Some of you may already be familiar with Zeitgeist, a controversial documentary film trilogy that challenges everything you think you know about the world. If you aren’t, do yourself a favor and get acquainted.

The first movie release, Zeitgeist, analyzes the social constructs that keep humanity’s consciousness stunted; Zeitgeist: Addendum dissects the unsustainability of the current economic system; The epilogue, Zeitgeist: Moving Forward, outlines the notion of structural violence, mechanization and the blueprint for a new system – one that can exist harmoniously with nature.

The viral film series has since spawned a global collective called The Zeitgeist Movement or TZM, an international initiative of activism and awareness pushing the notion that the current social and economic structure is inherently flawed, and must be transformed in order to ensure a sustainable future for all.

The Zeitgeist trilogy, as well as its follow-up Culture in Decline series, have challenged many of my preconceived paradigms as well as greatly inspired my activism, so it was awesome to sit down with Peter Joseph, founder of The Zeitgeist Movement Global, for an in-depth interview. Whether or not you agree with his philosophy, it’s undeniably thought-provoking and deserves to be heard.

Abby 

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Peter Joseph Breaks the Set on The Zeitgeist Movement

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“What we have been living for three decades is frontier capitalism, with the frontier constantly shifting location from crisis to crisis, moving on as soon as the law catches up.”

Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine is a book that shifts your socio-political paradigm even if you didn’t know that you had one.

Klein’s pointed, clear cut and stimulating parallel of shock therapy to our government’s own shock based, corporate fueled crusade is jaw dropping. After reading her book, my retired activism resurged with a stronger and more cohesive message: end corporate rule.

While I wouldn’t necessarily call her book uplifting, there is something about the unveiling of a previously blurred reality that feels refreshing; it’s a naked, un-photoshopped, un-moisturized truth that invigorates you to react.

Ignorance isn’t bliss, it’s ignorance. Real progress cannot manifest on the false notion that the people have democratic control, so the longer we pretend that the United States isn’t a kleptocratic plutocracy, the longer we allow its government to pillage our rights and destroy our planet.

It’s the same idea that Klein highlights in her latest article, ‘How Science is Telling us all to Revolt’ in New Statesman.

Over the course of history, science has provided us a wide array of truths – from the earth being round to dinosaurs and Jesus not kicking it together in the deserts of Israel. Now, science is concluding that our economic paradigm is a threat to ecological survival, and the only way the future can shift away from its cataclysmic doomsday is through pockets of resistance.

Despite the At the American Geophysical Union’s 2012 Fall Meeting, complex systems researcher Brad Werner, presented “Is Earth Fucked? Dynamic Futility of Global Environmental Management and Possibilities for Sustainability via Direct Action Activism.”

Werner created an advanced computer program that found, through a series of complex calculations, that “global capitalism has made the depletion of resources so rapid, convenient and barrier-free that ‘earth-human systems’ are becoming dangerously unstable in response.” And in response to the “Are we fucked” question, Werner said, “More or less.”

The hopeful spin atop this morbid scientific certainty?

Revolt.

As Werner calls it, “people or groups of people” that “adopt a certain set of dynamics that does not fit within the capitalist culture.” At the very least, these people are slowing down the inevitable destruction of the natural planet.

In other words, we can avoid the man-made destruction of the earth by giving a shit and doing something about it. 

The idea of caring about the world around you is not alien – it means taking stock of your surroundings and processing them in a meaningful way. It begins with disseminating the truth amidst the corporate media sewage by seeking out alternative sources of information.

Thankfully, independent media is blasting out these stories every hour of every day worldwide, despite the extraordinary efforts to keep them buried. Throughout the intake of information about the self-destructive nature of the current system, you will probably feel overwhelmed with anger, disappointment, disgust or a viscous blend of the three.

From this stage, action is almost inherent.

The truth then permeates from print to mind to mouth, from conversation to conversation, Facebook post to day of action.

As Klein says:

“…the truth is getting out anyway. The fact that business-as-usual pursuit of profits and growth is destabilizing life on earth is no longer something we need to read out in scientific journals. The early signs are unfolding before our eyes. And increasing numbers of us are responding accordingly: blockading fracking activity in Balcombe; interfering with Arctic drilling preparations in Russian waters (at tremendous personal cost); taking tar sands operators to court for violating indigenous sovereignty; and countless other acts of resistance large and small.”

Throughout human history, all social and political change has come about through a unified resistance with pointed demands.

There’s a reason why our rights to free speech and assembly are being stripped from us – they are the tools with which we can and do fight the corporatocratic takeover of the US and the planet. So, if by using these inalienable rights on which this country was founded makes me a rogue agent, two posts and a melody away from the ‘no-fly list’, so be it.

This is how I fight, and this is how I will continue to fight.

How will you?

And do not x out of this window thinking that it wouldn’t amount to anything if you bothered to actually do something. Consider Werner, the pink-haired geophysicist.

As Klein points out,

“He [Werner] isn’t saying that his research drove him to take action to stop a particular policy; he is saying that his research shows that our entire economic paradigm is a threat to ecological stability. And indeed that challenging this economic paradigm – through mass-movement counter-pressure – is humanity’s best shot at avoiding catastrophe.”

By following his passion for computer models and geophysics, Werner has not only engaged in a far-reaching activism, he’s scientifically demanded for it.

If everyone felt that what they did wasn’t big enough, nothing would ever change. Every dictatorship would be alive and well, with the 99% merely complaining over their shackles and rations.

Even a share of this website is an act of resistance.

Let your passion fuel and guide you. If you have an enthusiasm for film making, fuse that with socio-political commentary. If you have an interest in baking, make 99% cookies using only non-GMO ingredients and spread awareness through a bake sale. These may seem negligible actions when projected against the great wall of corruption facing us, but remember that even the biggest wall is only comprised of smaller pieces.

Each one of our small acts, when united, are 99% bigger than their wall. So as science recommends and our reality demands: think, react and do something.

Written by Eleanor Goldfield, activist and member of the band Rooftop Revolutionaries. Watch an interview with Eleanor on Abby Martin’s Breaking the Set.

Surrounded by thousands of miles of Pacific Ocean, the majestic Laysan Albatross birds nest on islands forming the Midway Atoll, located at the northwest point of the Hawaiian Archipelago. This unique wildlife refuge is home to 71% of the world’s Laysan Albatross population and therefore is critical to their survival. 

On Midway island, albatross live a delicate life. They typically mate and nest for the first time between the ages of five and eight. Each time they do, they hatch a solitary chick that requires constant care from both parents to stay alive.

Sadly, the deadly consequences of human overconsumption have turned the once densely albatross populated region into a mass graveyard. Like many fragile ecosystems on earth, plastic pollution in the ocean has greatly hindered this species’ survival.

One of the primary sources of albatross food is flying fish eggs, which lay in strings that attach to floating plastic in the ocean. Due to this consumption, it’s estimated that 98% of all Laysan albatrosses have varying degrees of plastic in their digestive systems.  Every year, four out of ten albatross chicks die from a variety of deadly health conditions including starvation, dehydration and obstructions of their digestive systems – all as a result of plastic ingestion. These regal seafaring birds are helpless victims, dying by the thousands every year as a result of this toxic pollution.

To get a sense of the magnitude of this tragic phenomenon, check out photographer Chris Jordan’s stunning report on the plight of Midway albatross:

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To even begin to take on this problem we must first be willing to understand the degree of damage plastic pollution does. This non-biodegradable substance makes up 90% of ocean debris, and comes in a multitude of forms including medical garbage, bottles, bags, toys, bottles caps and plastic micro particles. 20% of this waste comes from private and commercial ships, fishing equipment, oil platforms and spillage from shipping containers, while the remaining 80% originates on land.

Thousands of tons of plastic ends up in streams, rivers and reservoirs. Eventually, it finds its way to the oceans resulting in plastic flotillas piloted by ocean winds and currents. The remainder will either sink to the bottom of the ocean floor or end up in an ocean gyre, a vortex where the debris becomes trapped. So far, one of the biggest areas of accumulated garbage is in the Pacific Ocean, also known as the ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch’ although there are five major ‘garbage patches’ in our oceans today.

The Laysan Albatross is certainly not the only marine species endangered as a result of human pollution, but it is one of the most uniquely affected by it. Obviously we as individuals don’t have the resources to clean up the oceans. But we can become active citizens by promoting a healthy and sustainable lifestyle, while demanding that policy makers and corporations mandate the same through their laws and products.

We can commit to purchasing reusable grocery bags, reusable water bottles, eliminating styrofoam and non biodegradable storage containers from our lives as well as support politicians and local legislation that enforces environmental protections. We may not be able to undo the damage we’ve already caused to our oceans, but with commitment and dedication to a cleaner planet we can make sure we do not cause further, irreversible destruction.

As a global community, we must learn to share the planet with all species to sustain ourselves and future generations. We can make a difference, for the albatross and for all the wondrous creatures that inhabit our planet. In fact, our survival depends on it. As Jacques-Yves Cousteau once said: “For most of history, man has had to fight nature to survive; in this century he is beginning to realize that in order to survive he must protect it.”

If you would like to learn more about Midway Laysan Albatrosses and show your support, please check in and follow Wisdom on her facebook page.  Wisdom is the oldest known Laysan Albatross, first banded in 1956 when she was estimated to be 5 years. Wisdom turned 62 this year and once again nested and raised a chick, Wonder, in February. 2013.

Written by Tommie Jones, edited by Abby, Sue Martin, Photo by USFWS Headquarters

MEDIA ROOTS — If scientists working for petrochemical corporations can manipulate molecular structures to derive new substances, plastics, so can scientists working for a greener agenda.

Messina

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SCIENCE DAILY — Plastic bags are a bane of nature. And not just bags — just about all plastics, really. Most are made out of petroleum, and a piece of plastic, if it misses the recycling bin and ends up in a landfill, will probably outlast human civilization.

But Chuanbing Tang at the University of South Carolina is developing new plastics that are “green” from the cradle to the grave. Given that the new polymers he’s working on often come from pine trees, firs and other conifers, he’s giving the word “evergreen” added resonance.

Rather than tapping a barrel of oil to obtain starting materials, Tang’s research group instead begins with the natural resins found in trees, especially evergreens. The rosin and turpentine derived from their wood is rich in hydrocarbons, similar but not identical to some components of petroleum.

Hydrocarbon-rich starting materials, whether from petroleum or tree resin, can be converted into various forms of what are commonly termed “plastics” through polymerization. With petroleum derivatives, scientists have invested more than a hundred years of research into refining the polymer chemistry involved, and their success in that endeavor is evident in the range of plastics now part of common parlance, such as Plexiglas, polycarbonate and PVC.

Read more about Turning pine sap into ‘ever-green’ plastcs.

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Photo by Flickr user T Maesel

MEDIA ROOTS – Recently, I had the honor of going on the Joe Rogan Experience, a popular podcast hosted by comedian and TV show host, Joe Rogan. Although I was a little nervous before going on the show, I was eased by the dope art decorating the studio–especially the naked mannequins sporting Boba Fet heads.

Congressional candidate and activist, David Seaman, along with his campaign manager, Dell Cameron, joined me for a three hour conversation with Redban and Joe Rogan about everything from US politics to space exploration, including discussion about the NDAA, media activism, drone wars, the two-party system and Prometheus.

If you know me in real life you know I swear like a sailor, so don’t be alarmed at the language used during the broadcast.

Abby Martin