11th Hour: Reclaiming Roots

In the body of climate change films, this one is fairly alarmist and dry. There are, however, two gems that caused me to flip back to the film from my solitaire game, bored by the images and monologue and the way the film was structured.

11th Hour


The first point of interest is an old one, but one I find timely and alluring: Humans as parasites, surviving upon its host, unfortunately killing that which it's survival depends upon, multiplying to an unsustainable number poisoning and choking the life of nature.

The second gem is William McDonough. Here are excerpts of his genius:

“We have to see design as the first signal of human intention. And realize that we need new intentions for our future where materials are seen as things that are highly valuable and need to go in closed cycles; What we call cradle to cradle instead of cradle to grave. And that energy needs to come from renewable sources, principally the sun. And that water needs to be clean and healthy as it comes in and out of a system. And that we have to treat each other with justice and fairness. So the design, itself, changes from mass production of things that are essentially destructive to mass utilization for things that are inherently assets instead of liabilities.”

I love the idea that design is a first signal of human intention. Intention is huge. To me, it's everything that matters. And it comes first before all.

“If we think about a tree as a design, it is something that makes oxygen, sequesters carbon, fixes nitrogen, distills water, provides a habitat for hundreds of species, accrues solar energy, makes complex sugars and food, creates micro climates, self replicates. So, what would it be like to design a building like a tree? What would it be like to design a city like a forest? So what would a building be like if it were photosynthetic? What if it took solar energy and converted it to productive and delightful use?”

What genius?! This is what I studied engineering for...