Category Archives: What’s New

03Jul/15

The Zeitgeist Movement Australia Podcast

The TZM Australia YouTube Channel has been revived with podcasts aimed at educating the general public about a range of issues and ideas related to the Zeitgeist Movement. Podcasts are like short radio shows where people can ask and have their questions answered by the radio host and guests on the show.

In the first episode, Zac and Casey discuss how they discovered the Zeitgeist Movement, veganism, consumer expectations in a capitalist system, education, human behavioural psychology, charities, atheism and religion, the monetary/market system, sustainable communities, open source and planned obsolescence.

Listen to our first podcast here:

Here are some useful links for some of the topics discussed:

Anyone else with an interest in anything related to TZM we encourage you to take part. Contact the host of the show, Zac to have your voice heard: zacsyme@hotmail.com

25Mar/15

Z-Day 2015

Each year, Zeitgeist Movement advocates from all over the world come together to learn more, connect with like-minded people and share new ideas to promote global unity, social betterment and a more humane society.

cropped-zday-2015.pngZeitgeist Day (Z-Day), the annual global symposium for The Zeitgeist Movement, was held for the 7th time this year in several different countries around the world on Saturday 14th March. The main event for Australia was held in Brisbane City at the Brisbane Square Library.

470_square,0This year was outstandingly successful for the Australian chapter, with a range of inspiring and interesting speakers. Coordinators are working hard to make all of these presentations available online as soon as possible.

I’d like to thank everyone who volunteered their time, money and effort towards making it a fantastic day. The free fruit for our guests was a very special touch!

I had the very fortunate opportunity to welcome our guests and give a brief run-down of the Zeitgeist Movement for guests who may not have heard of us before. This was followed by James Hill, who discussed how an NLRBE would be governed.

IMAG0649After James, Tom Miller from Unlimited You Education set the scene for the day by conducting a very collaborative discussion stemming from the question “Why are we here today?”. This brought about a range of reasons from our very diverse audience, that really set the group up to think about ways in which they could really connect with the group.

IMAG0651Caroline Rentel followed Tom, giving us a very special triple plug on three topics close to our heart: James Pauly’s updates on his electric vehicle conversion, updates on Beyond Zero Emissions and her novel about an RBE set in 2050.

Screenshot from 2015-03-25 16:56:24 Our audience was then wowed by Roman Spur’s amazing rental property that he transformed into a sustainable living story. In a tiny space in the city suburb of New Farm, Roman provided food including vegetables, honey and eggs for his whole family and neighbours, as well as use recycled materials to create solar power cookers and solar hot water.

IMAG0660After Roman, Simon Cole gave us a run-down of the TZM Australia Community Tours project, where a group of Brisbane Geisters aim to visit a range of communities around the country and beyond, to share our knowledge and discover the best ways we can manage groups in the early stages of developing an RBE. For more details, click here.

Screenshot from 2015-03-25 16:58:09After a quick break, John Roles decided to share his vision for Australia as a former candidate for Sustainable Population Party. John was an interesting guest, as someone who was not very familiar with TZM, but he was not only able to share his thoughts on population, growth and sustainability in Australia but connect with many people who think beyond politics.

IMAG0666Before our final speaker, Aaron Hilton the driving force behind this project, and Andreas Huemer, an expert in artificial intelligence and systems management shared their idea for system that can minimise harm and maximise abundance.

IMAG0671Our final speaker was Natalie Lawler, one of the last 100 remaining candidates for the Mars One mission. She shared updates on Mars One and explained her passion and reasons that she wanted to travel to the red planet forever. We were very fortunate to have a lot of question time for Natalie, as many people in the audience were curious about her mission.

Screenshot from 2015-03-25 17:29:41Thanks again to everyone who came along to support the Zeitgeist Movement. As stated previously, our local coordinators are working hard to make these presentations available online as soon as possible. An email will be sent to our subscribers as soon as the videos have been uploaded.

A recap of the global chapter event can be seen here. To read more about it, check out the global chapter blog here.

15Feb/15

Visiting communities project

I’m frequently inspired by friends I’ve met through The Zeitgeist Movement – not only with their meaningful, witty and thought-provoking conversations, but also with the amount of work they do on projects related to sustainability, science and technology. Regardless of these proactive, energetic personalities, most of these projects are done outside of the TZM Australia organisation.

Our TZM group in Brisbane has grown fairly quickly over the past few months and we’re now excited to suggest an ongoing project for anyone who would like to support TZM in particular.

Many people within TZM also have a vision of buying a large block of land and creating a mini-Resource-Based Economy. To work towards this vision, we feel it’s important to get a good feel for what it’s like for people already living in sustainable communities and to truly understand the ins and outs of what works well and what needs more thought.

To enhance collaboration within the movement, as well as share our knowledge and skills, we’d like to organise trips to a range of sustainable communities and open arcologoy projects around Australia and abroad. Here are some that we would like to visit.

1. Christie Walk, Adelaide

Christie Walk Adelaide

The project consists of 27 dwellings which include linked four three-storey townhouses with full solar orientation, a three storey block of six apartments with east-west orientation, four individual cottages, and a 5 storey apartment block facing onto Sturt Street, with a community room/ kitchen/dining/meeting room/ library, and toilets on the ground floor. Around 40 people live at Christie Walk, ranging in age from very young to over 80 with a strong ethos of  ’community’ which has developed over the past ten years.

2. Atamai Village, New Zealand

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Still in development, the entire village, as well as individual house sites, are designed on permaculture principles to enhance both the physical and social resilience of the Atamai community. Atamai will have a residential area, a food production area, a forestry area and recreational areas.

3. Masdar City, Abu Dhabi

masdar

Masdar City is an arcology project in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates which uses solar energy and other renewable energy sources. The temperature on Masdar’s streets is generally 15 to 20°C cooler than the surrounding desert due to its unique construction. A 45-meter high wind tower sucks air from above and pushes a cooling breeze through Masdar’s streets. The site is raised above the surrounding land in order to create a slight cooling effect and buildings are clustered close together to keep streets and walkways shielded from the sun. Public transport initially was designed to use underground podcars. The city reuses its water and functions as a headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

If you would like to find out more and make suggestions for communities to visit, please join us for Z-Day in Brisbane next month, or email me at casey.d@zeitgeistaustralia.org.

26Jan/15

Love, relationships and sexuality

As Valentine’s Day approaches, we are reminded of the traditions in human culture that fill some people with love and joy, but also a huge population with shame and guilt, especially people who don’t conform to the traditional approaches of heterosexual monogamy. This February 14, The Zeitgeist Movement Australia will share some ideas and thoughts on love, relationships and sexuality that will challenge the status quo and provide a deeper understanding of polygamy, homosexuality, the battle of the sexes, communication in relationships, engagement and marriage.

Check out this infographic on non-monogamous relationships.

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Here is a sneak peak of one of the clips we will show, a TED talk by Chris Ryan, the author of the book that will change all your preconceived notions of relationships and sexuality, Sex at Dawn.

To discuss this with like-minded people and watch more interesting clips feel free to come along to Monthly Movies that Matter in the Brisbane square Library in February. We will also be showing Paradise or Oblivion by The Venus Project team. We hope to see you there.

11Oct/14

Art to inspire action for social change

Art has been used to express ideas about the world for countless generations. A way to inspire, reach out and communicate new ways of thinking. Now in the 21st century, we have so many new mediums for expressing ourselves artistically – from film, to ever-growing varieties of musical, poetic and visual expression.

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At this time in history, It is so fortunate we have so many growing mediums of expression, as well as growing mediums of communication to share ideas and thoughts on increasing social issues, economic problems, war, poverty, intolerance, corruption, mass spiritual depression and isolated existence in the West, in a time of an ever growing imbalance of power and equality in most places in the world. On a more positive note, to also share knowledge of hopeful technologies, the profound reality of our existence and the beauty of our universe.

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In October, the annual Zeitgeist Media Festival showcased live performances, short films and presentations (poems etc.) to inspire positive change. The Brisbane Zeitgeist Movement group shared a range of the short films from the headlining Los Angeles Zeitgeist Media Festival. The feedback from this event was really positive and was met with meaningful discussion and ideas for positive action.

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For your viewing pleasure the playlist we shared at the Brisbane Zeitgeist Movement Monthly Meetup has been made available below. This comes as a highly recommended way of expressing a train of thought that encourages long-term global sustainability. Please enjoy watching with your friends and family.