This is video is of Michael Albert, an economic visionary and one of my favourite people, attempting to describe an alternative economy — Participatory Economics — in 30 minutes. I think he does quite well.
There’s more here, including a Q & A session and a description from Jessica Azulay on how she and others put one of the institutions of parecon — balanced job complexes — into practice as part of their business (see part 8).
The 11th Hour is a documentary film, co-written and narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, but don’t let that put you off. This is one of the best environmental documentaries I’ve seen and DiCaprio does a fine job.
Intermingled with a rousing montage of earthly images and audio, the backbone of the film is a series of interviews with over fifty politicians, scientists, and environmental activists — including Stephen Hawking and David Suzuki—who cleverly explain the complex bind we’re in, how we got here and how we might get out of it.
It’s a treasure trove of quotable dialogue, and after detailing the down right depressing situation we’re in and the obstacles we need to overcome, the most inspiring stuff comes in the last segment where we are presented not only with practical ideas and solutions for the future but with a whole new way of looking at our situation; this gem from Paul Hawken:
The great thing about the dilemma we’re in is that we get to reimagine every single thing we do. In other words there isn’t one single thing that we make or system that we have that doesn’t require a complete remake, and so there are two ways of looking at that. One is, like, oh my gosh, you know, what a big burden. The other way to look at it, which is the way I prefer, is what a great time to be born, what a great time to be alive, because this generation gets to essentially completely change this world.
If I was a filmmaker this is the film I’d like to make.