[Peter Joseph]
Why the name 'The Zeitgeist Movement'?
As some might know, I'm a filmmaker and I've used that term
but it really has nothing to do with it.
The term 'zeitgeist' is defined
as the general intellectual, moral, and cultural climate of an era.
The term movement simply implies motion or change
so The Zeitgeist Movement by definition
is an organization, which seeks to change
the dominant intellectual, moral, and cultural climate of a time
for reasons of which will be discussed in a moment.
The Movement was founded in 2008
and since that time it's gained over half million subscribers
with about 1100 chapters across 70 countries
(in a very short period of time which is quite impressive
in my sense of history).
Originally the movement was partnered with an organization
called The Venus Project and we're still very much in support
of the work of Jacque Fresco, of course, absolutely
[Applause]
but this relationship has disbanded for a number of reasons
and the two organizations coexist with very similar pursuits.
The Zeitgeist Movement chooses not to be grounded
to a singular institution or figure, or even data set.
Rather, we're interested in developing an emerging train of thought
and highlighting that train of thought for others to absorb
and identify with and expand upon
in the emergent nature of any type of intellectual development.
The model of The Movement is really nothing original.
It's fundamentally based on the Civil Rights Movements' structures
that have proven effective over time in different areas of the world.
This includes the use of educational programs, events
and eventually, as our phases unfold
mass, non-violent protest actions.
Jason is going to be talking about the basic structure
and activism of The Movement later on but I want to quickly throw out
that The Zeitgeist Movement is really defined by its chapters.
Everyone listening that's in a chapter, or maybe isn't in a chapter
please understand that this is a chapter-based movement structure.
We have project teams that emerge out of those chapters
and the actual projects and events themselves
are just another attribute of that
of the communication process that we work on.
The structural goal, which isn't something
that's brought up very often for those that follow The Movement
is what you could call critical mass on a global scale:
a mass strong enough to affect the operation of society
by its collective efforts from a grassroots level.
The Zeitgeist Movement isn't a political movement
nor, for many reasons I don't have time to explain
do we identify with the political structure and the way it unfolds.
It is basically an elitist structure
coming out of a long history of elitist mentalities
and it's been an illusion
that this sort of democratic process that everyone throws around
has actually served the majority of the population.
Why are we here then?
I'm going to present a very generalize statement as the basic goal
and then work backwards to define the terms that comprise this.
As stated: "We seek a new economic model
based not on the movement of money
and the dynamics associated with such a system
but rather on truly objective
scientific resource management and allocation
strategically seeking to enable
an equitable distribution of all goods and services
to meet the needs of the entire, global human population
while ensuring maximum environmental sustainability
over generational time."
That's a big mouthful.
Let's break this down. What does this mean?
First, we have the concept of an economic model.
What is economics?
The Greek root of the word
basically means 'management of a household'
also implying concepts of thrift or conservation
hence the term 'economize'.
Therefore, an economy is a method of organizing materials
that seeks to reduce waste, hence increase efficiency
in its process of providing for a population.
Simple enough.
Next we have our qualifier.
Where this economic model we speak of is quote
'not based on the movement of money and the dynamics associated.'
Why are we ruling out the monetary system?
Because as radical as this may seem
the model cannot be logically considered a true economy
by the definition we've just described.
The inherent strategies associated with the monetary model
actually reinforces the opposite
of what a true economy is supposed to be
as we just defined.
The notions of preservation, efficiency, sustainability
hence the need to economize, are actually the enemies
as I will point out, of our current model.
We live, in fact, in an anti-economy.
The first thing to understand
is that the only thing that keeps you employed in our system
is constant or cyclical consumption.
The fuel of our world economy
is the interest to keep buying and consuming
and buying and consuming.
The more turnover, the greater our GDP
and so-called 'economic growth' we keep hearing people talk about
as though it actually represents something tangible
in an empirical sense.
If a computer company actually decided
to make strategically optimized products
(Apple Computer for example)
if they decided to create goods that would evolve
they would be designed to last, not to be replaced.
Product development would be with the most durable design
scientifically evaluated, enabling structural updates
to current equipment that's already in existence
in the interest to extend the life
and maximize preservation and efficiency
rather than the constant replacement of things.
I can assure you that computer company
would suffer tremendously in profit
not to mention the labor levels they have would drop substantially.
This train of thought goes for all industries.
I would say the core driving force of the system today
is really inefficiency.
Efficiency and sustainability are the enemies
and this issue is more apparent today than ever before
because of the tremendous advancement in technology.
When the monetary, market-exchange model as we know it
began many centuries ago
this inefficiency that's inherent was masked
by the fact that there was a great deal of raw human labor
involved in the production of goods and services.
Imagine the amount of time and energy it took
for a farmer with a plough to plant and harvest
without the modern equipment we have today.
When you compare the two you begin to see something very interesting.
What's happened essentially, is that our technological ingenuity
our ability to create tools that help us to ease our labor
and make our lives easier in abstraction
has 'shifted the tides'
from people being actually required to do work
to get the necessities of life
in a very real, tangible, utilitarian way
to the existence of this advanced automation society
that we're harboring into
where we now have to invent arbitrary occupations
over and over again, structurally purposeless jobs
(if you're willing to take the time to see it
even though it's very hard when you're born into this
to recognize them as such)
just for the sake of monetary circulation alone.
That's what is needed to keep this model going
and unfortunately it's not working. We can't do it fast enough.
Inefficiency in a broad scheme
is now the current path, whether advertent or not
for keeping consumption and hence the system
(outdated, archaic system) going
and it comes in many forms.
Fortunately for the system itself
yet to our human and social detriment
inefficiency is built right in to the structure, as noted prior.
'Cost efficiency' is defined as:
productive, relative to the cost
or being effective without wasting expense.
This modern economic concept based on money
has nothing to do with materials or with design.
It's about saving capital, not resources.
This is a classic example of how our system is utterly decoupled
from any natural state or processes.
One of the most misleading statements
about this capitalist system that we all share
is the classic phrase you might have all heard in Economics 101:
"The role is to produce the highest quality goods
at the lowest possible prices."
If you really think about that statement
it is an explicitly circular rationale
based only on the observation of money
and the intrinsic value of money
but yet completely decoupled and devoid of any physical reference
or scientific integrity.
It serves to support the false idea that market competition
is a good thing.
The result in short is the following:
1. Every item produced in our society is immediately inferior
the moment it is created.
It is a mathematical impossibility
to produce the most strategically, conscious goods we can.
This system simply will not allow it.
The result is copious waste and pollution.
2. Jobs will always be mechanized
when it becomes cheaper than human labor.
This is an ongoing, unstoppable process
called 'technological unemployment'
and is currently reducing employment and purchasing power
at an accelerating rate
even though very few people will ever have the nerve
to talk about this in the economic or news media.
3. Environmental negligence is built in. It's constant.
Not only [are] disposal methods not done correctly
in a scientific, appropriate way
due to the need to cut costs (the cost efficiency mechanism)
but there is also, elusively, a built-in indifference
at the end of the day
to the natural order and preservation of the environment.
Problems generate profit.
Industry thrives on problems
and solutions, which are again a form of efficiency
is the enemy.
Tangible physical efficiency is inverse
to actual market economic efficiency.
If you took all the money spent today
producing bottled water on this planet...
I was just joking to someone earlier. I was like
"God, we've got to get rid of these bottled waters on stage."
But what do you do in this society? You walk around;
this is what people do. It becomes normality to be so inefficient
where you just accept it because our lives...
It's built into our structure and
it's hard for us to be conscious or sometimes to even be active
with the type of preservation methods that are required.
But if you took all the money
spent on bottled water production on this planet for drinking
and applied it to a massive public filtration system
desalination, clean infrastructure channels
I suspect it would be paid for many times over.
But pollution, as alluded to prior
is another form of inefficiency to be capitalized on.
Pollution creates jobs and markets
just as any other form of inefficiency does.
Just as all of us having more cancer would improve
the GDP of our country, because we'd have to be treated for it.
A final form of inefficiency that I'm just going to throw in there
is the creation of false needs for the populous.
This is done through advertising and marketing.
If you can convince a person that a $5000 handbag
has more use than a $10 one, even though there's absolutely
no real utilitarian difference between the two
just because of relative status notions
you've created a new level of emotional
and status inefficiency to exploit
and false needs to be filled to conform to the culture
and this is a very rampant thing and you see this epidemic everywhere.
The movement of money
through the mechanism of systematic and intrinsic efficiency
cannot be called an economy
[and] therefore is not valid as a working methodology.
Coming back to our statement
"What would define a true economy?"
This leads us to the next point where it says:
"For the economic model we speak of
needs to be based on truly objective
scientific resource management and allocation."
What does that mean? Throughout the course of human history
we as a species have taken on many worldviews
from superstitious notions of demons as the cause of illness
to countless controlling gods that rule our lives.
Humans have been seeking since antiquity
to understand the causality of their lives.
Fortunately, after much turmoil
we've been guided by evolution to discover something truly useful
and it's only been with the past couple of thousand years
that this has emerged. This tool has stood the test of time
providing us with continual confirmation of its effectiveness
and we see it all around us
and that's scientific causality.
If we recognize science as a tool
and process a verified method of viewing the world
and acting upon evidence rather than faith or blind assumptions
we see that a true economy can only exist
if organized and orchestrated
within the confines of scientific discipline.
For instance, science has shown us that we live
yes, on a finite planet, with finite resources.
We understand the Earth as a single biosphere system
literally symbiotically balanced in a natural order.
Truly one system and hence, should be respected as such.
We understand that each one of our resources, the materials we use
have properties which are conducive to certain applications
and simply not conducive to others.
Just as we have the law of gravity
which we use to calculate
making airplanes fly
the natural laws that govern human life
and good health on this planet must be observed
and when observed and identified, obviously must be respected.
Nature really just doesn't care what any of us actually think
or believe or have faith in
and we can either listen and align with what we learn
or we invariably suffer the consequences.
As simple as that notion may seem
the great majority of people on this planet
refuse to acknowledge this.
Out of this comes a new, yet obvious, train of thought.
First, inefficiency is unacceptable on a finite planet.
We need to calculate industry.
We need to calculate society.
The free market is a haphazard and dangerous anarchy
and the grace period of our irresponsibility is coming to an end.
We either unify
and get strategic in our management of the Earth's resources
or we face immense hardships.
We need a global resource management system
to account for a dynamic equilibrium and keep balance.
We need to account for what we have.
We also need to apply science
in how we actually create our goods. Imagine that!
strategically making them as efficient as possible
meaning that they are made to last, not break down
made with the expectation for updating, not replacement.
These are very simple, obvious, fundamental truths.
We also need to use the most efficient methods
for producing those goods
and in this case, deliberate mechanization.
Technological unemployment, I've talked about this in length
and I'm not going to go into too much detail here
but it is now inverse to productivity in most sectors.
The more people are displaced
the more mechanization comes in, the greater the productivity.
That's an amazing change in the paradigm
as far as the way we've been operating for thousands of years.
This means it is negligent, literally irresponsible
for us not to mechanize on every relevant level
if we wish to be truly efficient
and respect the nature and habitat that we live in.
This brings us to the next concept of our goal statement:
"Strategically seeking to enable an equitable distribution
of all goods and services
to meet the needs of the entire, global human population."
There's plenty of food to go around in this planet
as stated many times over
even by institutions you'd be surprised that would state such a thing
yet over a billion people are starving.
Every five seconds a person dies from starvation on this planet.
But, hey! What does that have to do with me?
You know, well...
It has everything to do with you
for in the end, there's nowhere to hide.
Our safety and security can only be as good
as the safety and security of the world we inhabit.
The more deprivation that occurs
the more resentment, anger,
and inevitable destabilization that will follow.
It's not an altruistic notion to help others
in this type of perception.
It is a socially unsustainable practice not to.
I personally don't even really believe
that human altruism exists
in the poetic context that many speak of.
I think that deep down people know
when they behave in seemingly selfless ways
that they are actually personally at risk
at one level or another
if they do not act in those ways.
Our self-interest can only maintain integrity
if our societal reality is actually stable.
The cliché staple of the modern-market, capitalist theory
"Live for yourself only, do only things for you"
and somehow magically by the invisible hand
it will work out for society.
This is an incorrect, provably-so, truncated
and utterly false concept.
Self-integrity can only be maintained
if the habitat you live in and the society you inhabit
the world itself, maintains an equally high level of integrity.
And that's one of those radical notions that, as obvious as it is
will still be derogatorily associated
and you can just be communist or...
Even Martin Luther King Jr. was called a communist
when he was attempting to bridge the difference
between the blacks and the whites.
He was a communist apparently to try and create that
and the exact same propaganda and inhibited mindset
is exactly what stops us from trying to make an economic unity
on a tangible level in society today.
Any time people throw out the communist stuff
you have a tool to use.
The majority of wars on this planet
have always been about resource and territorial control.
Most acts of so-called 'crime' are related to money and property.
We must level the playing field.
Meeting the needs of the human population is the first step.
Notice I didn't say wants. Wants are contrivance.
Wants are a different subject all together.
People need their needs met
and there's a lot that can be said about that
which I'm not going to delve into at this time.
We know we can provide the basic necessities of life
for everyone on this planet.
It's a scientific reality
because of our advanced technological methods.
This is one of the genius notions put forward by Jacque Fresco
that really should be understood
and everyone needs to understand this.
We need to simply devise a system to do so and get it done
in accord with the most scientifically efficient
and responsible methods we understand
hence the nature of a true economy.
Finally we have
"... while ensuring maximum environmental sustainability
over generational time."
This simply goes back to what the definition of an economy requires.
We have the kind of specter of recycling initiatives
and so-called 'green' industries.
It's just a sad attempt at true ecological respect
in a system that has no ecological respect
and can't have any for it to operate.
A true economy doesn't have a notion of a 'green' practice.
The fact that we even have such an idea
that we even comment "Ooh, how sustainable!"
that's a tremendous signpost of how far we've come.
A true economy doesn't utilize anything
for example, recycling is an afterthought.
Even after all the years of our recycling practices
very few initiatives are made in the production capacity
by industry to actually think ahead about this
because it isn't profitable for them to do so.
The majority of goods have no capacity to be updated
you know, the computer enclosures... I can go on long tangents
about very logical, simple things that could be done
to extend longevity
but again, it will bring down cyclical consumption
bring down the circulation of money, drop GDP, drop labor, etc.
Recycling mechanisms are going to be built-in
in the future; they would have to be, in the production phase.
Landfills would be an anomaly, not normality.
To conclude my section of this meeting
let's quickly take a look at where we are now.
What is the consequence of all this inefficiency we speak of?
As much as I hate to say it, our society
rests on the edge of a cliff with a gigantic abyss underneath.
The consequences of the monetary market model
are no longer mere inconveniences
or theoretical assumptions put forward by people.
We see what's happening now.
It's a cancer that's slowly eroding the fabric of our stability.
As many know, very briefly
money is made out of debt and interest is charged on that debt.
Anyone familiar with banking or the stock market knows
that money is now treated as a commodity
It always was, but more so today than ever
and it's bought and sold.
The profit generated by the sale of money comes from interest.
However, unannounced to most.
something you won't read in a Time Magazine or any economist's manual
is that the interest-money charged
doesn't exist in the money supply.
It's not there!
There's only so much there and every time they charge interest
that money has to come from somewhere.
It has to come from more monetary creation
which is loaned out at interest again.
There's always more outstanding interest
than there is principle debt.
If anyone's confused why we have skyrocket debt defaults
across the world: personal, corporate, sovereign
this is fundamentally the reason.
It's not the sole reason. It's perpetuated by other things
that are happening in derivatives markets, but it's an inevitability.
The global market is one gigantic pyramid scheme
and one way or another it's going to come crashing down
if it's not literally stopped in its tracks
which is something, frankly, I advocate
as difficult as that may seem.
However, we're not only faced
with ongoing, systemic, global debt defaults
we're also faced with a coming labor collapse
or a growing labor collapse across the world
due to technological unemployment
largely ignored by economists, who choose to see
basically what they prefer to see, as best I can tell.
The invention and application of technology
is what has caused every major shift of human labor throughout history.
Given the exponential (literally) rise in our development
in automation and computer technology, artificial intelligence
I'm sorry to say... or actually I'm very happy to say
that humans actually don't stand a chance
to compete with what we've created.
We can't personally evolve as fast as our technological ingenuity is
and the effectiveness and application over time is just powerful!
Either a shift happens
or we just continue this constant grind down
of destabilization through global unemployment.
The final component, briefly worth mentioning
is our energy collapse.
Peak oil is very real and it is essentially here
and the problem oddly is not really the 'running out of oil'.
It's the market psychology of what's going to happen
when the public finally awakens to this very real reality.
The psychology of this scarcity, when it finally hits
is going to cause a unique form of panic.
The combination of these three factors
are on pace to causing a severe integrity problem, to put it mildly.
Each one is not problematic on its own
but the fact is they feed into each other.
The more unemployment occurs, the less likely
governments are going to be able to gain taxation support
not to mention the less money in the economy itself
circulated as purchasing power
inhibiting consumption and economic growth
triggering more personal, corporate, government defaults.
The more energy prices rise
which is inevitable in the hydrocarbon economy we have
the less accessible it is to gain
and that creates an even more stifling economic effect on circulation
since oil, among many other things
is the sole driver of transportation
but not to mention so many other facets I don't have time to go into.
All it takes in the West Coast
is for one big trucking company to get fed up with the oil prices
and want more money from their going-bankrupt company to go on strike
and then see a stifling of incredible amounts of materials
and then systemic turmoil and panic.
You don't have to think very far
to see how it just takes a few little dominos to fall.
We're in a very fragile state at this point in time.
I hope people understand that.
This is precisely, in a nutshell
what The Zeitgeist Movement hopes to counter
and find a way to adapt
before we meet the proverbial 'point of no return'.
That concludes my general overview. Thank you.
[Applause]
Now we're going to bring up, Jen?
Yes, Jen Wilding, our US State Coordinator?
[Applause]
[Jen Wilding - US State Coordinator]
Thanks for coming out.
I'm so happy to see so much interest in an event like this.
We're hoping to do them regularly.
So... The Movement... Look at you.
The Zeitgeist Movement
is comprised of pretty much two components.
There is the portion that Peter was going into
pretty much the body of ideas, the train of thought
the idea that the Earth
should be declared the common heritage to all of the Earth's people
using the scientific method and technological innovations
in the service of social concern
and for human betterment.
I'm all for that, which is why I'm here. I hope you are too.
That's one piece of the meat of The Movement
and the other piece is the people that are comprised
in the structure of activists.
Basically, right now
The Movement is geared toward awareness activism:
helping people to learn these ideas, to understand the problems
and to bring them along to talk about the solutions.
That, to me, seemed to be the way to go
and so what you're doing here
what we're doing here
is all part of what's considered 'what the Movement does'
and The Movement has a structure.
We have a holographic structure
which means, basically, we're all tapping
into a lot of the same material
that talks about the ideas.
We use Peter's films as tools.
We have a lot of tools that are created
by activists involved in The Movement that are shared
and we basically are creating a structure
that is replicating itself
to spread awareness about these ideas.
We have, pretty much
a two-way flow of information.
We have things that we are doing here:
presentations that are going to be used by other chapters
and other teams in their activism.
Come on in!
We also have materials
that are created by activists
that end up getting adopted by the other pieces of the structure.
There's a beautiful way
that the information is flowing in both directions
in that we have activism that happens on a local level
that, when it's really successful and people are excited about it
gets picked up and adopted on a global level
and resources are shared to make that happen.
There are, right now, approximately 1100 chapters
across 7 countries
so we're coming up on about three years.
[P.Joseph] 70 countries... Oh, 70!
[Applause]
70 countries. That's a big difference.
(She's reading it, so she was caught up.
She's ahead of me. You could even come up here and finish this).
70 countries, which is pretty impressive
and we're going to hear some more talk
about how exciting that is when we actually do global events
and the part that plays
when Shar is telling us about our screening events coming up.
And
basically
the components of the structure are in teams.
We have global teams and we have regional teams
and the global teams are where people can utilize their talents
whatever various talents they have
to plug in and help us with awareness activism
and the teams are:
The Linguistics Team
They do translations into all sorts of different languages
so the information that is created
is translated and used in 70 countries.
Also they do proofreading:
We have people that just go through
and proofread a lot of the things before they're going out
and especially when you're doing translations
proofreading is important.
We have a Developers Team, and that's development
in the sense of mostly website development right now
and they're working on web and communication platforms.
We have a News and Public Relations Team.
We have that team that does a newsletter
that was by-monthly for a while.
I don't know when but
I think we're getting ready to release a new one coming up.
We also have a Technology Team
and one of the things that they're known for
is the creation of a website called zeitnews.org
which is a good place to go
if you're looking for information
on how technology is coming up
with so many different breakthroughs
that could be used in a global Resource-Based Economy
for those people who are just thinking
"No, I don't really think we could really do that.
It's not quite feasible."
There are things that could blow you away
that you can uncover on this website
of developments that we have now
even in a monetary system, that just need to be used
in a global sense
and for the benefit of basic human needs.
We have a Media Project Team
and they have a website: zeitgeistmediaproject.com
where a lot of people create artistic materials
or flyers and brochures
and they even do videos.
They can upload them to the Zeitgeist Media Project website
and they can be picked up for use all over the world
and that's really exciting. Something that you might create
could be used by people all over to help further
the education of new people to these ideas.
Then we have regional teams
which are basically the Chapters Team.
It is a team
but it is quite a bit of the expansiveness of The Movement
of actually getting into your community
and interacting with people
on a local level about these ideas
and being connected to the global sense, the global teams
and part of the global communication structure.
The Chapters Team
is sort of the circulatory system of The Movement
in the flow of information.
It's where people are getting together to volunteer.
They're exchanging ideas, they're having meetings
and getting all on the same page
so that we know what's happening globally.
When we're having global events
we can do events all on the same day
and know that they're being done
in so many other countries at the same time
and feel a part of something really big
and getting bigger all the time.
So with that
I would like to... I want to show you one thing that...
This is an image that is what I think of
when I think of the chapters' structure
and basically it's sort of a communication network that branches out
like the branches of a tree.
We're all rooted in the same values
and people who support these ideas
have volunteered to be a part of this structure
to be a part of our efforts of activism
and connect in the structure
with other activists
to educate their communities.
We're all connected
in the sense of being on online platforms
and having local interactions.
I'm going to introduce, in a moment, Jason Lord
of the California Chapter
who is going to continue with the discussion
on what exactly a chapter is
that would be a part of this tree
part of this living, breathing entity
and give you a little bit of background on what that's about
and hopefully encourage you to get involved
with a local chapter, especially the Los Angeles Chapter
if this is your area.
If you've traveled in, thanks for doing that.
There may be a chapter in your area
and we can get you connected with who may be close to you
so you can be involved in that.
Without further ado, Jason Lord.
[Applause]
[Jason Lord - California Coordinator]
I guess we're all sitting this evening. I need notes
so I wrote it down.
I don't know if she remembered to introduce herself
that was Jennifer Wilding. She's the coordinator of the United States
for The Zeitgeist Movement.
She helps pull this all together on a national level.
I just wanted to make sure people had a reference
of who was just speaking to you.
Hi, my name is Jason. I volunteer to coordinate The Movement
at what we refer to as a state level. I'm a state coordinator
and there are multiples of me all over the place.
If you travel across the country
more than likely there's a Movement chapter in that area.
I just wanted to give people a sense of how we're organized
and how this all comes together.
I'm just going to dive right into some notes I wrote down quickly.
We use the term official chapters, and there's a reason for that.
Official chapters are recognized as self-motivated groups
of individuals that advocate and support The Zeitgeist Movement
and the solutions proposed in our materials.
The chapter structure consists of international
national, state and local chapters (Los Angeles is a local chapter).
Our structure is a communications network which is worldwide.
Each new chapter that pops up in a specific region
gives people a place to go
to engage in these ideas.
At the moment, The Movement's focus is on awareness activism
of not only The Movement's presence in the world
but also of the root causes to persistent social problems
and a sustainable solution
which can be briefly named a Resource-Based Economic Model.
The chapters themselves are focused on on-the-ground awareness
projects and social interactions in regards to this direction.
This event is an example of that in action.
Our greatest challenge isn't the technical application
of the solutions that exist
to create an access abundance for the world's population.
It is the value systems which are perpetuated
by established institutions
that comprise a large part of our society
namely the monetary, political, and religious establishments.
The hardened value systems that are created
are the most difficult for us to address.
Someone I admire stated to me once
"The truth isn't something that is told to you.
It is something you realize
through taking in new information."
The purpose of the chapters is to be holographic, as a network
and in on-the-ground and in-person presence
which takes on the task of engaging the public
inputting new information into the current value system
communicating with people as best we can
so that the possibility of a sustainable world can exist
beyond the ultimate decay of an over-consumption model
such as we have right now.
As noted before, our structure is holographic
in the sense that each chapter contains the same information
and the purpose of The Movement itself
engaging in awareness activism in their region.
Having organized in this way helps keep
the internal noise of conflict and opinion to a minimum.
We have chapters which are comprised of volunteers. We're all volunteers
who desire to forward The Movement's direction.
Projects and events that are accomplished
by members that show merit to The Movement itself
and success in the communication of these ideas to new people
tend to get picked up by other chapters as we go around the world.
The usefulness of feedback becomes self-evident
and ultimately is brought to the attention
of the global and national coordinators and then
the whole feedback-loop of communication is flowing both ways
so we can all stay in touch and move together.
I introduced myself as the California coordinator
and the term coordinator is a descriptive title
of what actions one is doing within The Movement's chapter structure.
Coordinators as well as all TZM members, again we're all volunteers.
Our time and efforts are purposed by the necessity of transitioning
out of the current monetary market paradigm
into a sustainable resource-based model.
Our meetings consist mainly for planning of activism events
for feedback, for a completed project
as well as being a communications portal
for the movement-wide efforts that are happening around the world.
We've done some global events
which you're going to hear about in a second from Sharleen.
We learn effectiveness of our activism by experience
and we work with the resources available
within our chapter regardless of its size.
Everyone goes through a growing process:
We started out with a couple of people in a coffee shop.
Then, we moved to four people in someone's house
and then for our first global event
I had people come over to my house to watch Zeitgeist:Addendum
and now it has blossomed into a group of about 400 people
that are interested in this Movement, in the direction that we advocate.
Now these events can be a little bit larger
and reach out to more people at one time.
There's an efficiency in doing that.
On a fun note
social aspects are certainly part of what we do.
This is a social movement but our focus is on engaging social values
via public awareness campaigns
which is a race against time
in regards to the mounting bio-social pressures
forming in the human experience that we call civilization.
You could see some of those that Peter addressed
at the end of his lecture with the debt collapse
energy collapse, and the like.
These pressures can show up (I've made some notes for this too)
as physical, which would be a resource depletion example.
They could be abstract pressures, like monetary inflation.
They could be physiological pressures, such as stress on individuals or
environmental pressures, which is ecological degradation.
(We're polluting the environment at an enormously fast rate.)
This also shows up as the ultimate human failing
which is warfare with other nations.
These pressures, along with many others can be referenced
in a recently published book from the UK called 'The Spirit Level'
and I can let anyone know how to find that afterwards.
We use the designation as an official chapter.
There's a reason for that:
The event that you're at now has been put on
by what we acknowledge as Los Angeles' Official Chapter, Official Group.
Just to note, it's not necessary to really maintain the status.
There are a lot of people that get into this that don't have the time
don't have... really they have other causes they wish to address.
They may want to fight something single-focused
like pollution in the oceans or the homeless specifically
as a single focus.
While these things may tie into
what we advocate as The Zeitgeist Movement
they are not what we are about on the whole
because we're trying to address the social issues on a global scale.
Finally, to wrap things up
(I think that's it for me actually), I just wanted to lay that out
so people had an understanding of how we organize
what a chapter is and what we're doing.
This event is an example of the Los Angeles Chapter in action
so thanks for coming.
I think we're going to move on to having Eva and Brandon
who are the coordinators for the Los Angeles Chapter
(again all these terms and names in place).
There's a structure here, so people
they are involved in the in-person, in-face, on-the-ground engaging
of the public, of people like yourselves
and trying to get this information out there
in as fastest time as possible so
I'd like to introduce them.
[Applause]
[Eva Omori - Los Angeles Coordinator]
Hi, good evening, my name is Eva
and I am the Los Angeles coordinator along with Brandon, here tonight
and again thank you from the LA Chapter as well.
I had a series of notes of things I wanted to talk about
and most of it's been covered very thoroughly
so you'll hear the words such as efficiency, root cause
things such as this.
Let me talk a little bit about my experience
as someone being introduced initially a couple of years ago
through a friend, through a DVD
and then finding myself a year later
coordinating the Los Angeles Chapter.
What the Chapter really is at this level, as a local chapter
is where we get an opportunity
to actually put into action the goals and tenets
and the ideas that have been presented.
Now that's kind of a big stretch because everyone shows up
with their own idea of what that's supposed to look like
so as a coordinator, what we do
is we facilitate those ideas
showing up at the table: your idea, your project
and seeing how far we can go with it.
We've had projects such as the Z-Day which is a global project
that we had at the Convention Center recently.
We assisted with Zeitgeist: Moving Forward
as far as that being a global release.
We're pretty much up to whatever anybody shows up with
but there's a certain amount of personal education
that goes along with this.
I've heard quite often
"It was like all the pieces were there
and when I saw the movie someone put it together for me."
That application of putting that together, that learning, never stops
and that's one of the things when you become
or when I became active in The Movement
I had the ability to further.
What I'm saying is: These are ideas that are presented
and you may with agree some, all...
I had some I put on the back shelf and waited
until I had a better understanding of the terminology and uses
and really, actually just looked at the world around me
to see if maybe that is a correct interpretation.
Maybe I need to just shift and look.
We're not here to try to convert or convince.
We're presenting information that gives you a better tool
to look at the world as it is.
OK, what does that mean 'as it is' ?
That's something that you yourself have to determine
and that is one of the things that I highly value:
your individual ability as well as mine
and to come to an agreement and actually take action on this.
To me that is what we do.
We've had many opportunities, Brandon and I, out on the streets.
Brandon is one of those who'll go up to complete strangers
and just start a conversation about The Movement.
I'm one of those people that goes up "How's your day going?"
standing in the grocery line, there's fifty of us, right, one cashier.
You get kind of tired of this
and I kind of work my way into that conversation.
So this is a great place to start.
It's because it is local. We're in your neighborhood
and if we're not, we'll come and visit you and we'll assist.
That's part of what we do at a local chapter.
That's part of our commitment.
It's a personal commitment that's not everyone's commitment
but how else are we going to get the word out there?
How else are we going to have these discussions?
How else are we going to flush all this out?
How else are we going to learn this?
Our ideas are bound as well
whether they're workshops or understanding the material
or presenting the material
or understanding fallacies when they're presented.
How do you deal with someone when they're just up in your face
and won't listen to anything you have to say?
All of it's OK. That's a big part of it.
We've been so conditioned to think that things aren't OK with us
and there must be something I'm doing wrong.
This is an opportunity to step back, relax
take a look at the world in a different viewpoint.
Take your time with it. Engage with like-minded people.
[You] have an opportunity to redesign your life
and with it, the world.
The whole humor aspect of changing the world
to me isn't humorous any longer.
It seemed at some distant point "Yeah, OK
one person changing the world. " That's not how it's going to work.
What it is, is one person willing to look at things differently
willing to change their mind
willing to look at things a little bit differently.
It is a step-by-step process.
Now this step-by-step process
I'm going to let Brandon talk about a little more
in the most literal sense
of what we physically are doing out in the real world.
Brandon
[Applause]
[Brandon Kristy - Los Angeles Coordinator]
Hey everyone, good evening. My name is Brandon Kristy.
I coordinate the LA chapter with Eva
and I'm going to do a quick run down of what the activism is like
for the Los Angeles Chapter, and in The Movement in general.
Our main purpose with the activism is to
engage the public in the ideas
the concepts that Peter laid out and Jason and Jen.
It's the logic and the reasoning behind
that lies at the core of our communications
which is sustainability and peaceful coexistence
and the world working together as a whole
to benefit the integrity of the whole
and adapting and being emergent to the best way
the best methods of what we know of
and hopefully these concepts
become a major part of the culture.
That's really, at the end of the day, what the activism is about.
This picture up here is... we do a lot of different things...
This is a picture of us at UCLA
and one of our main things is to have discussions.
We hand out materials, obviously information.
We're an educational movement. I'm sure you've heard that before.
We're really focused on awareness
so we talk about things with people.
That's one of the main things we do: discuss
and, at the very least, get people thinking in that direction.
The idea here is that a critical mass
or a massive movement worldwide will take to this
and a lot can happen at that point
when we get
a massive, dedicated, committed, determined movement behind us.
This is just one picture here.
We do banner activism.
I coordinate 'The Banner Project'.
I see some faces here in the audience that have done that.
We go over freeway bridges. We display these massive banners.
(Actually you can see one right over there.)
We display them over freeway bridges. Hundreds of people see those
when they drive underneath the freeway bridge.
We go to busy intersections
because sometimes we get kicked off the freeway bridges.
We, you know, busy intersections...
we go to...
so also
in a California-statewide coordinated effort and
because a lot of the chapters in California actually have banners
we all go out on the same day and just display them.
It's building
where more chapters start to do it
and it makes more of an impact, more of a message out there.
The banner project is always fun to get out there
and talk to people
because it sparks discussion. It sparks conversation
and people, when they see it, eventually look into it.
So the colleges here...
We're trying to get into the colleges, speak and attend events.
Speaking of events
we also do sustainability events
about green festivals and energy.
We're trying to be everywhere
because this movement touches every subject out there.
There's nothing that it doesn't relate to.
We're trying to be everywhere.
We're going to be at the Abbot Kinney Festival in September
and we... Am I leaving anything out as far as events?
We do screenings. This is an event right here
and just to show you
to describe what it's like to put on an event:
booking the event, it's committing to a date
it's getting the team together, it's getting an RSVP function
it's promoting it, it's doing a webcast.
There's a lot to it and this is all a volunteer movement.
It just goes to show how much we can actually do
if we come together and work together as a chapter.
Individual efforts are always fine, are always great:
sliding a card in somewhere
a little Zeitgeist business card
but when you work together with a chapter
it really just makes more sense.
It can make more of an impact
and I encourage everybody to get involved in the Los Angeles Chapter
and work with us to create a massive movement throughout Los Angeles.
People out in the world
that are tuning in right now to the webcast
I encourage you to join a chapter and let's
create a massive movement.
Thank you.
[Applause]
I just want to add one little thing to this before Shar steps up
and talks about the global event coordination
that she's been very active in
and that is: Currently, you can go anywhere in the world
and go to the zeitgeistmovement. com
and from there, go into your country, go into your state
and then find these local chapters.
That's why typically I don't talk about the LA Chapter.
We have URLs. We have all that good stuff.
We have websites and stuff like that
but always look for the zeitgeistmovement.com
and you can find us.
Shar
[Applause]
[Sharleen Bazeghi- Event Coordinator]
Hi, welcome everyone and happy first day of summer
and for our global audience, happy winter solstice!
You've just heard about The Zeitgeist Movement
the history, the definition, the chapter structure.
I'm here to tell you about four events that we've done
and are doing the rest of this year
that illustrate how 2011
is really the year that The Zeitgeist Movement flourished
as an operational organization
capable of pulling off, simultaneously coordinated
international, multi-country, multi-language
top of the line, state-of-the-art productions.
[Applause]
It's no small feat when it's all volunteer.
It's as Jacque says "The best that money can't buy."
We skipped off the year January 15th with Peter Joseph's third movie
featured film 'Zeitgeist: Moving Forward'
and that was premiered internationally in over 350 locations
over 60 countries, over 30 languages
and tens of thousands of people saw the movie during the premiere.
Hollywood would be impressed. The places we got in
vary from Singapore, Mongolia, Africa
We were all over the map.
Every time zone brought us in
so that was a huge event and then just two months later
we went into Z-day which is
the intellectual and educational event that's done annually.
That was over 300 events worldwide, multi-language, multi-country.
Then just a few months later we're kicking off with you all tonight
the monthly, global Townhall meetings.
Thank you for being part of our kick-off tonight.
[Applause]
Then finally we're kicking off another new event in September.
It's globally the weekend of September 9-11
and that's the The Zeitgeist Media Festival
which is a different way to approach the public
through the arts, music, dance, by-passing the intellectual
and going on the creative level
(socially-conscious art, music and dance)
but that will be at the Music Box in LA, Sunday September 11
(worldwide throughout the whole weekend)
You can find out information about the bands and performers
on ZeitgeistMediaFestival.org.
I just want to say that I'm very honored and privileged
to be part of helping coordinate these global events.
To see The Movement be able to pull off
these kind of productions worldwide is astonishing
because I've worked on other productions in the entertainment business
and there's something about the passion of volunteers doing it.
These translators alone, they've turned around
hundreds of pages I think of text from the movie in record time
over the holidays, like two weeks.
It's really impressive to see that
and everyone feels so fulfilled from doing that.
I just want to end with saying two things that I saw
'bumper sticker wisdom'
but could tie into prompting you for questions tonight
because really what we want is you to ask questions
to understand that there's alternatives.
Usually when you tell people there is a way outside of money
they say "Oh no, we can't live that way.
We're not going to go back to trading chickens and cows and stuff"
but that's not what we're talking about
so please feel prompted to ask, but just two short things.
These are quotes that I actually heard on Facebook
which is like the new bumper sticker wisdom
if you have socially-conscious Facebook friends.
"Humans are the only species that pay to live on Earth"
and secondly, "Without money we'd all be rich."
Just to get you started thinking on these concepts, right? Yeah!
[Applause]
So...
Without any further ado, we'll bring up the panel and get started
get you guys energized! Summer Perry can you come up, sweetie?
She is going to be a roving moderator with a wireless mic
so just raise your hand and she'll go up to you
and please feel free to ask any questions. That's why we're really here.
Please stay tuned for the announcement on next month's
monthly Townhall. We're hoping each month to increase it
so we may get to larger and larger spaces.
Most of them, unless we have a special guest or something
we'll be mostly just interactive with the public.
Thank you so much for being here.
[Audience questions and answers not transcibed]