Paradise or Oblivion details the root causes of the systemic value disorders and detrimental symptoms caused by our current established system. This video presentation advocates a new socio-economic system, which is updated to present-day knowledge, featuring the life-long work of Social Engineer, Futurist, Inventor and Industrial Designer Jacque Fresco, which he calls a Resource-Based Economy.

The film details the need to outgrow the dated and inefficient methods of politics, law, business, or any other “establishment” notions of human affairs, and use the methods of science, combined with high technology, to provide for the needs of all the world’s people. It is not based on the opinions of the political and financial elite or on illusionary so-called democracies, but on maintaining a dynamic equilibrium with the planet that could ultimately provide abundance for all people.

Paradise or Oblivion, by The Venus Project, introduces the viewer to a more appropriate value system that would be required to enable this caring and holistic approach to benefit human civilization. This alternative surpasses the need for a monetary-based, controlled, and scarcity-oriented environment, which we find ourselves in today.

*This is NOT the “major motion picture” that The Venus Project is working towards but rather is a 52 min. documentary to introduce the aims and proposals to new people. Paradise or Oblivion will be released in March 2012 and we will post a link to the documentary as soon as it is released.

In the meantime, if you are not familiar with the work of Jacque Fresco and his Venus Project, here is a link to his highly informative newsletter and The Venue Project site. Fresco is one of the most brilliant minds of our time and his visionary proposals make total sense. He just raised funds to hire a screenwriter to develop a feature film that can inform the world that a solution exists to humanity’s challenges. This film cannot arrive too soon. Like Buckminster Fuller before him, the world is fortunate to have his brilliant mind and heart in service to life. NPD will continue to update readers on Jacque’s progress as it means our progress.

Ecuador had agreed last year to accept money in exchange for not drilling for oil in Yasuní National Park, an area of the Amazon rainforest that last year set a record for the most mammal, bird, amphibian and plant species in the world.

But a fundraiser was held last night that collected the $116 million necessary to temporarily halt exploitation of the area for oil.

Digital Journal explains:

An odd alliance of governments, film stars, Japanese businesses, Russian institutions, and soft drink companies have come forward to help protect the heart of the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador from exploitation by oil companies.

Yasuní National Park in Ecuador has become the planet’s latest success story, with a United Nations “crowdfunding” initiative held Thursday night to raise $116 million, an amount needed to put a temporary halt to exploitation by the oil industry of 722 square miles of the Ecuadorian Amazon known as the Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini (ITT) oil fields.

The Guardian has more:

Development of the oilfield, which was planned to take place immediately if the money had not been raised, would have inevitably led to ecological devastation and the eventual release of over 400m tonnes of CO2.

Ecuador agreed to halt plans to mine the oilfield if it could raise 50% of the $7.6bn revenue being lost by not mining the oil. While the world’s leading conservation groups pledged nothing, regional governments in France and Belgium offered millions of dollars – with $2m alone from the Belgian region of Wallonia. A New York investment banker donated her annual salary and Bo Derek, Leonardo DiCaprio, Edward Norton and Al Gore all contributed.

Please feel free to send this link on to your network and ask them play it forward. Let’s help this important film go viral.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAU2K4JwTjc&feature=share

If you are moved by Jim’s wonderful work, please consider making a tax-exempt donation to help recover the production costs.

CALL 808-339 2432 and thanks to all who helped!!

Go Planet!

JIM

What drives our desire to behave morally? Neuroeconomist Paul Zak shows why he believes oxytocin (he calls it “the moral molecule”) is responsible for trust, empathy and other feelings that help build a stable society.

Watch now.

As NPD subscribers know, I am excited about Gunter Pauli’s Blue Economy initiative and progress continues. The first translation into Spanish of the English Bestseller “The Blue Economy” by Prof. Dr. Gunter Pauli is now available.

The Spanish edition was presented by Prof. Dr. Gunter Pauli in Madrid at a conference of the “Instituto de Empresa” as well as a press conference for the newspaper “Diario de Mallorca” in Palma de Mallorca. This fall, the first German edition of the book will be released, and more languages are in preparation. If you are interested in obtaining a copy, please e-mail info@blueeconomy.de.

The Exit of Nuclear
:
With the Japan disaster, it is critical we find alternatives to nuclear energy as fast as possible. The Obama administration seems dedicated to the continued use of nuclear and of course the nuclear industry has no interest in eliminating itself so that job must come from people like Gunter and the emerging Blue Economy community.

Last week, ZERI Foundation presented a scenario to support the exit of nuclear power. Prof. Dr. Gunter Pauli illustrated to his audience, journalists and experts, how these technologies can be used to replace nuclear energy in an economically viable way. In a next step, “Blue Economy Design Lab” will cooperate with a series of companies and investors to prove the viability of this approach. The smart combination of existing technologies will be suitable to enable a rethinking in energy supply in consensus with our society and a financial surplus.” – was the comment by Prof. Dr. Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker, member of the Club of Rome.

The BE Facebook profile contains some impressions of the press conference. If you haven’t seen the excellent new Blue Economy Video concerning Nuclear’s Exit, here it is. Please take a few minutes to view this empowering solutions based piece and share it with those who believe in a nuclear future.

Clean Indoor Air in Buildings

Most of the buildings in which human beings work and live, have too dry air with an excessive amount of CO2 and are polluted with dust particles which endanger their health. For this reason, Gunter and his growing Blue Economy development team and investors are researching ever more innovative filtration systems to keep the air clean inside buildings.

We know plants improve the air. What is new is the pioneering work of Lars Thofelt, who observed how tropical forests catch dust particles from the air, let them fall down with raindrops and finally create more soil. He used his insights to design a rainforest in miniature which can be cultivated in large buildings. A mix of tropical plants not only removes dust particles, but also keeps the humidity stable, binds CO2 and even toxic formaldehyde – all this at a much lower cost than energy wasting filter systems.

If these micro-rainforests are planted in schools, the children can not only study in a healthier surroundings. Instead of studying uninspiring biology books, they have a close encounter with the functioning of ecosystems in their daily lives.
Interested?

Detailed information on the business model and its potential are available at community.blueeconomy.de – or as pdf, if you do not wish to register there.

We wish you many inspirations and look forward to jointly changing the way we do business!
Gunter Pauli and the Team of The Blue Economy