What really struck me happened within about 45 minutes before the conclusion of the movie as Reeves’ character attempts to explain why humans must be annihilated.

“This planet is dying. The human race is killing it,” states Reeves’ character in the movie. “If the earth dies, you die. If you die the earth survives.”

He goes on to explain that the problem is not that we lack the technology to change, the “problem is you. You lack the will to change. You treat the world as you treat each other.”

This line alone boldly states the feelings I have. The feelings that keep me striving to make a difference by participating in activism-related fields. It, in only a brief statement, spells out much of what is wrong with this world.

We have a state but that’s not enough. We want a country. That’s not enough we want more countries. More… anything. This race or that one is inferior and must be destroyed. Who cares if there are starving, homeless people in the alley next to where I work? I don’t know them. Who cares if there is a dog fight just outside the city limits? I’m not there and it’s not my dog. Where does it stop?

A nobel-prize winning professor (John Cleese), during an intense discussion with Reeves’ character, says, “You say we are on the brink of destruction and you are right but it’s only on the brink that people find the will to change. Only at the precipice do we evolve. This is our moment. Don’t take it from us we’re close to finding an answer.”

The answers are simple. We must change. The question is do we have the will to change? Will we take steps to make our world better before it’s too late? Can we look beyond partisan arguing and our own front doors?

Politicians and big industry fight to prevent any changes to emission releases, many companies will pay fines rather than make changes, criminals poach endangered creatures, wars are fought over a slight difference in religious or political beliefs and natural resources, less-developed nations clearcut forests at an alarming rate and trash is carelessly dumped. We have a garbage pyre in the Pacific the size of Texas!

If we don’t change, humans will be destroyed – not by aliens – but by disease, hunger, pollution and destruction of natural resources.