The 11th Hour
August 23, 2007
UHC’s Dan Kastilahn (far right) helps answer questions after a local screening of the new environmental documentary “The 11th Hour.”
At the beginning of 2007, a West Coast-based filmmaker contacted UHC for more information on green roofs in Chicago. Little did we know our work was being considered for one of the major environmental documentaries in recent years.
Our photos and information on the Rooftop Victory Garden at True Nature Foods requested by the filmmakers was, unfortunately, not used in the film, but UHC’s Dan Kastilahn was asked to be a part of a Q & A panel discussion following a local screening of The 11th Hour, narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio.
Featuring a well-rounded cast of individuals working in widely varying fields from biology to law to commerce, the film presents an excellent and cohesive overview of current challenges that will be familiar to those working in environmentally-related fields. Rather than dwelling on these problems (which the film communicates with an appropriate sense of urgency), this is also a film about solutions.
Making a convincing case that humans, while the originators of environmental problems, are a part of the environment and thus best-suited to implement change, the film drives home an important theme of inclusion and sense of belonging often overlooked in environmentally related-media.
In the words of psychologist James Hillman “[w]hat we’ve lost is the beauty of the world…”
The 11th Hour helps us see it’s not too late to recognize we are an integral part of the world and what we need to do to remain a part of it.