Animated Series
We’ve created a new, animated video series for the Great Simplification:
Watch in Four Parts
Energy Blind (Part 01 of 04)
Our first video in the series outlines the deep time history that brought humans to this juncture – with a focus on how the last 200 years of growth has been supported by fossil energy. The title references how our culture - and institutions – generally underappreciate the role of energy in our lives and futures. Removing the ‘energy blinders’ for pro-future thinkers is a central goal of our work.
The Human Superorganism (Part 02 of 04)
This video outlines the centrality of energy to our economies, how energy has costs in energy terms, how energy relates to technology, money and growth and how the aggregate human endeavor self-organizes to seek energy with growing impacts on natural systems/species.
The Human Being (Part 03 of 04)
This video discusses human behavior -as individuals - and in groups. Technology, energy, and material throughput don't grow on their own - but are a product of our cultural goals. We have an inherited psychology that primes us to: compete for status, care about the present, defend our in groups and other leanings that show up as a consumer growth culture. Understanding these psychological influences is key to integrating/moving past them and creating better actions for the future.
The Great Simplification (Part 04 of 04)
This final video aims to synthesize the previous three into a single story, and describe the implications for the future. We share common cultural lenses that are popular and feel good, but miss the larger system-wide picture. With a systems lens we are approaching an epic period in the human experience - The Great Simplification.