Thursday, July 19, 2012

Living the Post-Apocalypse Now


I just came back from watching Fixing the Future, a documentary about the development of localized economic models in the face of global economic struggle (to put that issue mildly). The crowd was stellar, and I was really glad I went. To summarize: 1- the economy is a shambles for the little people, the environment is in shambles because of big corp; 2- little people are finding ways to find meaning and resources to survive (some really amazing creative examples); 3- there is another side to this economic and environmental crisis. 


The documentary event ended with a taped panel discussion with Bill McKibben, Majora Carter, and Mike Brady (CEO of Greyston Bakery, founded by Roshi Bernie Glassman). In it this really awesome moment of a nod to the Occupy movement happened. McKibben was talking about how the economy as it currently is doesn't work for most ordinary people. David Brancaccio, the mediator and explorer in the documentary, says something to the effect of it works for some people, and the panelists nod and someone says, yes for maybe 1% of the population, the economy works. 



The audience thought that was pretty funny. I did, too. But then I started wondering about the intended audience for this documentary, and what just might be the message that is hidden in this very respectable and interesting piece of filmmaking. 


Brancaccio, during the panel discussion, asked these three change makers and modelers of sustainable business practice how they keep on going. McKibben was the only one who pointed in the direction that maybe we were too late to change things, but if we aren't, wow there is an untapped human potential that is amazing and energetic and transformative. Carter talked about celebrating the small successes, and the creative possibilities in these small moves. Brady talked about the Greyston Bakery model as one that could possibly change policy. 


These answers were very telling about who the intended audience is for this documentary. I realized, while listening to what honestly felt like half-truths, that these words and images are meant for frightened people who have no idea what to do to make their lives better. Carter did speak some powerful truth about the deep crisis of demoralized folks, at its center being about the complete lack of belief that we can make anything anymore, that we have been so ensconced in our consumer culture, we have forgotten that our bodies are made to make things. That was pretty awesome. 


Maybe that is who this doc was meant for-- the demoralized, the confused, the abstract and disengaged folks. I found myself, while looking at the local oven-making business, or the local flour mill, wondering about where the robots were sourced, or the plastic face masks. I found myself, while watching this film, imagining what I would need to use instead of rubber to seal my future glass cans, once the rubber seals had run out. Would beeswax work?


I am thrilled that this film came to my area and I got to sit in a theater with some amazing people doing good work in the region. I am thrilled that this film exists. I just need another film. I need the Living the Post-Apcalypse Now film. So many of the examples actually felt a lot like that film. That feels like a more honest film, and one that can engender a deeper conversation and a deeper sense of the changes we need to make, and the resilience and creativity that will be asked of us as our world shifts and changes. 


7 comments:

  1. Hello Victoria. Kandy is listening, thinking, and thanking you for your sharings.

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  2. Thank you. I'm concerned too that people don't know how to make things. (Heck, they don't even cook.) You are bringing farming to kids, which is great. I've been thinking about this a lot as I knit while avoiding sending out resumes...and wonder about teaching kids self-sufficiency skills.

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    1. not just kids, right? i think there's a generational thing here-- some of the old heads out there have a lot of knowledge, and it's being lost! it is true that majora carter's comments made me very satisfied with my chosen work. it is also true that there are many challenges in my work for folks to see what i am teaching as salient skills for college-bound students.
      knitting rocks! talk about a skill. i say take it to an after school program! every skill counts. the timebank idea that everyone's time is of equal value is perhaps the most radical thing i heard in the film. have fun!

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  3. Thanks, Victoria. Similarly, I felt there was a lot that was good in the film, but also a lot that was left out. That's probably inevitable in any focused work, but I found that some of the things left out were the things I'm most concerned about. For one, the focus on people in the US transforming their local economies avoided the role the US plays in the global economy. We really can't keep using all the stuff we use without relying on people on other continents, but we also can't change the way we do things without affecting them, positively or negatively. If we don't think about them at all, it's more likely to be negatively.

    Example: Anyone remember (in the 80s I think) when Coke was going to come out with New Coke? That new Coke recipe would have eliminated vanilla, completely destroying the economy of Madagascar, which at the time produced a disproportionate per cent of the world's vanilla, a large portion of which was used by Coke. Fortunately people hated New Coke, and the plans were changed, but when people in the US decide what's best for us, we are often blissfully ignorant of how it will affect others. Part of the problem, as I see it, is that when we see how large and complex the economy really is, we feel even more disempowered to change it. The good thing about this film's local focus was the role of ordinary people doing creative things to improve their communities. I do want to celebrate that--I just feel called to point out that it's not the whole story.

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  4. Thank you for being there, Victoria, and for your thought-provoking piece. I agree with you regarding the need for another film - or other films -that look at alternate approaches and scenarios (some of which should be post-crash, alas).
    I also agree with your assessment of the film's intended audience. That being said, the film fed my hope even though I regularly focus on some of the bigger picture stuff from which the film shied away (the eco-crisis that McKibben spoke to on the panel). I am also grateful for others' thoughts and comments.

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    1. Michael, thanks so much for all your hard work to make it happen! This film is very valuable, and I am glad I was there, too. Reading McKibben's Rolling Stone article was quite the call I was looking for in the film. I also really appreciated the context you gave of the Great Turning in the introduction of the museum's work. What I continue to struggle with is the shying away that is so much in our constant activities. Maybe I am less gentle when I think of where we need to go, maybe I am more interested in waking us up than sliding us into change. Because we know, really, that very rarely is change something we slide into. Thanks, again, for your response to my blog and your very fine work in bringing these messages to the world.

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  5. Ditto Victoria's comments to Michael. I also appreciated the context you put the film in and the way you connected your organization to a bigger movement.

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