Leonardo Dicaprio Case

The 11th Hour is a documentary, narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio that is about humanity's last chance to make changes to our environment. Drastic climate changes are happening across the globe and the majority of the time, they are reported as isolated, unrelated events. The documentary questions whether these really are isolated incidents, or perhaps maybe all very much related on a global scale that could in fact alter our lives on this green planet, as we know it.

Three major parts of our planet have been affected by global warming: the atmosphere, the oceans and the forests. It is believed that the problem first began in the 1800s with the industrial revolution. Things such as the steam engines, burning of fossil fuels and utilizing oil to extract many of our resources have become human kind's method of exploiting energy. Our species used to live off of current sunlight and renewable energy while using nature as a resource to live. However, by using natural resources and renewable energy it is only possible for the planet to sustain approximately a few billion individuals. Over the last hundred years the global population has expanded dramatically; more and more people are living on the planet than ever before. Earth's atmosphere contains natural greenhouse gases that effectively and efficiently trap some of the energy reflected from the sun in our air, which makes life on the planet possible. By burning these fossil fuels, human kind is adding to the greenhouse effect with unnatural gases, therefore causing the Earth's temperature to rise at alarming rates. Not only is this affecting the atmosphere, but also the dumping of pesticides, herbicides, mercury, heavy metals and many more toxins into the oceans is having a dramatic health effect on our environment. Dumping carbon dioxide, CO2, into the ocean in one particular area is proving to cause dead zones along coastlines in different regions, causing a loss of 90% of large fish in the ocean. Currently, no living systems are stable or improving at this point; not only are we affecting our own species, but many more as well. There is less food in the oceans and what are left there are becoming more poisoned and unsafe for humans to consume. It has even become unsafe to swim in certain parts of the ocean across the world due to poisoning and toxins. Another issue stemming from mass production and industrialization is the cutting down of various trees and desertification. Trees not only provide nutrient cycles and a natural resource for many usages, but also they absorb large amounts of water. This is crucial in areas where floods are becoming more and more of an issue, and very well could be avoided. Desertification is happening more frequently across the globe and causing larger amounts of deserts and loss of biodiversity.

There are many health affects associated with the drastic climate changes and the pollution humans are adding to the atmosphere,