The 11th Hour: Why Do Things Happen? Causal Questons

After watching the movie The 11th Hour, we have an urgency that it is time to do any effort for the earth because the scenes which show the current states of the earth and human's behavior appeal to our motivation to act. Although I was shocked by the content and had an idea of urgency about doing something for the earth, I also thought that I had already experienced the same thought many times in my life, even though I lived in Japan. That is, of course, this movie The 11th Hour is not first movie which makes an argument that we have to think about saving the earth as soon as possible seriously. In the article Rhetoric and Persuasion II, John D. Ramage explains that "In asking why something happened, we are asking what caused it to happen or what motivated its occurrence. Causal questions are important because once we understand why things happen, we are better able to predict consequences and shape policy so as to prevent bad things from recurring and encourage good things to keep on flourishing"(p.110). However, according to Ramage, his explanation also implies an ironic fact that most of us do not make any effort so far to save the earth in spite of the fact that we have already known the argument like as the story of The 11th Hour. That is, repeating messages that it is time to save the earth indicates the meaning of not only emergency, but also of humans still breaking the environment of the earth, unfortunately.

However, while some of us never stop the behavior to break the environment, it seems a fact that the population which started to contribute is increasing. In chapter 15 of the movie, we can see many figures of people who suggests how to contribute the earth and already practiced the contribution, for instance the scene of penguin. Actually, Ramage also explains that "We can use our understanding of how bad things came about to reverse a trend, solve a problem, or cure a disease" (p.110). Furthermore, Kenny Ausubel says in the movie that "You made the first choice because you know you have to do something". That is, we must know how to contribute the earth in order to regenerate its environment by watching this movie. Therefore, the statements of Ramage and Ausubel would mean that the action whether people improve their mind and behavior and attempt to start an individual effort or not, is finally depending on our each own decision because we also already knew how to stop the trend that people not act but only listen and receive the message that it is time to save the earth.