Task 3 - The 11th Hour - Video Reflection

I was shocked when i first watched this video. This shows us the outcome of how humanity is living on a whole. We can't pin the blame on one thing but we can look at ourselves and see that we are the problem that is killing everything that was given to us. Guilt is the word i think of after seeing this video and it isn't guilt from the fact that we're not doing enough to save the world. It is the fact that we are doing things that contribute to killing the world.

The subject of discussion that was the most daunting to me was the deforestation issues. Rainforests' were being cut away for timber causing desertification which is the aftermath of the lack of nutrients in the soil so the land turns to grasslands and later turns into a desert land. People don't make the link between cutting down trees excessively and fact that it will have a major affect on them. In countries where a majority of the population grows its own crops, cutting down trees causes irregular flow of water from the mountains then leading to the inability to grow crops in the future.

The video opened up my eyes about what great and useful creations trees are. A tree can hold 57 thousand gallons of water which can prevent landslides and flooding but take that away and natural disasters will occur much easier.
"Thank of all the things that nature does for us for nothing. It would cost the world 35 trillion dollars for us to replace what nature does for us for free" David Suzuki
I've always had a large amount of respect for David Suzuki as he has helped the world in countless ways whether it is to create awareness of what we're doing to our planet or to do something about it physically. That statement is very true as we take for granted what all those trees do for us.

"Rivers, ecosystems, streams, lakes and forests, they have no rights, they are property which means they can be bought, sold, traded or carved up. You are either property or a person."
Tom Linzey
I find this quote by Tom Linzey very eye opening because of the amount of truth behind it. He also goes on to talk about how nature has no rights and we need to change the way we manufacture and use things in order to give rights back to the world.

".....not a problem of global warming or waste, these are just symptoms of the problem. The problem is the way that we are thinking" - Thom Hartmann
Awareness is lacking within our world. People simply do whatever it takes for them to be happy while ignoring all the signs that are showing us that we are killing the world. This exposes the grand scheme of all the problems that we will need to overcome. By eliminating one thing, it is possible that we can solve or at least reduce the effect of all the things that will become our demise if we keep living the way we are.

As a designer, i think we can start by educating ourselves and broadening our knowledge of manufacturing methods and materials in order to avoid large-scale ecological problems and restore balance. By keeping ourselves updated with new findings we can change current problems within our production ways. Kevlar is one of our strongest materials but requires chemical baths, immense pressure and lots of heat but studies show that spiders webs are 10 times stronger than steel but are created with water at room temperature.
Lastly, as designers, we cab design for greener sources. Design products that only use clean energy or sustainable sources. This would promote the development of clean energy as products would only be able to run on these types of energy.