Choosing The Experts
Why Make The 11th Hour? | Choosing The Experts | What Can
We All Do Now? | The Need For Regulation | Optimistic? |
Biogs | Discuss
What were the criteria for choosing people to interview? Were there particular scientific and cultural sectors you sought to explore?
LEILA: Before we set out to find the people in the film, we created an outline of the subjects we wanted to explore. The narrative followed a creation story-type arc (first there was the planet, then there was man, then we were thrown out of balance with nature, then we discovered oil, then civilization happened, then the population explosion, then the disintegration of the biosphere (the air, water, land) to now. Once we broke out the outline, then we reached out to the people we knew who could best carry the information for a particular topic. There were several people who could tell the whole story, and they do appear throughout the film. And then there are specific experts, on, say, the state of the land, etc.The criteria for the people when we chose them included: charisma, the ability to speak plainly about complex ideas but most important, to be the expert or among the experts in that particular topic. The basic topics included the sciences of ecosystems like air, water, land, soil, trees, atmosphere, climate, to biology, to renewable technologies, to anthropologists and psychologists who could tell us about human behavior.
NADIA: We also chose people based on specificity and breadth. Sometimes it was important to get an expert on a specific area like over-fishing while other times we needed ocean experts that could connect their knowledge to broader more philosophical ideas. In addition to finding people that could cover all the areas of the ecosystem from oceans to air and climate we looked for big thinkers – people that could tie all of this stuff together to culture, politics, and economy.
One of the great things about doing this project was being able to meet people that had inspired me or opened my mind through their work and writings. To be able to call upon them and then sit down with them for a discussion was a great honor and a huge learning experience.
During this process what was there any bit of knowledge that just completely surprised you?
LEILA: When we started the project, we wanted to take a 'big picture' look at how humans have related to the earth, and take stock of the state of the planet. It seems so obvious now, but I was surprised to find out that humans are facing an extinction crisis along with all other life, that we are not excluded from the catastrophic events, that in fact, we are the most vulnerable even though we have technology.We learned that the earth is going to be fine. It's us, humans beings, that are in big trouble. So, the environmental movement is not about saving the trees, it's about saving ourselves.
NADIA: Yes, many times. Almost every person we interviewed said something either totally new to me or had a kind of unique perspective or insight into a known fact that made me see the world differently. Realizing that the environmental problems we face are not just another political issue to be regulated; these problems demand a cultural shift and a groundswell from citizens like the civil rights movement - that was the biggest revelation to me in the film – that this fight to 'save the world' is global, is the largest in human history and that approaching it, as an issue to be regulated here and there will never work.
A total sea change in how we live and approach the world is necessary. We need a constitutional right to protect the environment in the Untied States and all over the world.
Another thing that really surprised me: Wes Jackson's explanation of agriculture and soil. I never knew soil wasn't just dirt but a mixture of nutrients and earth that has been evolving for billions of years. That modern agriculture and all of our petrol-based fertilizers and pesticides and monoculture farming is actually not only destroying the soil but degrading it so much that we are producing food that is not only toxic but is losing its nutritional value.
