I have spent the last couple of weeks reading taking some time to seriously read The Great Disruption. As I mentioned in previous posts, Paul has cohesively amalgamated many of the thoughts that are buzzing around the world at the moment in regards to limits to resources, economic downturn, environmental impact, as well as the values of society. I have been thoroughly impressed by both his skillful and approachable writing and his no-nonsense attitude in terms of not letting details of timing/severity disregard the mountains of evidence pointing in the direction of what is to come.
I have just finished the final chapter, and boy is it a gem! The metaphor at the beginning of the chapter is just PERFECT! I won’t describe it though because I want you - yes you! - to go out and get the book (or download it or borrow it - it doesn’t matter, it just needs to be read!). This is probably one of the most important books of 2012 and I IMPLORE you to read it and share the importance of the content. This is what is to come.
Another great one from Annie Leonard and the Story of Stuff Project. Will some parts of this may be an oversimplification of the issues, I think many Americans could use and probably would even appreciate the enlightenment that this video provides.
I think it’s a bit of a joke that many countries have been holding revolutions to change to a form of democracy/economy like ours. HA! Look what good it has brought us. At least this form of it.
Where does our stuff come from? How does it get to us? What happens to it afterwards?Our economic system is in crisis on all levels. Annie Leonard takes us on a short journey that outlines the extraction, manufacturing, sale, use, and disposal of our stuff.
There is SOOOO much evidence out there about all of this stuff it’s overwhelming. I could make 100 posts with similar articles and videos. But, at least more and more people are becoming aware of the problem? Eventually we will be forced to change our ways because we will have hit our resource limits and the system will no longer be able to handle what we are throwing at it.
I watched this film last night and it is definitely worth a watch. Zeitgeist: Moving Forward is the third film from Peter Joseph and the Zeitgeist Film Series (I have yet to watch the first two). This film discusses the (negative) impact of our current socioeconomic system to our society and the entire globe. Below I’ve included some of my own thoughts on each section of the documentary.
The film begins with Part I: Human Nature and discusses the importance of genetics and environment on the human being. At first I wasn’t really sure where they were going with this, but by the end it begins to tie in nicely with the second part. The conclusion is much like the first chapter of every psychology textbook from the last two decades, nature and nurture are not in competition but in combination and it is a false dichotomy.
Part II: Social Pathology examines the destructiveness of consumerism and our current uneconomic “economy.” As I was watching this portion I found myself wanting to do other things and I allowed myself to be distracted. Hearing about the economy and markets is just so unpleasant. I’ve had sort of a hatred towards the whole thing since I was little and in general have a slight repulsion whenever I have to listen to talks about business haha. BUT I made it through. Most of what they described I knew on some level - planned obsolescence is a good example - but it good to hear specific examples and descriptions of the problem we find ourselves swarmed with.
Part III: Project Earth is something that I have been thinking about and theorizing myself for a while. I have read about the Venus Project and a resource based economy before. I very much think the idea of a global resource management system and all the strategies around it should be put in place before time/resources run out and we hit the limit. I’m all for sustainability and intentional design of cities, but I get sort of an uncomfortable feeling when looking at the circle city plans from the Venus Project. It may just be resistance to change, but it seems a touch too utopian and doesn’t look like it allows much room for variability. I think the ideas behind the structure and integration of agriculture, energy production, transportation etc are all good, but maybe the format needs to be something more natural?
The final portion, Part IV: Rise, examines the state of the world today. It highlights the problem that the majority of the public is ignoring - pollution, climate change, debt, overpopulation, resource shortages etc. Then the film tries to tell the viewer that we can make a stand and change the course of the trajectory that we find ourselves on… Great haha.
I think Zeitgeist: Moving Forward presents some of the problems we are facing in a convincing are articulated way and I appreciate the awareness they are trying to raise in the public. However, I am currently reading The Great Disruption by Paul Gilding and relative to Gilding’s work, this film seems a tad bias and with undertones of conspiracy - with daunting music added in too much. The film doesn’t need this. It makes makes it cheesy and, for me, discredits the true severity of the problems we face. Objective truth without the theatrics would have been more impactful. Perhaps they will change their ways for their next film Zeitgeist: Beyond the Pale.
I have yet to watch this movie, but I’m quite excited by the trailer!
“Students who are starting school this year are likely to be retiring around the year 2065. Given that we can’t predict with any certainty what the world is going to look like in 10 years or even perhaps 5 years, the very best that we can do is prepare young people for a rapidly changing social technological economic environment - that they’ll need to be the most flexible, collaborative, resilient, creative generation that, really, have ever been.”
- Annika Small
That pretty much sums it up.
Unfortunately, I would have to say that in all my travels I have not seen an education system that does this. The closest would perhaps be in the younger years of elementary school; however, by the time a student is in middle school or high school and certainly university level - these things seem to be lost in the monstrous amount of content focused forced cramming that is going on.
Anyways, now I’m going to try and find the movie. If I’m able to find it online, I’ll post a link and share my thoughts later :)
I posted this TED video last week when I first saw it. Since then I bought Paul Gilding’s book The Great Disruption to find out more about what he has to say.
I’m only a few chapters in, but basically he is summarizing up nicely what I have been saying for the last year. My thoughts were unsubstantiated and I sort of pieced everything together from an idea here and a notion there and a whole lot of intuition and common sense, but Paul has concrete and scientific evidence backing him that is summarized in an approachable and practical way.
It’s a bit weird reading it actually. It’s sort of as if a future version of me wrote it after years of research haha. But honestly, it’s really nice. It makes me feel like I’m not alone in my crazy thoughts and that well… I’m not crazy haha. It’s very validating. I think the only other time I felt like this recently is when I watch the documentary Surviving Progress (which I highly recommend as well).
That’s all for now. I’ll probably post more as I keep reading. Anyways go grab the book and prepare yourself for our future :)
Now Paul Gilding’s perspective is a little more along the lines of what I have seen before and am thinking myself. Right on point with my thinking at the moment. The pathway to the future does not look to be one smooth sailing, but rather a disruptive shift to change course.
I agree with Paul when he says the crisis is inevitable, but how we deal with it is still up for us to decide. And I can’t even imagine what I would say to my kid when they ask me what we were thinking in 2012…
And this is why I can’t just “get a job” like everyone else and quite frankly I’m not sure how anyone else can either… However, I agree that we shouldn’t be mobilized by fear the future - we should be ready to act and motivated! We are bloody good at adapting and hopefully this crisis will be quite exciting :)
Great presentation! I’m glad I sometimes find people on the same wavelength! AMAZING!
Now Paul Gilding’s perspective is a little more along the lines of what I have seen before and am thinking myself. Right on point with my thinking at the moment. The pathway to the future does not look to be one smooth sailing, but rather a disruptive shift to change course.
I agree with Paul when he says the crisis is inevitable, but how we deal with it is still up for us to decide. And I can’t even imagine what I would say to my kid when they ask me what we were thinking in 2012…
And this is why I can’t just “get a job” like everyone else and quite frankly I’m not sure how anyone else can either… However, I agree that we shouldn’t be mobilized by fear the future - we should be ready to act and motivated! We are bloody good at adapting and hopefully this crisis will be quite exciting :)
Great presentation! I’m glad I sometimes find people on the same wavelength! AMAZING!
Are we on the cusp of a Third Industrial Revolution?
Brilliant article! What a vision for the future. Side-by-side, lateral, power - decentralizing the 20th century energy structures.
Jeremy Rifkin (yes also the speaker/author of The Empathic Civilization) is interviewed on his new book The Third Industrial Revolution. He expresses his views on the current centralized power structures while also outlining an alternative for the future.
As a sort of teaser/trailer for his upcoming book, David Owen has released a clip outlining some of the predicaments we find ourselves in when looking at how to overcome various environmental problems.
I love finding and thinking about things like this - where we have a … well a conundrum haha!
I saw this on Visual News today. This is all a bit crazy isn’t it? Especially when most of these high selling doesn’t aren’t even educational. The second to last stat on here makes me a bit sick too…
BUT toys are cool aren’t they? However, things to do not need to be this excessive…
Yesterday I finally saw this! It was… validating! It covered a lot of what I’ve been thinking about over the last six months. I can’t say I learned about any new concepts necessarily (new examples though for sure), but it was just relieving to see that there ARE other people out there. I’m going to spend some time tomorrow researching the various speakers and seeing if they are associated with any projects that I may be interested in working on.
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