By: Melysa Miranda

As a philosophy major, watching the documentary started a train of thought about man's attachment to convenience and self-gratification has led us to where we are environmentally at this moment in time. I was thinking about how man can be the most advanced and the most regressed being in the world all at the same time. I had reflected on how many times I have done the world wrong; how many times I acted high and mighty as a student achiever when as a citizen of the Earth, i was all but "barely passing." Watching the 11th Hour really woke me up on the horrors of what we've done, as a people, to the world that we live in. We are not in a healthy world. We are in a world where we have made so many scientific advancements, so many groundbreaking developments, but not in any way have found a way to save the planet on the same level as those discoveries and inventions. It further shocked me when I realized that this documentary was made and shown in 2007its 2012 and we are in no better shape than from 5 years ago! Is the human race useless as a species? Are we parasitic in nature? After ensuring the survival of the human race, have we in fact doomed ourselves by destroying the only place in the universe that we can inhabit? Truth be told, the idea that we are parasites seems logical. By definition: Parasites: 1: a plant or animal living in, with, or on another organism usually to its harm. 2: one depending on another and not making adequate return.
Merriam-Websters Desk Dictionary

By the first definition, humans can certainly as a parasite. We are the plant or animal inhabiting an organism (the Earth) usually to its harm. We are the species that dealt the most harm on this planet, if not the only one. Our status as parasites is further cemented by the second definition. We are depending on another (the Earth) and not making adequate return. We have taken all the Earth has to offer so that we could survive (various plants, animals, minerals and other natural resources) and we have given less than enough in return. We have given back worse with carbon emissions, air, land and water pollution and general mistreatment of the environment that can drive different species of plants and animals to extinction. We have contributed to the gases that causes global warming, making the world-enabling sunlight a danger to us all. With our messed up climates (due to our doings), we are never ready for even just a little

rain; with our trees gone and sewages blocked, there is nothing to absorb the water and keep the floods from eroding the land. We are consuming left and right. We are paying money to other consumers, but we havent paid to the main producer. The Earth is going to make us pay, and suddenly the crazy conspiracies of the 2012 End of the World dont sound so crazy anymore. But after all that, I still believe that we are not parasites in nature. What kind of parasites are we if we can still stop and think that what has been going on is bad? What other parasite has paused and had it dawn on him or her that, Wait. Im being a big jerk to this beautiful organism Im depending on. Its my turn to give this time? What makes us different is that we have a choice on the matter and Im proud to say that some of us have made the right one. What makes us extra different, as an entire species, is that we have the ability to love. As stated by one of the experts on the documentary, David Suzuki: All life is related to us.[]Love is the force that makes us truly human. This struck me the most because an Asian said this. No, its not my Asian-bias showing; this struck me the most because it coincided with recent lessons from my majors classes. In Eastern (Asian/Oriental) Philosophy, nature is not thought of us a separate entity; man is insignificant compared to nature and (in most eastern philosophies) divine beings are one with nature if its not nature is divine itself. Another expert from the documentary, James Hillman, even went on to say, To think that were separated with nature is like a thinking disorder. The question should lie on why we think that way. In being one with nature, in being sensitive to its needs, well be able to save the planet before it is too late (and according to the documentary we dont have that much time!). It doesnt even have to ultimately be a grand declaration of I LOVE THE EARTH; we can do just that by loving the trees that give us shade, the air that keeps us alive, the water that nourishes us and animals that provide us help and sustenance. In loving the littlest things, in caring for the things we directly affect, we are building good foundations for our personal relationship with the world. In retrospect, we dont need big inventions or even bigger discoveries; all we need is the capacity to care for the things around us. All we need is the love that will keep us going in the right direction. With the same thought, we shouldnt be discouraged by ideas that we have to give up a lot of our conveniences by doing grand things at once. We can start with, lets say, printing a reaction paper on reused paper. That, for me, is a pretty good start.