Racing Extinction (2015)

I watched a pretty depressing documentary yesterday, or at least it started that way. It was about the world - and all that we're doing to it (all the bad stuff), and it moved me. That's a start.

Did you know: that only in the last 50 years, we've killed off more than 40% of the ocean's supply of Plankton, and that Plankton are what have given us about half of our oxygen? Did you know that in the next fifty years we might kill off 50% of all life on this planet? Did you know that the drastic increase in carbon dioxide is making our oceans acidic - and that already seashells in certain areas can't develop past the stage of larvae, because the acid eats away their shell quicker than they can protect themselves?

Did you know that the big oil spill in the Gulf - the one that was in the news a few years ago and seemed to be such a huge natural disaster, only let out toxins equivalent to a fourth of what the US spews out every day? Have you heard how Shark Fin Soup is made? Have you seen the rooftops were 20-30,000 fins are laid to dry in the sun? Have you seen the streets were species near extinction are traded? Have you seen some of the beautiful carvings made of elephant ivory? Did you know that the whale sings the loudest on the planet, and yet sings in a frequency that is too low for us to hear - though it travels across oceans! And have you ever listened to the last bird of its species calling out for a mate - again and again and again, and never getting a reply.

It was pretty depressing... occasionally beautiful, but also so very depressing. Both sad and inspiring at the same time, though it starts with the former, and ends with the latter. It makes me want to change my life drastically, because only if we do can we really change the world. As they say: we're teetering on an edge between total extinction, and a movement, where we can actually do something about this. And yet here I sit, typing this, comfortable, in a warmed-up home, as the world crumbles around us.

Is this our destiny? Do we truly believe we can change the world by writing, and talking, and making documentaries, and opening up for debate? Sure it's a start, but to truly change the world: we'll have to go so much further.

The movie does introduce a few people who do just that: who each day strive to make the world a better place, and save it from ourselves. They're the inspiring part of the movie.

They manage to add in suitable product placement for Tesla cars as well, with Elon Musk making a very short appearance as well. And is that a Sia song at the end of the movie? Inspiring music, that goes well the inspiring sights - a serenade of tropical sounds and endangered species that play on the Empire State Building, and other walls of the New York cityscape. Spoilers? Nah. It's something to look forward to as you plow through bleak and dystopian pictures of our world as the movie paints it. With reason. The theory is this:

Scientists predict we may lose half the species on the planet by the end of the century. They believe we have entered the sixth major extinction event in Earth's history. Number five took out the dinosaurs. This era is called the Anthropocene, or 'Age of Man', because evidence shows that humanity has sparked this catastrophic loss. And we are the only ones who can stop it.

To really change the world, we need so much more than watch a documentary like this, but if everyone in the world did that'd be a start. I'm giving this a five not because it's a flawless movie, but because it's an important one. It gives perspective, and lets us know: it's still not too late to turn the tide, and make the world a sustainable place for all.

 rated 5/5: friggin awesome