The Zeitgeist Movement Queensland became Movements for Global Sustainability, using MeetUp as a platform for advertising itself. It is now Movements for GLOCAL Sustainability, and in this revival meeting, I’ll be introducing myself as the new organizer and how I plan to take it in a new direction that I hope you will find inspiring.
One reason this group ran out of steam is, in my opinion, the focus on global change. We can talk about big changes that are beyond our power to influence until we’re blue in the face.
From now on, we’ll be looking at practical things we can do in our lives that are informed by the big picture. The maxim ‘think global, act local’ is one I live by myself and I’m happy to show you what I do. I’d love you to share your journey, too.
The first half hour will be introductions followed by a presentation about the predicament we face as a species and where we need to go from here, as individuals and as a nation. The floor will then be opened up for questions and discussion. You can answer a survey about Australia’s population here to get you thinking about the many interesting issues we face to being a more sustainable country.
Please RSVP to the Zoom meeting – if you don’t have Zoom, you’ll need to download it before hand. Give yourself 15 minutes before the meeting to get set up. Note the meeting is at 8pm AEST Friday 30th. I am overseas atm, so there may be a discrepancy in the times showing due to time zones.
Here’s a small summary of what’s been happening in The Zeitgeist Movement and related groups.
Argentina chapter to host the 2019 global Zday event
After the success of the 10th Annual Zeitgeist Movement event in Frankfurt, Germany it was decided to have the next global Zday in Latin America. The passionate Paulina took up the torch and after some searching the Argentina chapter has put up their hand to run the next global Zday with help from other chapters such as Chile.
We are also working on a Zday document for helping those who want to run a Zday event get some ideas of what has happened with previous ones.
TeamSpeak server being replaced with Mumble and Discord.
The existing TeamSpeak server is being switched off. For those wanting to do large scale 100+ voice chats like before the Zeitgeist.Earth team are donating their Mumble server to the cause. There is however an existing TZM community on Discord which has a lot of chat and occasional International meetings.
The TZM website has had the zday global events merged in
The Zday global site is being merged with the main www.thezeitgeistmovement.com website. It’s likely most of you haven’t seen the site in a while and it’s since been replaced with a more sleek version, so have a look.
TZM is looking for content
We are looking for articles and posts for the website, Facebook, Twitter and other feeds. If you have any quality TZM materials or something Zeitgeist Movement related you can email tzmbot@thzeitgeistmovement.com with your article and preface the email subject with [TZM content]
Template for chapter sites
In more techy news there’s a request for anyone who’s interested in web design and development to help out with a Jekyll based TZM chapter theme. The project, run by Juuso is designed to make it easier for TZM chapters to create a simple website. The idea is to make it easy to update the theme and have people use Github pages and similar version control systems to easily add content whilst sharing designs.
For those that don’t know Jekyll is a system for converting plain text into HTML websites. Because the output is straight HTML5 and it doesn’t need a database it can very easily be hosted with minimal requirements.
Contact the Finland coordinator juuso@vilmunen.net for more information.
Latest videos
The latest videos released on the TZM official YouTube channel are:
Anna Brodskaya gives some advice on how to negate anger and experience happiness, for anyone – from those on the frontline of political activism to those simply in the pursuit of a considered life.
The Zeitgeist.earth project is introducing a number of digital tools and services for communities involving technology, hacking and open source culture, as well as art and storytelling.
Zeitgeist Moving Forward opens with perhaps one of the most appropriate quotes to be highlighted in our generation: “In a decaying society, art, if it is truthful, must also reflect decay. And unless it wants to break faith with its social function, art must show the world as changeable. And help to change it.” — Ernst Fischer
In this spirit, while perhaps not obvious to everyone, it could be noted that memetic associations with the Japanese artform anime, currently underpin many of the Internet’s subcultures and younger generations. The Zeitgeist .earth project is taking that spirit and has been hard at work creating an image board and wiki, are hosting the high capacity Mumble server mentioned as a TeamSpeak replacement. They are also running project management tools like taiga.io and gitea a self hosted equivalent to github to help developers create the digital tools needs to transition to an RBE.
The team has been hard at work and the professional graphic designers have been redesigning the Zeitgeist logo and are working on the image board design with both light and dark themes. However the project is still under heavy development.
Want a project to sink your teeth into and you aren’t good at web development but are interested in psychology?
The Zeitgeist survey project needs some help. The idea is to create a survey which can work out what the global Zeitgeist is. What is the general population’s intellectual, cultural and moral spirit of the time, across the world? By repeating the survey every year we can see what direction it is headed in as a feedback mechanism.
Firstly we need help creating the survey itself. Working out the questions and how they’ll be used. Once the survey is created we’ll need the help of all ZM chapters to get the 16,000+ randomly distributed survey responses needed to have an adequate result. Hopefully we can then do a world wide poll every year and see which the places are most ripe for transition.
Free World One is the new, hybrid for-profit initiative that was launched by Colin Turner at Z-Day 2018. FW1 is a company designed to leverage the existing market system to promote RBE ambitions through monetizing various activities in education, awareness and prototyping. Profits raised by the company’s ethical and sustainable projects will then be used to support other projects.
Colin, who founded The Free World Charter in 2011, is doing a great job at getting support and the company is now well into its first round of funding with over 270 investors. They are about to embark on an exciting educational project called LifeGames which promotes skills and traits like compassion, cooperation and critical thinking through fun classroom activities for kids. Books and apps of the LifeGames project are expected to go on sale to schools next Spring.
Free World One’s mission statement is:
“We believe that free access to basic living requirements is now a fundamental human right of all twenty-first century citizens. We see the existing method of controlling resources through money, markets and labour as outdated and unfair to the majority of people. We recognise that by combining the power of community with available technology, we can meet everyone’s needs easily and create happier communities.
“Free World One creates, supports and funds a wide variety of projects that promote our ethos of creating a free and sustainable planet for all.”
If you’re interested in helping kickstart transition through this hybrid approach and have some money to invest, then check out:
Want to contribute to the newsletter? Email newsletter@zeitgeist-info.com with any news or updates. If there’s enough requests we can create a more automated solution and notice board.
Zeitgeist Movement supporters started pouring in from chapters all around the world as the doors opened to the very appropriately named New Globe Theatre in Brisbane, Australia, Saturday morning on the last weekend of March.
Organisers scurried excitedly, setting up the various areas, including: the merchandise space; the questions for PJ booth; the vegan food buffet; the bar; the workshop space, scattered with comfy chairs and recommended readings; and of course, the main stage, where presentations would be continuously running over the first two-day Z-Day main event.
Check out this great overview of Z-Day – Day One – by one of the very talented New Zealand coordinators, Wiri Te Moni.
The volunteer technicians, and chapter coordinators – Jason Lord from LA and Michael Kubler from Adelaide, worked tirelessly, making sure we had quality recordings of each presentation for later viewing on the TZMGlobal YouTube Channel. Audience members got comfortably acquainted and seated. (Links to presentation recordings will be added to this post as they are uploaded.)
Photos by Michael Kubler @kublermdk, Renee McKeown, and Jason Lord
As soon as everything was ready to go, Z-Day Global kicked off, starting with my opening presentation, where I spoke about the theme of this year’s Z-Day: Towards Global Unity and Abundance, as well as advice on creating a sustainable and successful chapter, the amount of work involved in making Z-Day happen, ways to avoid economic bigotry, and concluding with a certain framing of encouraging a unified quest to understand the nature of reality rather than personal ambition to win over your perceived opponents.
Casey Davidson, Australian National Coordinator
This was followed by the very knowledgeable and insightful Franky Müller, National Coordinator of the German chapter. Franky shared TZM Understandings – important information about The Zeitgeist Movement, refreshing our minds and filling in important gaps in knowledge for those still learning about the tenets and train-of-thought.
Franky Müller, German National Coordinator
See Franky’s presentation here.
After Franky, the second of our presenters, Cameron Reilly entertained the crowd with a tongue-in-cheek questionnaire asking the audience about their own psychopathic tendencies and giving them the opportunity to measure it according to their results. He talked about the specific traits of psychopaths, touching on the idea that people who fit into this personality type are not changeable and will always be born. Additionally, the system we have created actually encourages people with these tendencies to acquire positions of power, hence the title of his presentation, the Psychopath Economy.
Simultaneously, we had set up a workshop space in the adjacent room for Z-Day participants who were more interested in being involved in activities and discussions. The first of these workshops came from Caroline Rentel, author and activist, who shared ideas about a relatively new writing genre, Solarpunk, basically based in a future society beyond scarcity and hierarchy, where humanity, nature and technology are integrated.
Caroline Rentel, Solarpunk author
Caroline and Cameron’s presentations lead into lunch time, where a selection of delicious vegan foods were provided as part of the Z-Day ticket. Curries, cakes, sushi, burgers and snacks were available for all participants served on eco-friendly plates with serviettes and cutlery. Thanks to the lead food volunteer coordinator, Vicky Syme and everyone else who worked so hard to make food available for everyone. For future Z-Day organisers, I would suggest that having food available at the venue is very important in keeping the audience members together to collaborate and be on time for the presentation straight after lunch.
Vegan chefs Vicki and Margarita
Lunch time!
Our first presentation after lunch came from Rich Penney, who we flew in from Toronto, Canada. Rich has attended several Z-Days as one of the most intruiging and informed presenters within the Movement. This year he shared the very clear Contradictions of Capitalism, in a way that allowed us some insight into Rich’s life living with disability, as well as intellectual gifts that can’t be easily monetised in this society. This is a fantastic introductory presentation to help people understand the core problems of the way we have structured society.
We were next graced with the presence of two of the very talented guys from acclaimed Aussie band, Dead Letter Circus, Kim Benzie and Luke Williams. As I have personally been a long-time fan of DLC with their unique sound, emotionally evoking and incredibly conscious lyrics which fall in line beautifully with the tenets of the Zeitgeist Movement, it was amazingly awe-inspiring to hear Luke and Kim talk about their personal experience and journey as artists against oppression. The uplifting conclusion of their presentation of their song ‘While You Wait’, together with lyrics and the comically-titled ‘anti-establishment drum solo’ moved the audience to a standing ovation.
Luke Williams, Dead Letter Circus Drummer
Kim Benzie, Dead Letter Circus Vocalist, Z-Day 2017
While these presentations were going on, Oliver Koslik from Canada presented interactively in the workshop space on Emotional Suppression: A short course on how to recognise and deal with gas-lighting/ambient abuse.
Oliver Koslik
The fun continued on the main stage as we introduced the next of our international guests, Euvie Ivanova from the Future Thinkers Podcast. As a co-host of the Future Thinkers Podcast, Euvie promotes technology, science and consciousness for social concern.
Here is a quick overview of the premise of the Future Thinkers Podcast.
Euvie’s presentation was particularly focused on consciousness development, as she spoke pragmatically about ways in which we can explore our consciousness using methods from a variety of doctrines. This was particularly interesting to the audience as something that hasn’t been discussed in detail in regards to TZM.
Euvie Ivanova Future Thinkers Z-Day
The other half of the Future Thinkers Podcast, Mike Gilliland, followed Euvie’s presentation. Mike shared his thoughts on the potential of blockchain technology, beyond the limitations of bitcoin. Topics such as decentralisation, security and developing intelligent management systems were explored.
Mike Gilliland from Future Thinkers at Z-Day 2017
During Euvie and Mike’s presentations, the Melbourne chapter coordinators Brad Cini and Sonny Vice sat with an intrigued group in the workshop space as they spoke about their upcoming Zero Waste/Minimalisation project they are in the process of creating, and hopefully recreating in cities outside of Melbourne.
Sonny Vice and Brad Cini from the Melbourne Chapter
Everyone was ready for another break to debrief and snack, before moving into the final presentation of the day from ex-Italian coordinator and futurist author Federico Pistono. Federico presented Ethics of Technology, sharing an alternative look at the world’s state of affairs, suggesting ways in which technology is already shifting humanity forward, and new ethical considerations that need to be taken into account regarding this. He shared some controversial topics for discussion that lead into his concluding statement about exponential empathy.
Federico Pistono at Z-Day 2017 Brisbane Australia
Just before the panel, Gilbert Ismail shared a brief update on the global chapters administration and new website. Mark Enoch shared his method for marketing the RBE message in the workshop space, followed by Matt Peddie and Vera L Te Velte from the CryptoParty who showed audience members ways to make their devices more secure.
After all the presentations, I was fortunate enough to lead the Day One Panel, where audience members had the opportunity to ask the speakers questions from the first day’s presentations on the main stage. This included a lively discussion where panellists authentically shared their thoughts on activism within TZM, as well as a range of social, economic and environmental concerns and ideas for consideration.
Panel from left: Casey Davidson, Franky Muller, Rich Penney, Luke Williams, Kim Benzie, Euvie Ivanova, Mike Gilliland, Federico Pistono, Gilbert Ismail
Day One Z-Day 2017 Panel At front: Casey Davidson Back from left: Franky Muller, Rich Penny, Luke Williams, Kim Benzie
Z-Day 2017 in Brisbane was the first Global event to have presentations as well as workshops. It was also the first with evening performances. A big thanks to the beautiful Anita Diamond for MCing and organising the evening’s performances. Roger Smith shared his spontaneous outbreaks of reason, with his passionate funk/blues/rock sound, bringing urgency to the message of the Zeitgeist Movement. This was followed by other local artists including Aceso and The Duke. The evening was complete with DJ SAMARI, coming in from Auckland, New Zealand who shared his Zeitgeist Anaglyph.
Aceso
DAY TWO
Enthusiastic minds entered the New Globe Theatre for the second and final day of the Z-Day weekend with presentation and Q & A from Zeitgeist Movement founder and Zeitgeist film creator Peter Joseph. For a quick overview of the second day, check out Wiri’s vlog below.
Californian coordinator Jason Lord, kicked off Day 2 with his presentation, Defining Root Causes – a short tour through common surface associations where people fall victim to seeing “persistent problems” as individual outcomes that need fighting or resisting. Jason’s presentation explored how to see these problems as symptoms – pointing to a systemic problem and helping people see how the system view can help shape your actions when it comes to activism and discussion with peers.
Jason Lord, California TZM Coordinator
Jason then introduced Peter Joseph, TZM Founder, who started with his concise presentation titled “Train of Thought” before delving into questions I took from the PJ booth and the audience. Just some of the topics discussed include adapting to natural laws, the victims of our structure – particularly our social system, human nature, white imperial self indulgence, biodiversity, how every life support system is in decline, abundance producing mechanism, corporations, techno-capitalist apologists, structural violence, discussion about the Interreflections trailer, managing the Movement and its role in activism, philanthropy and consciousness.
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Watch Peter’s Q & A in the video below.
After Peter, the audience once again enjoyed a delicious vegan lunch, before coming back for the final presentations, which were focused around the fight and the build towards the Zeitgeist Movement’s ultimate vision of a Resource-Based Economy (RBE). Richard Ostmason of the Money Free Party New Zealand, shared the work he has been doing within the political establishment to engage people into thinking about the potential of actually seeing an RBE in the short-term, particularly in New Zealand.
Richard Ostmason, Money Free Party NZ, presenting at Z-Day 2017
Next, Adelaide coordinator, Michael Kubler’s presented about the Price of Zero Transition, making a very important point that we can’t wait for collapse and then expect to grow the world we want to see out of the ashes (coined the Phoenix Model). Rather, we need to start making systemic changes now in a variety of ways if we truly want to see an RBE.
Michael Kubler presenting at Z-Day 2017
This was followed by Ziggy Tolnay of the Sydney chapter, who shared a concept called the RBE10K project, about creating a physical community in which people could participate in as a transitionary method towards a global RBE.
Ziggy Tolnay presenting at Z-Day 2017
By this stage, the crowd was growing exceedingly weary after two full days of learning and sharing, but were very fortunate to be jolted back to the present – with the very talented and insightful Eleanor Goldfield, with her emotionally evoking and painfully accurate spoken word performance about capitalism and activism. This was followed by her presentation, which rounded up the whole two days worth of events as she shared her very honest and authentic thoughts on the importance of the fight and the build that needs to happen as we work towards a post-capitalist society, making clear that capitalism will die, but whether we die with it is up to us.
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During the main stage presentations, a generous portion of the audience had made their way into the workshop space to engage with a very interesting and important presentation with one of the most experienced, thoughtful and knowledgeable ethics and systems designers, Richard Mochelle. Richard shared his thoughts on a tangible way to acquire land for a Resource-Based Economy, outside of the current methods of land acquirement, which requires submission to the current economic paradigm. Richard suggested that this land could be acquired through creating an RBE trust, in which baby boomers ultimately give their land to a cause in which promises are made to care for their land and not sell it back to the banks.
Richard Mochelle and Casey Davidson
The audience had another quick break before joining us again for the final panel with Day 2 presenters, including Peter Joseph. A range of topics were once again discussed including UBI, as well as other concerns and questions regarding transition.
Day 2 Panel Z-Day 2017
I’d like to put out a big thanks to Vince and JV, who have attended every Z-Day Global since its incarnation, and have worked on the door every year, providing a significant help to coordinators, including myself.
JV and Vince Z-Day 2017 Brisbane Australia
A big thanks also to my wonderful local chapter team who managed the merchandise stand, who helped set up and pack up the venue, who managed the workshop space, and generally made everything run smoothly. Particularly to James Pauly, Karl Hansen and Lara Jordan. Thanks also to the New Globe Theatre for providing the wonderful space.
James Pauly
TZM Merchandise
Thanks also to the lovely vegan activists who spent two full-days at the event sharing their knowledge about the environmental and personal benefits of a direct active change Zeitgeist Movement advocates can make towards ethical consumer choices, including a vegan lifestyle.
Vegan Stall at Z-Day 2017
Thank you also to all of the other people behind the scene who found the power within yourself to volunteer your time and energy and provide assistance without any expectation of personal gain, but purely for the message of TZM. This includes those who lent and donated needed funding, anyone who bought a ticket, anyone who was offered a free ticket due to your circumstances, anyone who asked a question, participated in any way, who offered an idea, a question, who bought merchandise or a drink, who offered their assistance in any way shape or form, or even sat passively as an audience member. Bums on seats count, and matter particularly to organisers, presenters and performers. Thanks also to our global online audience who made a weekend of it by participating in the online streaming from afar.
Paul Doyle from Frequencies TV Life Streaming for ZDay Global Brisbane
Another big thanks to Jason Lord, Michael Kubler and Paul Doyle who made sure the video content including streaming and videos for later viewing would be available to our global audience who couldn’t make the big trip to Brisbane. This is a significantly huge job and anyone with technical skills is always encouraged to help in this regard to make sure our content reaches a larger audience and forever into the future.
Jason making sure everything is running smoothly
Michael Kubler, usually behind the camera
I’d also like to extend my gratitude to all of the other people behind the scene who found the power within yourself to volunteer your time and energy and provide assistance without any expectation of personal gain, but purely for the message of TZM.
Z-Day 2017 Group Photo
Z-Day 2017 Setting up for Group Photo
A special mention to Zac Syme for your support – as well as opening your home for the presenter social night and providing a home for so many people leading up to, and over the event. Thanks to others who opened their home to travelling guests, including Simon Cole, Caroline and Karl, Ricky, Grant, Anita and Tim, James, Lara and Jack.
Zac Syme, Queensland TZM Coordinator and Federico Pistono, Author, ex-Italian Coordinator Photos by Michael Kubler
Thanks again to Paul Doyle for offering your studio ‘Frequencies TV’ where we recorded podcasts with coordinators and the Future Thinkers Podcast hosts Mike and Euvie, as well as for the public social night on Friday night before the event. More photos of the Pre-Z-Day Party here.
2017-03-24th Pre ZDay global public event at Frequencies TV, Brisbane Photos by Michael Kubler @kublermdk
Regardless of how far the Movement may or may not have come, we still have significant momentum, and your support however much or little you can give makes a differences to our ability to spread the message. I’m eternally grateful for all of the support and truly believe with the mindset of the participant’s in this year’s Z-Day we can make the drastic change we need to see to truly create a unified, abundant world.
Another year had come again for the Zeitgeist Movement Brisbane to put on our annual Zeitgeist Media Festival for 2016. This year, the festival was in the awesome New Globe Theatre in the trendy Fortitude Valley, Brisbane.
The New Globe very kindly gave us their awesome venue for the whole day and we certainly enjoyed every moment of our being there. The day began at 11am, although many of us were already there bright and early at 10am to set up for the day, putting up thought-provoking and evocative art and posters around the place, creating an atmosphere for the Zeitgeist spirit of change and awareness.
Groups of lively, friendly faces started to walk in and I was thrilled to see some of the familiar supporters, along with some new faces who looked excited to be there.
We kicked off the festival with an opening speech, where I thanked the traditional owners of the land we were standing on, recognising that it too had always been a place of music, festivals and community gatherings. I explained what the festival was all about, reminding everyone of the power that artists, musicians and poets can have for creating change and creating awareness.
Without further ado, we had our first musician, the lovely Patch Feeney get on stage to magnetise us with his funky 12 string guitar and deep sardonic voice. We were blown away by his talent and his humble attitude. Up next we were serenaded by the beautiful Aceso who played some heart-warming indie-jazz tunes. She is truly a visionary artist who is clearly inspired by everything she sees, hears and feels and her lyrics had spoke to a powerful reminder of the corruption that exists in our world, created by money.
Followed by these powerful messages, we then moved towards a new style of art in the form of slam poetry, delivered by the talented Claire Ellison. Claire’s poetry was powerful and very much slammed the door in the face of all the preconceptions we’d had of poetry by making us see her raw feelings come alive on issues that spoke of gender equality, love and social norms. It was truly eye-opening and we’d love to hear more from this talented poet.
In line with the spoken word form, we had rapper Tu appear on stage next who brought to light powerful socio-political issues that face our world and our country, such as immigration, detention centres and the recent Trump election. It was funny, intelligent and truthful. We were lucky to have artists like this deliver messages that are so relevant for what the Zeitgeist movement is about.
Following Tu, I selfishly took to the stage, with my guitarist Barry Kopittke, in my cover-band duo Beautiful Noise. We enticed the audience with our cover songs from artists such as Nirvana, Amy Winehouse, The Eurythmics and Bob Dylan, all talking about problems with the system and the darkness that can creep into humanity if we let it.
We then took the liberty of having a lunch break, and it was wonderful to see everyone mingling and having deep conversations, particularly in the art corner where drawings and discussions were being had on what our values are and the direction humanity can go in. It was so inspiring and amazing that our festival provoked this.
After our lunch break, the very talented and soulful Jan Rainbow joined the stage and played us some heart-felt melodies on acoustic guitar and vocals which were comprised of her originals as well as the moving Teardrop song by Massive Attack. It was so calming and beautiful to listen to and reminded me of what it would be like to live in a more connected community, with musicians who sang from the heart like this and roused such emotion.
Following the beautiful Jan, we had psychedelic Rock and Roll Blues poet, known as The Duke, take to the stage whose talented original songs demonstrated what it is like to see modern society through a distorted reflection of a pessimistic youth in disarray. It was provocative, raw and catchy and definitely got everyone in the mood.
Following The Duke, we had the headlining big band for the day, Fugitive & the Vagabond take to the New Globe main stage. Fugitive were a real treat to the ears and soul with their unique folky sound which spoke to troubles that face us all in this modern age of wealth disparity and social division. We look forward to hearing more from these talented musicians.
And last, but certainly not least we closed the day with sounds from the very talented and very enigmatic Beauregard Chambers on acoustic-electric guitar and vocals. His brooding voice and compelling guitar playing made us all astounded as we listened to his pleasant mix of folk, funk, rock and metal. We were so happy to have him close the day for us and look forward to hearing more from him.
And with that it was all over, the festival drew to a close at last by 5:00pm, it was such a fantastic day, I had so much fun that I couldn’t believe it was all over so quickly. But none of this could be achieved without the help and support of the New Globe Theatre for giving us their venue for the day, their staff and sound technician, the generous donations we received at the door and the hard-working Zeitgeist volunteers who gave their time in providing yummy vegan food and help throughout the day where it was needed.
It was obvious to me that everyone was here because we all agree that we want a better world and want a future where there is peace, abundance, collaboration, a clean environment, positive technologies, improved health, sharing and respect for all. I think it is important, now more than ever, that we get thinking about how we can fix the broken mess that our world finds itself in and we focus on our commonalities and not our differences, and start to do whatever little we can to inspire change. Events like this are just the start, and I believe that we can start to work together to create a better future for us all. I cannot wait to see what happens and I look forward to working with more like-minded people and to create another festival that will inspire this type of change! Until next year – peace out!
We have been exploring beyond the Earth’s surface for more than half a century. We have sent spacecraft to near and distant planetary objects. And man has travelled to the moon. It seems logical that the next place beyond Earth’s orbit to explore is our neighbouring planet, Mars.
And although the non-profit foundation based in the Netherlands, Mars One has faced some public scrutiny for its methods in establishing a permanent human settlement on Mars, they have succeeded in bringing some very important questions to the focus of public attention, and some very inspirational and thoughtful people to the general public. One of those people, Natalie Lawler, a 38-year-old healthy, intelligent and positively energetic woman who supports The Zeitgeist Movement, has volunteered for this courageous one-way mission. Natalie has been selected as a top-100 candidate in the mission.
The next stage of the selection process will reduce that number to twenty-four candidates who will receive formal, full-time training for the next decade before the first planned manned mission departs. We asked Natalie to share a little about herself, her enthusiasm for space exploration, and why she supports the Zeitgeist Movement.
When did you first hear about The Zeitgeist Movement?
I was introduced to the first two Zeitgeist films in 2010 and attended the official screening of Zeitgeist Moving Forward in Lygon St, Melbourne in 2011. Since moving to Brisbane in 2013 I have been an active member of the Brisbane chapter.
How did you hear about the Mars One program?
I first read about Mars One in 2013 on a science website and thought that it may be a hoax. After doing some research I found that Mars One has some prominent ambassadors and advisers. I then volunteered for the one way mission.
What made you decided to volunteer?
If we imagine the 4 ½ billion years of Earth’s history compressed into a 24 hour day, humans emerge 1 minute and 17 seconds before midnight. Archaeological evidence suggest our place of origin was Sub-Saharan Africa and that we dispersed from Africa over the past 100,000 years. We have been exploring the planet ever since. And now we find ourselves here, in this fraction of Earth’s history, where our curiosity and nature to explore makes leaving Earth to live on another planet a very near reality.
We can chose not to stand around and say….why didn’t someone go, because we are someone! We have the knowledge and the resources to become a multi planetary species now. And I put myself forward to help make it happen.
What do you think the benefits of going to Mars will be?
Search for life; We apparently have microbes on Earth that can withstand vacuum pressure, freezing temperatures and even survive when bombarded with radiation. Yet conditions on Earth don’t require them to sustain this. Could life have started on Mars and spread to Earth after an asteroid impact, or is it just inevitable given the right conditions? Are we all descendants of Martians, or could we find new life forms that don’t share our DNA? Discoveries await, including the very real possibility of finding life on Mars.
Technological advancement; Many technologies used on Earth were first pioneered in space exploration. Technological knowledge generated for a Mars mission, would yield many innovations that could benefit the public.
Inspiration; People remember seeing the first steps on the Moon but very few got excited about the landing of NASA’s Curiosity rover. Humans on Mars will inspire generations of young learners to invest in the knowledge of science and the wonder of space.
Sustainability; Mars One aims to be self-sustainable by producing oxygen and water, recycling all waste, using solar energy and growing food. It will however take significant time to create an entire supply chain on Mars to become sustainable – but if we can prove we can live on Mars sustainability perhaps it’s possible to live sustainably on Earth too.
Unity; A famous quote by an air Force pilot who flew aboard a space shuttle mission reads; “The first day or so we all pointed to our countries. The third or fourth day we were pointing to our continents. By the fifth day, we were aware of only one Earth.” Perhaps it won’t be until we leave Earth to settle on another planet that humanity can come together and see ourselves as one.
Understanding; We aren’t separate from each other as we were all formed from stars. We are part of our universe yet we know very little about it. What sort of value can you put on gaining a better understanding of the Universe? Robotic missions have shown that Mars has characteristics and history similar to Earth. When humans read the history of the rocks on Mars, and build on the knowledge, we may discover far more than we even want to about future of our home planet.
Destiny; Mars has a solar day a little over 24 hours. It has polar ice caps and an axial tilt giving it seasons. It has mountains and canyons, volcanoes, and evidence of ancient rivers and lakes. We know it has water, critical for life. Whilst it is cold it is far more liveable than Venus and there is enough sunlight to power solar panels. Gravity on Mars is 38% that of Earth which is predicted to be sufficient for the human body to be able to adapt to. Since the Apollo program we have been dreaming of the next giant leap and our neighbouring planet awaits.
What are your beliefs?
I don’t normally accept or have confidence in something without scientific evidence. I believe in current scientific findings or consensus’ until new evidence is presented and tested. Do I believe in gravity? Yes. Do I believe in Unicorns? No. But I may change my belief that Unicorns don’t exist if you can present me some proof.
The theory of God cannot be tested. Scientists can’t prove a god doesn’t exist and religion can’t prove that it does. I accept the power and value of logic and rational consideration of evidence in forming the belief that supernatural beings, including God, don’t exist.
Do you follow a vegan diet and if so why?
When I eat something I ask myself three things;
1) Is it good for me?
2) Is it good for the planet?
3) Is it good for the animal?
I don’t eat meat, eggs or dairy products because I cannot answer “Yes” to all three questions.
Take a piece of bacon;
1) Is it good for me? There is enough scientific evidence for the World Health Organization to classify processed meat (including bacon) as a human carcinogen ― in the same category as tobacco and asbestos.
2) Is it good for the planet? A large amount of energy and water goes into raising pigs. Then there is the production and distribution of the bacon that also adds to the carbon footprint along with environmental pollution from piggeries.
3) Is it good for the animal? Piggeries I have visited were inhumane. Pregnant sows were locked up in tiny stalls to breed the bacon that people eat. The pigs never got to see daylight. And I believe an animal shouldn’t have to die just so I can have a snack.
What Zeitgeist principles do you want to take to Mars?
The sort of home Mars may become will depend upon the first settlers and I would like to influence that and implement decision making models based on minimal opposition voting rather than majority rules and ensure that any economy that develops is a Resource Based Economy.
What legacy do you hope to leave behind in doing this?
I don’t aspire to leave a legacy. This mission is not about any individual. It is about all humanity taking the next step in our evolution.
