We can envision a thousand ways that humanity might destroy itself and the rest of the world, but visions of the future we want remain severely lacking in comparison. Why is that?
Our present moment is saturated in dystopian, apocalyptic fantasies of the future.
As the late Mark Fisher said, “It’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.” We can envision a thousand ways that humanity might destroy itself and the rest of the world, but positive visions of the future remain severely lacking in comparison. Why is that?
The Dark Ages led to the Renaissance. Feudalism led to capitalism. No era remains stagnant forever. But there’s an invisible meme in our culture today that says capitalism is the greatest economic idea humanity has ever invented and it will never be surpassed. That’s why a thousand dystopian visions of the future all imagined that capitalism stayed the same, our economic paradigm never evolved… and then the world was eventually destroyed. Could the two be connected? Is our failure to imagine something better than capitalism going to be what actually leads to “the bad ending” for humanity?
What this points to, in our view, is a crisis of imagination.
Humans at heart are storytellers, and we enact the stories we tell ourselves. As we’ve written before, our culture is enacting a story that’s destroying the world. If humanity is going to unlock “the good ending,” we’ve got to imagine it first. We’ve got to imagine ten thousand localized versions of it. That’s how things change.
Fortunately, visions of a more beautiful, compassionate, regenerative future already exist. But since they’re not being broadcast daily on the evening news, we’ve got to dedicate a little more energy towards broadcasting them ourselves. This is what this list of films is for. These films decided that the apocalypse is canceled. Climate change is canceled. Biodiversity loss is canceled. A comeback of this scale has never been attempted before, but that’s why it’s going to work. Ya dig? The people in these films aren’t listening to the folks that say it’s too late. They’re imagining the future they want, not the future they’re afraid of, and they’re bringing that future into being.
Whether we’re ultimately successful is not the point, and beyond anyone’s ability to truly know. The point is that our true nature calls us to choose determination over defeat, and resilience over despair.
We hope these films inspire the former – that place in your heart that knows a better world *is* possible, and is ready to make it happen.
Bioregional Living: A Permaculture Guide to Food and Energy Independence | Andrew Faust (2020)
Andrew Faust shares his inspiring vision for greater food and energy independence. It’s a guide to feeding and providing power for our local communities in ways that are not just “sustainable” but truly…
The Evolution of Ecological Consciousness | Andrew Faust (2013)
Permaculture designer Andrew Faust gives us an inspiring and heady narrative about the evolution of all life and human consciousness on Mother Earth.
The Economics of Happiness (2011)
Economic globalization has led to a massive expansion in the scale and power of big business and banking. It has also worsened nearly every problem we face: fundamentalism and ethnic conflict; climate chaos and species extinction…
Renewables Can’t Power Capitalism, But They Can Power Ecosocialism
This is a fantastic video essay. Sit back, relax, and enjoy it like a podcast for some serious knowledge gems.
The Sequel: What Will Follow Our Troubled Civilisation? (2020)
Opening with a powerful ‘deep time’ perspective, from the beginning of the Earth to our present moment, BAFTA-winning director Peter Armstrong’s new film recognises the fundamental unsustainability of today’s society and dares to ask…
A Simpler Way: Crisis as Opportunity (2016)
79 min · A Simpler Way follows a community in Australia who came together to explore and demonstrate a simpler way to live in response to global crises. Throughout the year the group built tiny houses, planted veggie gardens, practised simple…
Zeitgeist: Moving Forward (2011)
162 min · A feature length documentary by Peter Joseph that presents the case for a needed transition out of the current socioeconomic monetary paradigm which governs the entire world society.
A New Story for Humanity (2016)
102 min · A New Story For Humanity presents a beautifully and sensitively woven tapestry of the rich diversity that is the human family. Featuring interviews on the essential topics of our time: from cosmology to ecology, from ancient wisdom to…
Money & Life (2013)
86 min · Money & Life is a passionate and inspirational essay-style documentary that asks a provocative question: can we see the economic crisis not as a disaster, but as a tremendous opportunity?
Feeding Ourselves (2017)
96 min · Feeding Ourselves weaves intimate stories from the hopes and convictions of rural BC farmers and producers as they navigate undercurrents of uncertainty with our food system. Their commitment to local food culture inspires us to…
Singapore: Biophilic City (2012)
44 min · A whirlwind week in Singapore exploring the amazing story of how Singapore came to be one of the most ‘biophilic’ cities of the world, on the cutting edge of ecocity design and innovation. Did you have any idea? There has been…
Tomorrow: Take Concrete Steps To A Sustainable Future
120 min · “Without question, this is absolutely the best and most creative film on the future of humanity and the environment”. — Paul Hawken
Within Reach: Journey to Find Sustainable Community (2013)
87 min · Within Reach explores one couple’s pedal-powered search for a place to call home. Mandy and Ryan gave up their jobs, cars, and traditional houses to ‘bike-pack’ 6500 miles around the USA seeking sustainable community. Rather than…
The Nature of Cities (2010)
40 min · THE NATURE OF CITIES follows the journey of Professor Timothy Beatley as he explores urban projects around the world, representing the new green movement that hopes to move our urban environments beyond sustainability to a regenerative…
In Transition 2.0: A Story of Resilience & Hope in Extraordinary Times (2012)
66 min · This film is an inspirational immersion in the Transition movement, gathering stories from around the world of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. There are stories of communities printing their own money, growing food…
Communities Of Hope: Discovering the Ecovillages of Europe (2020)
29 min · COMMUNITIES OF HOPE is a film born from a quest to discover a regenerative culture.
Inner Climate Change: The Change Starts Within You (2020)
66 min · How do we navigate the intensity of emotions and reactions stirred up by climate change, or COVID-19 for that matter? How do we come to a place of peace, compassion, forgiveness and life-affirming action?
Rundown Apartments Reborn as Food-Forest Coliving Agritopia (2021)
55 min · In 2007, Ole and Maitri Ersson bought the rundown Cabana apartment complex in the city and immediately began to de-pave parking spaces to make space for what today is a huge permaculture coliving space and urban food forest. Today, the…
The Hardest Thing I’ve Ever Loved: Creating a Transformative Culture (2020)
36 min · “The Hardest Thing I´ve ever loved” follows the lives of 5 young explorers through their journey of the 5 weeks Ecovillage Design Education program, which navigates today’s challenges as opportunities to build a regenerative future for all.
Living the Change: Inspiring Stories for a Sustainable Future (2018)
85 min · Living the Change explores solutions to the global crises we face today – solutions any one of us can be part of – through the inspiring stories of people pioneering change in their own lives and in their communities in order to…
The Third Industrial Revolution: A Radical New Sharing Economy (2018)
105 min · The global economy is in crisis. The exponential exhaustion of natural resources, declining productivity, slow growth, rising unemployment, and steep inequality, forces us to rethink our economic models. Where do we go from here? In…
Beyond Elections: Redefining Democracy in the Americas (2008)
95 min · From Venezuela’s Communal Councils, to Brazil’s Participatory Budgeting; from Constitutional Assemblies to grassroots movements, recuperated factories to cooperatives across the hemisphere — this documentary is a journey, which takes…
What’s a Colloquium? An Oral History of the Natural Building Movement (2020)
76 min · A small band of natural building enthusiasts and outlaws met in a field over 20 years ago at something they called a ‘colloquium’. The movement they created has grown uncontrollably ever since; reviving and innovating ancient building…
India’s Healing Forests: Come Home, Be Healed (2019)
51 min · All our knowledge comes from nature and yet nature is a source of many mysteries.
A Convenient Truth: Urban Solutions from Curitiba, Brazil (2006)
51 min · Cities should be a solution not a problem for human beings. The city of Curitiba has demonstrated for the past 40 years how to transform problems into cost-effective solutions that can be applied in most cities around the world. A…
Prout: Economic Democracy in Practice (2004)
30 min · Economics of Prout covers the basic economic principles of Prout, which offers a viable alternative to the materialistic, anti human philosophies of Capitalism and Communism.
Fantastic Fungi (2019)
80 min · This is the film of the century! – Films For Action When so many are struggling for connection, inspiration and hope, Fantastic Fungi brings us together as interconnected creators of our world. Fantastic Fungi, directed by Louie…
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