is nothing less than an advantage. Obtaining energy and developing new methods was how people choose to demonstrate this advantage. He supports his argument by addressing five strategies: takeover, tool use, specialization, scope enlargement, and drawdown. Takeover is the process of using fire as energy. It kept people warm and contributed to their food supply. The “tool use” is the ability to create tools. Heinburg states, “Tools are extensions to ourselves, they change us. The human-tool complex is effectively a different organism from a toolless human,” (Heinburg, 25). People have simply adapted their lifestyle to the tool they created. Specialization is the strategy of people adding themselves in the category of tools. People began to produce labor. It soon became the “way” of making money. However, not all societies were able to take advantage of the specialization strategy, as well as others. The back-up plan to that, Heinburg explains, is the strategy of scope enlargement. In general, scope enlargement is the idea of sharing resources. Logically, though resources are limited. Drawdown is the strategy of “using their environment’s carrying capacity is to find and draw down nature’s of nonrenewable energy resources: coal, oil, natural gas, and uranium,” (Heinburg, 29). When energy became more of a demand, people began to turn to the earth’s resources. However, those resources are limited. What will be the strategy be then?

"Sleeping Into the Future" vs. "Maya Collapses"

In The Long Emergency by James Kunstler, there is a chapter, “Sleepwalking Into the Future”, which shares similarities and differences with another reading that I recently read. The reading that I feel compares and contrast to “Sleeping Into the Future” is “Maya Collapses” from Collapse by Jared Diamond. In comparison, Kunstler addressees the ideas of what he thinks will happen in a Long Emergency, or essentially the events leading into a collapse, while Diamond addresses the reality of those ideas. For example, Diamond argues that the climate changes in Maya contributed to Maya’s collapse. Whereas, Kunstler stated “ whether the cause of global warming is human activity…..this does not alter the fact that it is having a swift and tremendous impacts on civilizations and that it effects will contribute greatly to the Long Emergency,” (Kunstler, 9). Global warming impacts the society’s environment, which affects the people and causing a human struggle. In Maya, the land became limited due to global warming. It caused major cuts in their food supply that contributed to Maya’s collapse. Many of these types of similarities occurred within the two texts. It is apparent by looking at the ideas that people will experience severe losses, population hypergrowth, global warming, globalism, and trauma of a Long Emergency compares to Maya’s reality.

However, the two texts also differ from each other. Their major difference is that one is based on belief, rather than an actual event. Kunstler states “I will concern myself with what I believe is happening, what will happen..,” (Kunstler, 1). The realities of his beliefs are not in existence. Maya lived through the Long Emergency and collapsed.

The Limits of Power by Andrew J. Bacevich (Chp. 1)

Andrew Bacevich wrote a book, titled The Limits of Power. In the first chapter of this book, The Crisis of Profligacy, Andrew introduces the breakdown of how America has become the society it is today. By discussing the improvements of currency, the war for independence, the “Freedom Decade” (civil rights moment), international relationships, and the “Empire of Production” period that America went through, it is apparent that it took precious time for this country to develop itself. From the beginning to the end of the chapter, he informs the reader about American history and how it’s history have shaped the habits of today.

During the process of trying to develop itself, America was also trying to develop power. The power that Andrew introduces to the reader is the power of wanting complete control. This country is obsessed with being the “mightiest” of them all. As a whole, the United States is willing to using any means necessary to continue to up-hold such standards. Through wars with each other, as well as with the rest of the world, it was slowly accomplished. However, the greediness of wanting such power eventually made America weaker. “As the prerequisites of the American way of life have grown, they have outstripped the means available to satisfy them,” (Bacevich, pg.17). The nation has become too wildly extravagant; even for them.

"Collaspe" Interview of Michael C. Ruppert

The movie, Collapse, was an interview based film that was created on the year of 2009. The interviewer was Michael C. Ruppert. Most of the film Ruppert talks about the world reaching peak oil. Peak oil is defined by Ruppert “oil that can no longer be retained.” The world is running low on its main source of energy source. This is an issue because oil is used for practically everything. For instance, some of the items that the film focuses on are plastic, car tires, cars, cell phone service connections, and food fertilizers. Other substations for oil is not an easy task; oil is used for practically everything. Some examples of solutions that Ruppert says have been tossed around are ethanol, hydrogen and electricity, clean coal, nuclear process, and solar/wind energy. However, all of them are solutions that this movie bashes. Michael even states, “Ethanol is a complete joke.”

Michael Ruppert also brings the term “bumpy plateau.” This refers to the direct relationship between demand and oil production. “It was when oil was found that the population began to increase dramatically,” (Michael Ruppert). With the lack of oil, it has been predicted that the population will come crashing down in numbers. Ruppert backs up his argument with bumpy plateau.

Towards the ending Michael explains exactly what he means by collapse. Collapse is when people losing control over the planet. The only solution he says is to adapt to the changes and limited demands, or also known as the transition phase. People must survive the transition phase.

"Overshoot," From The Limits of Growth (Summary)

What exactly does the term "Overshoot" mean? In "Overshoot," from The Limits of Growth, the author very well explains the meaning. Within the reading this term was greatly defined as going beyond limits unintentionally. The qualification to be considered an overshoot includes growth, acceleration, and/or rapid change. However, delays or mistakes have to be made in order to stay in a limitation of the actual growths, accelerations, and/or rapid changes. Overshoot can be something simple and it can also be something complex.

This reading introduces how the world's population is affecting humanity life, such as the material economy, production, and resource availability. This is the described as the overshoot. The constant growth has caused significant rises in the global change rate within the areas of production, material economy, and resource availability. The author uses charts and diagrams to show the actual affects that have been caused over a time period, starting in the year of 1950. The author states, "In the poor world, growth seems to be the only way out of poverty. Many believe that growth is required to provide the resources necessary for protection and improving the environment" (Overshoot, 6). The main argument made in the text is that most individuals, governments, and poor people believe that they can and will benefit from growth. However, it is the opposite.

Towards the ending of the reading, the author talks about what "we" can do to change the environmental dangers that "we" have created by our growth in population. Although no set solution is given, ideas of change in the everyday life can be made to create sustainability in the world we live in.