{"id":869,"date":"2012-07-21T11:08:23","date_gmt":"2012-07-21T15:08:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeofbrian.ca\/?p=869"},"modified":"2023-10-07T11:34:16","modified_gmt":"2023-10-07T15:34:16","slug":"the-story-of-change-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.lifeofbrian.ca\/index.php\/2012\/07\/the-story-of-change-video\/","title":{"rendered":"The Story of Change (Video)"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you haven’t already viewed my post “The Story of Stuff<\/a>“, I would highly recommend it. This video is from the same people and and is narrated by Annie Leonard as well. Below is a blog post from Annie Leonard discussing the premise of their latest video. And of course you can view the video below as well ;-)<\/p>\n

I used to think the truth would set us free. Like many who care about the environment, I spent years thinking that information would lead to change. So I wrote reports, gave speeches, even testified before Congress.<\/p>\n

Some things changed. Sadly, the big picture didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

For a long time I couldn\u2019t understand why. Now I\u2019ve realized that it isn\u2019t because we don\u2019t have enough data, white papers or experts to tell us we\u2019re in trouble. The problem is we\u2019ve forgotten what it takes to make change.
\nMy new movie, The Story of Change, argues that\u2019s partly because we\u2019ve gotten stuck in consumer mode.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve come to see that we have two parts to ourselves; it\u2019s almost like two muscles \u2013 a consumer muscle and a citizen muscle. Our consumer muscle, which is fed and exercised constantly, has grown strong. So strong that \u201cconsumer\u201d has become our primary identity, our reason for being. We\u2019re told so often that we\u2019re a nation of consumers that we don\u2019t blink when the media use \u201cconsumer\u201d and \u201cperson\u201d interchangeably.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, our citizen muscle has gotten flabby. There\u2019s no marketing campaign reminding us to engage as citizens. On the contrary, we\u2019re bombarded with lists of simple things we can buy or do to save the planet, without going out of our way or breaking a sweat.<\/p>\n

No wonder that faced with daunting problems and discouraged by the intransigence of the status quo, we instinctively flex our power in the only way we know how \u2013 as consumers. Plastic garbage choking the oceans? Carry your own shopping bag. Formaldehyde in baby shampoo? Buy the brand with the green seal. Global warming threatening life as we know it? Change your lightbulb. (As Michael Maniates, a professor of political and environmental science at Allegheny College, says: \u201cNever has so little been asked of so many.\u201d)<\/p>\n

Now, all of those are good things to do. When we shop, it\u2019s good to choose products without toxic chemicals and unnecessary packaging, made by locally-based companies that treat their workers well. But our real power is not in choosing from items on a limited menu; it is in determining what gets on that menu. The way to ensure that toxic, climate-disrupting choices are replaced with safe and healthy alternatives \u2013 for everyone, not just those who can afford them \u2013 is by engaging as citizens: working together for bigger, bolder change than we could ever accomplish as individual consumers.<\/p>\n

Look back at successful movements \u2013 civil rights, anti-apartheid, the early environmental victories \u2013 and you\u2019ll see that three things are needed to make change at the scale we need today.<\/p>\n

First, we need a Big Idea of how things could be better \u2013 a morally compelling, ecologically sustainable and socially just idea that will not just make things a little better for a few, but a lot better for everyone. Millions around the world already have that idea: an economy based on the needs of people and the planet, not corporate profit.<\/p>\n

Second, we need a commitment to work together. In history\u2019s most transformative social movements, people didn\u2019t say \u201cI will perfect my individual daily choices,\u201d but \u201cWe will work together until the problem is solved.\u201d Today, it\u2019s easier than ever to work together, online and off.<\/p>\n

Finally, we need all of us who share that Big Idea to get active. We need to move from a place of shared concern, frustration and fear to a place of engaged citizen action. That\u2019s how we build the power to make real change.
\nWe have to aim high, work together and act boldly. It\u2019s not simple, and it won\u2019t be easy. But history is on our side. Let\u2019s get to work to make the kind of change we know is possible.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n