Zeitgeist Information

The Zeitgeist-Info (shortened to ZInfo), website is a resource of useful Zeitgeist Movement related posts, aimed at existing Zeitgeist Movement members. It was created to inform ZM members of advanced concepts and useful news and information.

New to the Zeitgeist Movement or don't even know what it is?

The term Zeitgeist refers to theintellectual, cultural and moral Spirit of the Times and we want to change that for the betterment of all humanity. Currently people define success by how much financial wealth, power, control or fame they have acquired. However we want to change it so we value people by how much they've contributed to humanity and the environment.

Check out the TEDx talk below for a quick introduction, or watch Zeitgeist Moving Forward, the 2.5 hour documentary/movie.

An Introduction to a Resource-Based Economy [ TEDx - Peter Joseph ]

Once you have watched the TED talk orZeitgeist Moving Forward then find and join your local ZM chapter. Don't forget to come back here for the latest in ZM information and concepts.

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The 6 short animations cover the basics of critical thinking including logic and faulty arguments. Well worth watching for anyone especially those who do lots of debating.

Original source :http://bridge8.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/critical-thinking-animations/

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Download the latest issue:

Spirit Of The Times #3 Transition to a Resource Based Economy

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In consolidating the Zeitgeist Info site, the Resources page has been converted into a Video Wall and updated with a few new resources.

Video Wall

If you are new to the movement then that page should be your first point of call for a great selection of videos.

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This is a repost from the Australian Atrium (Project Management) website and is aimed at Australian ZM members.

This is a proposal regarding the Beyond Zero Emissions renewable energy proposal. Beyond Zero Emissions is a group of engineers and scientists who have created a proposal to convert Australia's energy supply to 100% renewable energy within 10 years. It is primarily done using a mixture of wind power and concentrated solar thermal.

The Beyond Zero Emissions cause is very much in line with the Zeitgeist Movements aims and principals. We will need their help to prevent humanity from facing environmental and energy crises, whilst they need our help in order for the proposal to get traction.

We are interested in helping promote and champion the BZE emissions scheme.

In order to help us develop new project ideas we are working on a output centric approach.

1. You start off by writing the press release you would like to see. 2. You then write the FAQ. 3. If it's particularly complex you can even write a help manual. Only after you've gone through the above steps do you work backwards to find out what needs to be done/created and how.

Solar Concentrator Array

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Zeitgeist Movement chapters need to balance activity in at least 3 main areas, which include Activism, Learning and Relations. These activities can take the form of various types of projects and meetings, and ways in which to allocate time and resources.

Activism - Zeitgeist Movement chapters generally have two forms of activism, helping with the mindset change and physical activism/labour. The mindset activism is usually in the form of handing out DVDs, running film screenings, and town hall meetings. It is also one of the more important processes for gathering new members and affecting the culture and community around the chapter(s). The main mindset change happens when people understand the different values, definition of success and change in the defaults that we want to achieve. Many of the newer ZM members get annoyed at the lack of physical activism. As a movement we are only just starting to reach the point at which creating tangible change is an option. Some great examples would be converting existing people's lawn area into gardens, creating eco-village style setups which run on renewable energy and are progressively automated to the point they are creating an abundance of produce. An important requirement for the price of zero transition.

Learning - Furthering our understanding of the ZM but also the world around us. From the latest in science, to the history of economics, to current news. It also covers research and analysis, particularly with regard to how to do things more efficiently and effectively or in other ways. Learning is divided into two main sections: personal learning and chapter learning. Personal learning is particularly focused on reaching an understanding of how the world works, the issues with the current system, and the solutions (the RBE). This is usually done through watching movies, being a part of a mailing list, reading articles, creating newsletters, and attending or giving presentations.

Relations - This is about internal chapter relationships and relations with other organisations. A very important motivator for continuous membership is the social aspect of being surrounded by other people who care about and understand them. This sense of community is fostered by holding social meetups, like BBQs, or casually meeting up at a bar. The relations between chapters and with other organisations are also very important. The potential for the Zeitgeist Movement to foster a transition to a Resource Based Economy is facilitated by creating strong ties with other RBE advocating groups and organisations such as Beyond Zero Emissions (in Australia).

A basic outline of the sub-points is below

As an example, the table below lists of some projects being undertaken or planned in Australian ZM chapters. Some projects are listed twice as they have pronounced secondary effects, which arecoloured in grey.

On top of the three different buckets that need to be balanced is the almost constant review and admin work.

The regular review process could for example involve reading your posts, emails, and behaviour for the last week and allow you to both fix up mistakes and give you feedback regarding how to do thing better next time. A group review process should also be on the agenda of the next ZM meetup after an event (e.g Zday, ZMedia Festival).

The admin work involves general organisation work and maintenance. From maintaining mailing lists and websites to doing checks and balances, etc...

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I thought I knew a decent amount about energy and renewables, but still learnt a lot from this.

Energy Knowledge

It's only 19mins long and well worth watching.

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Survival of the Fittest

This is a great video which explains the true meaning of 'Survival of the Fittest'. It also does a great job of explaining some of the issues between Tournament and Pair Bonding Species.

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This is a MUST WATCH video of Derrick Jensen talking about the premises of our Civilisation and why it is
not sustainable.

In the talk he does a great job of explaining the premises, although if you enjoyed the video, or if you didn't fully understand it then you should probably read the book. (NB : ZInfo is not associated with Derrick and does not receive any money for any form of advertising, in any way).

Premises :

There are some points that I think could be debated or slightly tweaked. Especially premise 6. I agree that whilst civilisation won't go voluntarily, you don't have to have a Price of Infinity (enviro, energy, economic) collapse. We can guide civilisation through a Price of Zero collapse (using abundance, sustainability, automation and education).

As you'll see in the next post (about changing the value system), I think that point 8 needs to be pointed out to people. They know it, but don't realise that the economic system is given priority over nature, life, and human wellbeing. The Sydney, Australia chapter is currently editing some vox-pop/street interviews which show this mentality in action.

Regarding point 9. It's possible that if we were to be efficient and effective with the natural resources, we would likely be able to keep similar numbers of people or even raise the population whilst maintaining a stable equilibrium with the environment. But we would need to be net positive not net destructive to the environment. Humanity would also expand in numbers as we colonise other planets. But would shouldn't and likely won't do such a thing under the current culture and system. If we did it wouldn't be pretty for anything that got in our way.

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This is a quick announcement of the creation of the Transition Ideas Team (TIT) a new ZM team that Scott Wrampler and Michael Kubler are currently helping kick start.

For those who are interested here's a recent Blog Talk Radio show regarding the team which talks about the organisational structure and some of the initial teams. It's only 30mins long.

The team will be split into 3 main groups :

The Admin staff will be a small group who run the website, organise the tools and help co-ordinate the other two groups.

The Transition Proposals group will be a collection of people who, working alone or together, come up with various transition models then propose them.

The Proposal Analysts are those who are knowledgeable within their field and as a group can analyse the proposal and undertake useful critical analysis and highlight potential issues and also make suggestions or reccomendations.

The process of submitting, analysing and refining a proposal will itself need to be developed and refined over time. One of the hardest parts of the process will be removing human bias, especially those which are predictable. An example may be that proposals are to be madeanonymousbefore being presented to the proposal analysts. Once the analysts have provided feedback and the proposal refined the proposal can then be presented on the website for further analysis and discussions with the wider public.

It's possible that the team may itself change from being about transition ideas, to be a TransitionImplementationteam (or more likely, a group of teams).

If you have any transition ideas or suggestions then feel free to comment or email transition@zeitgeist-info.com

Thank you

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Zeitgeist Information