All language subtitles for Living the change.eng

(ominous string music)

- The current system has
to go through a collapse

unless you believe that
infinite growth is possible

on a finite planet.

The system is growth
dependent, so there's gonna be

a collapse in one form or another.

- If you just look at
what's happening in terms of

deforestation, resource
overconsumption, waste streams

and climate change, and I
mean, these are all phenomena

that are brought about
by our overconsumption,

overexploitation of resources.

(unsettling music)

- We have to leave 80% at
least of the fossil fuel

that we know about and that
we know we could make money

digging up, we have to
leave it in the ground

for the entire century at least.

- [Man] The ecological crisis
comes from treating the earth

as an other, as just a bunch of stuff.

- We've been so powerful and
we've impacted on so much

of the wild world around us
that if we don't do something

fairly soon, the wild world
is going to consume us.

(eerie string music)

- You know, these are the
massive issues, climate change,

energy and food, all of these
things that are converging

on us and yet, you know, you
pick up the paper every day

and there'll be nothing about this stuff.

- If you look at our
global economic system,

I'd guess you'd have to
first think of it as a system

by accident, nobody sat
down and designed this thing

and in a lot of ways,
it's sort of the worst

of all possible combinations,
because what you have

is something that is supposed
to be based in the real world

but behaves as if it
were in a fantasy world.

- It's really exploitive,
extractive, damaging,

not only to people but to the environment

and to the economy too.

(somber music)

I think we're heading
for some very deep water

if we don't make these changes.

- Being sustainable is not
just a nice thing to do.

Being unsustainable isn't
just a bit unfortunate.

It is an existential
threat to our species.

People don't seem to get that.

We actually need to do something
about it or we're gone.

- You've probably had
those moments of despair

where you think it's just
hopeless and the world

is always gonna be this way and
anything we do is not enough

but there's also and I
would say that this is more

of a heart knowing that understands that

a more beautiful world is possible.

(somber music)

(atmospheric music)

(gentle string music)

(somber music)

- The world is built on stories.

Or even a story, a mythology.

Every culture has a mythology

that answers the deep questions

like who am I, what is
a self, what's real,

how does change happen,
what's the nature of reality?

(string music)

Every culture answers
that in a different way

and the answers that our culture has

and when I say our culture
I mean the dominant culture

of this planet, the answers
that have worked and guided

our culture for several hundred years now

and to some extent thousands of years

aren't working anymore,
we're facing a crisis

in our basic way of making
meaning about the world

and our understanding of
the recipe for living life

and all of these things
are in a state of crisis.

(somber string music)

- The problems that we face
in terms of environmental

condition, degradation,
overconsumption of resources,

a lot of social justice
problems, really pretty much

all stem from a common
cause and that's economics.

(somber string music)

The biggest problem it
has for us right now,

the biggest implication it has for humans

and pretty much everything
else on the planet

is that it's causing a lot
of unsustainable growth,

it's causing growth to
accelerate in a way that cannot

be met by natural resources or
sinks on the planet we have.

(somber string music)

- The money system demands endless growth.

It compels endless growth,
it encourages endless growth.

So in other words, it
encourages the conversion

of nature into property, into profits.

- Now the problem with
this growth, of course,

is that if the economy keeps growing,

sooner or later it needs natural resources

to support that growth.

(bombs explode)

(somber music)

- One of the big flaws in
the current money system

is interest, we would
probably only need to work

half of the hours that we do

and still be able to maintain
the same standard of living

if it wasn't for interest.

Interest is hidden in so many ways.

The price of any goods and services,

most businesses have loans
on which they pay interest

and they don't pay interest, you do.

I do.

And so that means that we
have to work and work and work

and exploit Mother Nature
as well in the process.

Way more than would be necessary
if it wasn't for interest.

(somber music)

- For a lot of the things to keep running,

keep the finance engine ticking
along and keep economies

moving, we have to have
lots and lots of energy.

(frenetic music)

Energy for extracting natural resources,

energy for shipping
things around the world,

energy for manufacturing,
energy to promote them,

energy to keep them going,
energy to maintain things

so it's a lot of energy
used in the system.

(somber music)

- Fossil fuel energy
is energy from the sun

that's been stored in plants
or other living things.

And has been stored
under the ground usually

for millions and millions of years.

When you dig it up, you get
a free bonus, basically,

you get this amazing wealth
of energy which you can do

all kinds of creative
and amazing things with,

but the problem is, is that
when it runs out, that's it,

it's gone.

The other aspect of that,
of course, is the process

of getting it and digging
it up is both destructive

and so expensive and
requires energy to do.

(frenetic music)

- Peak oil is a concept
that is quite simple.

What it means is that you have
a finite amount of something

and if you consume it at
a steady rate, then...

There kind of isn't a
peak, you just consume it,

but if you consume it
with an increasing rate

then you'll hit a point where
you can't increase anymore,

that would be a peak,
and then the consumption

would necessarily drop off in some way.

(somber music)

- The energy return on
investment from fossil fuels

when we first discovered it was so big

and that's why we have the
abundance that we have now,

as just that free energy
and we've been having this

crazy party for a hundred
years now on fossil fuels,

it's just a crazy binge that we've been on

and we're at the end of the
binge now because the energy

return on investment is
dwindling all the time.

That's how our food system works.

We talked about this green
revolution that would feed

all these people, but it's
not a green revolution.

It's an oil revolution.

(somber music)

- The entire system is hugely
dependent on fossil fuels.

You pull those out and I
guarantee you within days

the whole thing is gonna fall down.

(somber music)

- If you take into account
fossil fuels and the transport,

the tilling, everything,
the packaging, the movement,

the whole food system that we
have in the developed world,

so called developed world, then...

You know, there's at least 10
units of energy for every one

we get out of it.

- Basing a food production
system that's meant

to feed the world on something
which is temporary...

Brings obvious problems.

As a result of that is the
huge loss of biodiversity and

while not a lot of people
care about bugs and all this

other stuff, biodiversity is critical.

So when you strip that
away by having what we call

monocultures, then you
get massive problems.

With monocultures, we are
talking about growing one crop

or farming one animal and
you don't see that in nature.

Nature doesn't work that way.

It's evolved diversity for resilience.

When you take that away, these
systems become really brittle

and they're very prone to breaking.

Now we kind of stave off
the worst of those effects

or we try to with fossil fuel inputs.

We put in fertilizers, we put
in herbicides, fungicides,

pesticides, we go to great
lengths to try and protect

these very fragile food
production systems.

(somber music)

I think what a lot of
people don't realize is that

our food system is incredibly vulnerable.

We do a pretty good job most
of the time of getting food

where it needs to go, managing
supplies, managing surplus,

transportation, all that sort of stuff,

but it is quite vulnerable
to major upsets,

all kinds of crises,
particularly economic crises.

(eerie string music)

If the shops, the
supermarkets, stop selling food

for three days for some
reason, how would you survive?

What would that be like?

How would that feel?

What would you do?

You know, it's happened to me
in a major city just one day

and it really made me
think, you begin to realize

that there is a series of
things that all need to be

in place and all need to
be functioning properly

all the time for things to run smoothly.

In a world of increasing
climate volatility

and the economic pressures
that that can bring,

it's really easy to see how a
bad situation could develop.

- So this is the kind of scary
reality and it's coming fast

unless we really, really
quickly change our food system

and how we do it, you know,
then there's gonna be huge

impacts on humans, and on the
other animals on the planet.

(somber string music)

- To a certain extent, people
who really do understand

the problem of climate change
and resources and equity,

it's really easy to get focused
on the miracle technology

solution to that because
that's what we do,

that's what society's asking us to do.

- I think if technology could have

solved all of our problems

then it would have already
solved all of our problems.

Theoretically we already
have all of the technology

we need to live beautifully
on earth and beautifully

with each other, but we have not lived

beautifully on earth and
beautifully with each other

so something else has to happen.

(somber music)

- 100 years from now,
every solar panel we build

will be rubbish, it'll be toxic
waste, in fact, somewhere,

I hope somebody figures
out what to do with it.

Every windmill we build now
won't be running anymore.

Hopefully a lot of it'll
be recycled, I don't know.

But the carbon we put in
the air will still be there.

(somber music)

You're never gonna have
air travel with renewables,

you're never gonna have
steel with renewables.

You're never gonna have
electronics with renewables

'cause you need diesel so making sure

that you leave some diesel for later

is kind of important.

I'm not disillusioned with
solar or wind or anything.

I know that the substitution
of those things for

fossil fuels isn't possible,

so as long as we keep
telling ourselves the story

that it is, we aren't
actually doing the thing

we have to do which is to
just leave the stuff in

the ground, which means
what, there's only one thing

you can do then, which
is to use less of it.

(somber music)

If there's an industrial
civilization out there

a couple centuries from now, then...

They're using fossil fuel.

Tiny amounts of it.

And they're using renewable energy

and that renewable energy they are using

is hydro and geothermal.

And wood that they are
harvesting and husbanding

very, very carefully
and what we notice most

about them is how little they're
using of most everything.

That's what has to
happen, it doesn't matter

how many solar panels
you ever put on anything.

The only thing that
matters is leaving the coal

in the ground, leaving
the oil in the ground,

leaving the gas in the ground, all of it

and planting back every bit of
forest that you possibly can.

That's the only thing that matters.

(somber music)

- The history of civilization

has been kind of like a
history of an increasing power

to dominate and control the other,

the cultural other and
also the natural other.

(frenetic music)

And this was supposed
to bring us into utopia.

We were supposed to
live in paradise by now,

a paradise of electrified
comfort, robot servants,

space colonies, artificial
food, infinite lifespans,

et cetera, et cetera.

The breakdown that's happening
today in part is happening

because this glorious
promise of technology

and also social engineering
was never fulfilled

and in fact things are
getting worse and worse

and in fact our technologies of control

now look to be seeding our destruction.

The breakdown of the ecological
basis of civilization.

(somber music)

We don't know anymore what the answer is.

We don't know who we are.

We don't even know what's
real because on every level,

the story that answered those
questions is breaking down,

politically, economically and
especially technologically

and in our relationship to
nature so that leaves us

not knowing and it leaves
us open to another story.

(somber music)

(hopeful music)

- If we want to solve health
crisis, food quality issues,

economic issues, we really
have to change the system

and the infrastructure of the
system and we have to create

our own infrastructure.

(cheerful music)

I've been studying
sustainable farming systems

for over 25 years.

There are no real issues,
we can solve all of them.

There are really easy
answers to grow food quality

and do that with good environmental care.

That's the easy bit.

We are in the position to do it properly

because of the CSA, our
members allow us to create

that diversity, that other
old system doesn't allow

you to create that diversity.

- CSA stands for community
supported agriculture.

It means that a farmer starts growing food

and growing food, there's
a lot of unknowns in there

and you have to start at
the beginning of the season

and you don't know for
whatever reason if you're gonna

harvest all the things
that you plan to harvest,

that you started sowing months back.

So the idea is that a group
of people support a farmer

so the farmer knows he's got an outlet.

And the members that we have,
they know that every week

they're gonna get a box
of healthy fresh foods

that have been harvested
just before they got them.

For us it means we have
stability in the fact that

the plants we sow, that they are sold.

We don't have the issue of food waste.

Because if a broccoli is
small and it normally wouldn't

be able to go to a supermarket,
we can give people two.

(cheerful music)

- As a farmer, you want
to create healthy soils

and healthy plants and
healthy animals and further up

the food chain, you make
sure that you create a soil

that invites the right sets of microbes.

(cheerful music)

That for us means we have
soil which is the mineral

component, in the soil
we've got the microorganisms

which are governing the
system, we just create

a habitat for them, then
you got the plants growing

out of there, be it annuals,
perennials, and trees.

(cheerful music)

Then amongst that you've got
the insects living in there

and then we've incorporated
pigs, sheep, cows, ducks,

geese, and I'm sure we're
forgetting a few bits and bobs

and every single item adds value.

(cheerful music)

- So on the closed loop systems
they will have tree crops

and all that, nuts,
fruit, that kind of thing

happening on the fringes
or in shelter belts.

A whole really diverse approach to farming

that is way more sustainable
but also it closes

that nitrogen, that fertilizer loop

so you don't have to bring
it in from the outside.

You just don't waste it.

(cheerful music)

- While eating less meat is a
really important thing to do

it's important to recognize
that you can't have

a healthy ecosystem without animals.

A truly environmentally friendly

and ecologically healthy
food production system

must have animals because
when you take animals out

of that system, all the
jobs that those animals did

in that functioning ecosystem
now needs to be done

some other way, whether
that's by people or chemicals.

The health of these food
production system is supported by

the natural and healthy
interaction between plants

and animals and that can take
the form of pest control,

fertility cycles, there's
lots of interactions

between animals and plants
which we can and should use to

support a healthy and resilient
food production system.

So really what that boils
down to is we need to eat

less meat, we don't cut
it out, but the best thing

that anyone can do is try
and find producers that are

operating systems which are looking after

the health of their environment,
including the animals

and supporting them.

(eerie music)

(cheerful music)

- What comes out the back end
of a worm is really good stuff

and then it's just really cool just seeing

this high field of fungus
and it's just growing

on the surface of the soil.

(cheerful music)

And so holistic grazing is a
management technique that's

been devised by a
Zimbabwean man, Alan Savory,

and he was observing the
large herds of buffalo

in Africa and the bison in north America

and just massive herds of ruminant animals

and these animals were
constantly on the move

'cause there's generally
some lions or something

just on their back and
wanting to pick off any

of the weak ones.

We have large amounts of
cattle that are shifted

every day but instead
of lions keeping them

bunched together, we have electric fences

and each day they're going to fresh grass

and it's long grass and so
they're not eating it all.

Some of it's getting
trampled and with the dung

and urine and that,
that's just all forming

that kind of compost heap on the ground.

Other farms might be
looking at us and saying,

well, you're just wasting all that grass

'cause it's dry and
stalky and what have you,

but my reply is that
waste is a human concept.

Nature doesn't do waste and
so we're using that pasture

as part of our first fertilizer program

because that's what's
getting put down on the soil

and broken down and
going back into the soil.

(cheerful music)

When the grass is grazed and
with the holistic long grazing

system, it gets cut
off short by the animal

and it also sheds its roots at that time

and that's what is releasing
carbon into the soil.

And I guess one of the
most exciting things

and drivers of what we're
doing is the potential

that that has for...

For helping with climate change issues.

(cheerful music)

Some of those CAFOs that
they call 'em in America

or the feed lot, cattle
fattening operations,

are a climate disaster, but again,

under this system, they are
sequestering more carbon

and are part of a natural cycle
that is actually beneficial.

Conventionally farmers, it's all about

keeping the grass short

in a vegetative state so
it's growing vigorously,

and that system works
while you put on lots of

imported fertilizers,
particularly phosphate fertilizers

largely from North Africa and
a whole system that requires

digging up that fertilizer
and tracking it and then

shipping it and then tracking
it and then processing it

and then flying it.

On the whole it's a system
that's not going to work and...

In a future with less fossil fuels.

(cheerful music)

What we're doing at the farm
here is trying to reduce

the amount of fossil fuel
that it takes to produce food.

We've got the cattle going
around, we have hens following

along behind the cattle,
there's pigs on this farm too

and we're milking a few
dairy cows and all that

is really about using a perennial
crop like grass, pasture

with forage from trees
and that around as well

so we can produce eggs
from the chooks and pork

without relying on so
much of the annual grains

and all the energy that's
involved in producing them

so just trying to get the
fossil fuels out of our

food system as much as
we can and producing

healthy, natural food.

(cheerful music)

- The powerful thing is that
with regenerative agriculture

we can not only produce food
and we can not only produce

an abundance of food, but
we can do it in a way that

regenerates the land, that
replenishes the aquifers,

that sequesters carbon,

that nurtures and supports biodiversity.

Regenerative agriculture,
permaculture, holistic management,

there's nothing magical about
the way that these things work

It's all based upon sound
science and about having

a point of view that is
looking at your ecosystem

in its entirety, not just
individual aspects of it.

So really what this breaks
down to is that anyone

who's looking after land,
whether you're a farmer,

a gardener, whatever,
you're an ecosystem manager.

(gentle music)

- My philosophy about
what to do in the world

isn't to go to a pristine
area and live there

and enjoy your life, it's to
find a place that's degraded

and fix it up.

(gentle music)

- 23 years ago we started
developing the food forest

system here.

We've got 480 different
species of plant at last count.

That doesn't include the 80
different types of apples

and the 60 different types of gooseberries

and it's lovely to have that diversity

and it means that every time
there's things flowering,

things giving fruit, you
know, fruit crops you can eat

and so having diversity's
special and that's what makes

a forest garden resilient.

(gentle music)

This property had been
abandoned for probably 40 years,

no one lived here, an old house
had burned down on the spot.

- And the top area, this area
where the house is now was

completely covered in junk and
the remains of the old house.

Most people would have not
even crossed the threshold

of the property to have a
look at that, I don't think,

because it doesn't look very
appealing but to us it did

because I thought, well for
one thing, nobody wants it

so it's probably going
to be cheap and it was,

cheap to buy and secondly
I thought I can fix this.

(gentle music)

- A food forest is a permanent planting,

so you want to set up
just a like a fire system,

so a fire system can
always be the big trees

and the middle sized trees
and the bottom layer,

the ground layer, they
work together, some plants

cap some minerals and give others back

and another one does something else.

- Growing out in the forest
garden, aside from the native

trees which I used as a
framework or a platform

for building everything
else and those provide me

with shelter from the
wind and also nest sites

for the birds and the birds
are a really important player

in the management of
the garden and the cork

or the cabbage trees that
I've got growing there

and the starlings nest
in almost all of them

and those starlings as they're
feeding their youngers,

their babies, are flying out
and finding any soft bodied

caterpillar or grub they can
so there's our pest management

or that kind of thing.

And then as an understory or
the second layer down to that

we have our fruit tree layer
which is our heritage apples

and pears and plums and
nectarines and peaches, apricots.

And then below that a layer
of berry fruits and currants,

red currants, black currants,
white currants, gooseberries,

woosterberries, all of
those sorts of shrubby...

Plants that like to
grow in the semi shade.

And then wrapping around
all of that are the biennial

and perennial herbs,
some of which are edible,

some of which are medicinal,
and then below that

there are bulbs and root crops
that grow such as parsnips

and wild carrots, those kinds of things

and then winding their way
up through these things

are vines like grape vines and kiwi fruit

and mint and gooseberries
and hops and all sorts

of things which kind of
bind everything together

and tie the forest together.

(gentle music)

- That's so peaceful when you walk about.

It's just all different flowers
and the energy in action,

all the insects and the
birds have their own life

and so the birds are doing all
their thing up in the trees

and coming down and
feeding and the insects

are flying around and having babies

and flying off on missions.

It's like being in an
another universe, really,

it's just amazing, it's
to me how life should be

with livingness and interconnectedness,

all the plants and the bees and the herbs.

(gentle music)

- In a forest garden like
ours, the major player is

wildness, is, you know, the natural world

and all those things that happen in there

and my job is just to kind of
mold that to suit our purposes

to a certain extent.

We are not separate from the world.

We are as wild as it is.

But we've worked towards a
form that is not fitting in

with the wild world at all well

and it's going to realign us fairly soon

in my view unless we can recognize

that we need to be fully
integrated into that world.

(gentle music)

- People in indigenous
societies and tribal societies

or in agrarian villages,
they were enmeshed in

a matrix of relationship that
gave them a strong identity.

Everybody who they saw on a daily basis

knew them really well.

And we also were in intimate
connection with the land,

we knew every plant,
every animal, every bird,

we knew its song and when
it sang and what bugs it ate

and where those bugs lived
and what the soil smells like

where the bugs live and
what plants grow there

and what medicine plants are used for.

We were in this web of inter-being.

We felt as if we were
at home in the universe.

That is missing in our current society.

We're surrounded by a sea of
strangers, people that we know

only very superficially, if at all.

(eerie music)

- For Maori people, the
ancestors and the land

are all part of one,
we come from the land.

And most people, humans on
the planet relate to land

one way or another
because they belong to it

and they forge their own
identity out of it as well

and that will always continue to happen.

It's like a biological bond
between a mother and a child.

You can't break it.

That bond is enforced with the
genealogy of the ancestors,

the families, grandparents,
there's emotion stored

in that person that they
feel they belong here.

(acoustic music)

- Interbeing is a very
natural term, it means more

than interconnection or
interdependency, which kind of

suggests separate selves
having relationships.

Interbeing is more of an
understanding that we are

relationship, that my very
existence depends or draws from

or includes your existence.

(people laugh)

My wellbeing is intimately
connected to your wellbeing

or to the wellbeing of
the river, the ocean,

the forest, people across
the world and so forth

because I'm not really separate from you.

And that means that in
the story of inter being,

I know that whatever I do to the world

will come back to me somehow.

So if our true being is the
totality of our relationships

and includes everything in
the cosmos, if we are truly

maybe a holographic mirror of all that is,

then when we cut ourselves
off from any aspect of nature,

other people, we create a
wound, we create a cutoff

and this is painful and we
yearn to recover our wholeness.

However, due to ideology,
due to the economic system

that we're immersed in,
due to cultural factors,

due to many, many, many reasons,

the reunion that we long for

is unavailable to us.

That is good for business
because it drives consumerism,

it drives acquisitiveness,
it drives greed,

it drives all kinds of neurotic behaviors

that seek to compensate for
the missing relationships.

(acoustic music)

- I felt myself being drawn
into this materialistic world

because all the people that were around me

had material possessions
and there was this wanting

and creating of attachment
and wanting and wanting

more stuff so I sort of got
swept into that in a way.

(acoustic music)

So yeah, I studied business
and I was involved in finance

and more specifically the
stock market, so we used

to help people manage their money and...

One of the organizations I
worked with, we used to manage

hundreds of millions
of dollars for people.

I wasn't from that background,
from sort of a conservative

sort of upbringing, then all
of a sudden, I'm involved with

guys that are driving luxury
cars and living in expensive

house in Sidney suburbs, it's
sort of a bit overwhelming.

A lot of the guys that I had worked with,

they were multimillionaires,

but 20 million wasn't
enough, so they have to have

the three cars, they have
to have the holiday home,

they have to have a boat and
what happens is you can get

trapped in that lifestyle, hey.

(acoustic music)

So the idea is to, you know, have...

Native plants mixed among fruit trees

so we've got natives here,
we've got a tamarilo here,

we've got minook and canook
are in and piss borns,

natives, we've got a cabbage tree here.

This is a pine nut, so
those really expensive nuts

you get in the supermarket,
this is one of those.

It takes about 10 years
to get any fruit on it

or any nuts, so that's a longterm project

and then over here we've got
a fig tree which is fruiting

quite nicely and then for
the monarch butterflies

we've got a couple of swan
plants which they really enjoy

and we might be lucky to
see one, here he comes now.

It was only after Beth, my
wife and I, made the move

to New Zealand, we'd just
had enough of the whole

corporate life and we wanted
a slower, simpler lifestyle.

It was then the realization
sort of hit home,

I started to research more,
read, you know, hundreds

of articles and watched
hundreds of documentaries

and all sorts of stuff, then I
started to really understand,

well, wow, we've got
some serious issues here

and no one's really
talking about this stuff

and it's quite scary.

I guess with realization of
some of the broader issues

such as climate change, peak
oil, the resource depletion

and the extinction crisis
we're currently going through

it's sort of like it's
these massive issues

have been given lip
services by governments

and organizations and it's
like, aw, it just won't happen

or the system'll solve this problem

and that's what it sort of feels like.

So I guess that brings
up a lot of emotions like

frustration and anger
and guilt and it's like

why isn't someone doing
something about this?

Here we go, here's strawberries,
here's strawberries.

So here's a nice one, I
can, look at the color

on that thing.

Then I started to research
permaculture and realized that

it was an integrated
approach to how we're living

so at the moment, our current society,

it's a fragmented approach to living

so everything is
compartmentalized or separated,

whereas permaculture
is a holistic approach

to how we're living.

It integrates food,
environment, with your lifestyle

and taking care of people, the planet and

the natural resources.

So a lot of people come
over to our property

and have a look around, they go what about

all your fruit trees, do
you get pests and stuff

like birds that eat them,
and I say yeah, sure,

but we don't mind that,
they were here first

and we're a part of nature
and we have comments

from other people that live around near us

on the farms and they say
I can't believe how much

wildlife and bird life is
here and their properties,

just a few hundred meters
away have almost no

wildlife or bird life.

(acoustic music)

So, we're attracting
bird life and wildlife

through just letting nature
be as opposed to just

wanting to control it.

Permaculture links into other
aspects like collaboration,

localization, food
resiliency and networking,

so it's not just about growing food,

it's about connecting a whole system

and integrating a whole
system into one's life.

This lifestyle working on the
land and doing permaculture

feels more rewarding and like
I'm putting something back.

We also live a less consumerist lifestyle,

so we don't need as much
stuff, so I haven't got

this constant craving
for more and more things

to make me feel satisfied or happy.

So there you have it,
we have homegrown salad,

fruit salad, a green salad and some eggs

and I can't believe still that...

I don't have to go to a supermarket,

we've grown all this
ourselves in just three years.

I'm still amazed, so anyone can do it.

(acoustic music)

When I was living in big cities,

it was like I had to get
away to connect with nature,

but when I wake up every
morning, I come outside

and I'm immediately in nature here.

I don't have that void anymore.

I've just got this instant
connection and satisfaction.

It's hard to explain.

(gentle music)

- I mean, maybe you've had
this experience, feeling like

I'm not living my life.

I'm living the life I'm paid to live,

but what about my life?

So this is a different dimension
of human nature that...

We need to invoke, we need to...

Implement, we need to create conditions

for that part of human nature to blossom.

(acoustic music)

- We had been living in
Caty Caty and I was...

Working...

A regular job as a GP
in the practice there

and then I just found
these kind of warning signs

that I was started to get out of balance.

I'd be lovely with my
patients, but I'd come home

and be kinda shitty, I...

Was feeling quite depressed.

Just kind of the internal...

Cogs weren't running together very well.

And...

We started talking about
it and thought, well,

maybe we really need to kinda...

Radically rethink how we want to live.

(gentle music)

So the house is 20 square meters.

It started with a sheep
shearer's quarters just to the

side of us here and that
was maybe 20 years ago

that that was built, so our
bedroom is the original cabin

and then this L shaped space
is our kitchen, lounge,

library, office.

Day bed.

- Everything. (laughs)

- Everything, yeah.

20 square meters.

We've got a shower just adjoining

and a bit of a deck out the back.

A few months ago a
friend of mine helped me

put a 300 watt panel up on the roof

and so that powers the
broadband and telephone.

And a bit more light.

What else, now we can...

- Use the sewing machine,
which is very exciting.

- The sewing machine is good.

A lot of people when they
hear about it, they think,

oh my gosh, how is that with the baby

and even before that, how
is that just the two of you?

- I think actually it's
great with the baby

living in a small space in that...

Wherever she is she's never that far away.

So it's quite easy to be doing
whatever I need to be doing

and keeping an eye on her
and when she's sleeping,

she'll be close by.

(acoustic music)

- We have...

I don't know the term for it,
like a work trade arrangement

with the owners and we've been living here

just over a year so about
three or four days a week

I'm on the farm and then
part time I work as a GP.

So our costs are...

Fractional to what they
were living in town.

I don't have any stress about
money which is a huge benefit

Emotionally I'm healthier.

(both laugh)

(acoustic music)

- It was a choice wanting to be...

More immersed in my
environment and more directly

connected with my needs,
where my food was coming from

and I love going out and
seeing the garden each day,

seeing how things have changed and yeah,

it's like having a relationship
with a living thing

or lots of living things.

- Regularly tending in the
garden, I had this feeling

of almost being in love with the garden.

Which blew me away.

- The future of humanity
is to return to that

relationship to nature and to all beings

and to all human beings
too, to fall in love

with the world, its
wellbeing is my wellbeing.

If we really were in love with the planet

and incorporated that love
into all of our systems,

into our money system, we would not have

an ecological crisis.

- If an economy is operating outside

of ecological limits and
the inevitable conclusion

is that it's going to completely
erode the resource base

until it...

Implodes or collapses.

So really, the choice that
we have is to design and

develop an economy that operates
within ecological limits.

That's our only safe bet,
that's our only bet at all.

- So if we think about the
whole problem of deflation

and what could happen
post collapse in a country

that experiences a sudden
reversal and this loss

of liquidity where the money
supply really really gets

chopped down, people still
have needs, people still have

goods and services, they're gonna

find a way to exchange those.

What you want is the easiest possible way

to make this happen and this
is where alternative currencies

would plug the gap, if
a central government

were quick thinking, quick off the mark

and actually had a plan for
dealing with this stuff,

they could introduce a new currency,

maybe a parallel currency,
maybe a replacement currency

to counteract the disappearance
of all the bank money.

That probably won't happen,
though, so it's going

to be up to local and regional
currencies to fill that void.

(piano music)

- I woke up one morning
and jumped out of bed

without even being conscious yet saying,

I'm going to start a local currency.

And I just felt so much
joy, there was just like

this energy moving through me.

Loaves stands for local origin

Ashurst voluntary exchange system.

It's one of those acronyms
that you fit the words

to the acronym instead
of the other way around.

It is meant to be a voucher
system that circulates

in Ashhurst and the Bohomona valley

as a voluntary alternative
to using money for exchange.

So Loaves is primarily trading

at the Ashhurst Community Market

and we have about a dozen or so businesses

that are accepting it there.

We've got the cheesery,
we've got the fudgery,

we have several plant businesses.

We have a business consultant
who accepts it outside

of the market and there's
half a dozen others

that are accepting it as well.

One of the primary benefits
of the currency in my mind

is the awareness raising
that goes along with it.

We're after not the currency itself

but the relationships that
come out of the currency

so one of the major things
is this awareness campaign

around the benefits of
buying local, the benefits

of having a commitment between
customers and businesses.

Knowing what's available
in your own community,

of going to town instead of the
city when you need something

of supporting your neighbors
and looking to your neighbors

and their businesses as a primary
way of meeting your needs.

- The wealth generated by
using our local currency,

100% of it stays here, there's no interest

and it just keeps
circulating and recirculating

in the local community.

And rather than...

Being considered in competition
with the national money,

it's actually complimentary to it.

(gentle music)

- So you strengthen
these local connections,

of course, that's a very
resilient thing to do

because it just means
that if things are rough,

you've got friends, neighbors
and people in your region

that are able to help one another out.

Timebanking is a very
interesting development in that

it uses a very egalitarian
basis, it says everybody's time

is equal, it doesn't
matter how skilled you are

or what your qualifications
are or what you do

for your day job, that
your hour is worth the same

as my hour.

(idyllic music)

- I'm Maria Li from Te Mahi
Kai at Diamond Harbor School.

Which is a gardening to cooking program.

So we teach the children how
to grow everything themselves

and they plant the seeds and
then look after the garden

and then when it's my turn, we harvest

what they've grown and turn it into lunch.

(gentle music)

So...

Today we're making kale
chips and broadbean dip

and each week it's different.

The idea is just to teach
them some basics of cooking

and in order for that to work,
we use time bank volunteers.

And we couldn't do it without them.

Our volunteers are paid one
credit per hour that they come

and volunteer for us so we
take those from the school

time bank credit system
and give it to them

and then they use that to
trade for whatever they need.

(gentle music)

- It's always easier to
build your barn while the sun

is shining than try to put
it up in a howling gale

so if you put these things together now,

if you get the system up and running,

and especially with something
like a local currency

where they may be some marketing involved,

trying to get buy in
from people and all that,

you don't create one of these
things out of whole cloth

and get it widely accepted overnight.

(gentle music)

- But there's no getting away from it.

A huge part of this is that we
just consume too much stuff.

(eerie music)

Our entire economy is
built on getting us to buy

and consume, dispose and reconsume things.

I don't think it's realistic
that we can expect to live

in a world where we don't
make things or use things

or use resources, of course
we do, we need to use them

in a way that is smart, you know,

it's about intelligent use,
it's about being efficient

and not wasteful.

- The notion of waste is
something that wasn't around

two or three hundred years ago, you know,

we just didn't have
waste, things had utility,

things had value all the way through

and if they reached the
end of productivity,

they were reformed into something else.

Welcome to Bayswater Repair Cafe.

A repair cafe is a free popup event

where local community experts

in a variety of different areas,

offer their skills and
services to other people

in their local community for free.

You know, every year, we
send a crazy amount of stuff

to holes in the ground and
this is about maybe doing

something to address some of that flow

but also in the process of doing that

bringing people together
in a beautiful way that...

Connects people, creates some networks

and maybe even some friendships.

So we've got five different
repair areas at the cafe today.

We've got an electrical
appliances repair space

and that is overwhelmingly
the most popular area,

so people bring in toasters
and lamps and all kinds

of random bits and pieces.

We've got a clothing repair space

and we've got a team of seamstresses

and a seamster, if that's the right word,

who are mending clothes.

(upbeat music)

We've got a guy who is
repairing wood and pieces

of furniture and we've got general repairs

and we've also got two bike mechanics.

I was speaking to the daughter
of one of the volunteers

who helped out with the
repairs and he was an older guy

and he said to her that he felt...

A real sense of...

Belonging and a real
sense of feeling useful

and having purpose and...

I thought that was an
amazing output from the day

to make someone feel good about having

shared their skills with local people.

This is a beautiful example
of a community initiative

that brings people together
and enhances connection,

enhances a sense of community
and neighborhood and...

You know, we fix a lot of stuff,

but more important than
that I think is the building

of connection and community.

(somber music)

- It's really important
to remember that when you

dispose of something,
you can't throw it away.

When you throw something
it goes somewhere.

You might not know where that is,

it may be out of your sight,

it may be out of your mind,

but there is no such place as away.

(somber music)

- In 2007 we were really starting
to think about our impact

that we were having, just our
regular day to day actions

and one of the things we
focused on was how much rubbish

we were producing, I mean,
we could have focused

on anything, but rubbish was
so visual and just every week

of rubbish bags filling up
and so we somehow decided

to challenge ourselves, I don't
remember whose idea it was

now but we did this crazy
thing where we thought, right,

we're gonna try and make no
rubbish for the entire year.

We were genuinely not green people.

We were putting out a bag of
rubbish every week without fail

and we had literally never
thought about it before.

we sort of, it came to us one day,

we went, oh my gosh, this is terrible.

- In terms of the challenge
was to try and live

for one year with less than
a city council rubbish bag

and most of it was made up of the items

that were out of our
control, so the radiator hose

in our car burst and
so we had radiator hose

and we tried to carry on doing things

that you'd normally do so
we were renovating our home

back then and...

We had all the lead paint from
scraping the weatherboards.

So in practical terms,
that's what we had left over.

(acoustic music)

I think when we look at
the average rubbish bin,

you know, what people are putting out,

at least 50% of it's
generally organics and so

you take the biggest
things out first, right,

so deal with organics is the no brainer.

If you do that, you're 50%
ahead of the average citizen

and then there's another sort
of 30% of recycle material

general these days in the
rubbish bin so there's

the next thing, so you
deal with the organics,

then you recycle everything
you can and you're getting up

there by that stage,
you've made massive gains.

People can feel overwhelmed and
feel that what they're doing

doesn't make a difference,
but most of the waste

we create or we're kind of...

Complicit in is waste we've never seen

so we'll buy something and
there'll be a bit of packaging

around it that we see,
but making that item,

that's when the bulk
of the waste is created

so if you put out a rubbish
bag, it actually represents

70 rubbish bags of waste
that you've never seen

that's gone into making that bag of waste.

Consumers have it tough,
right, a lot of money

goes into marketing and
sending them messages

that you can buy our compostable packaging

and you're saving the environment

and of course, compostable
packaging in the landfill's

just as bad.

- It's the sort of thing
that actually needs

to be composted at very hot temperatures

so it really needs commercial
composting to be done properly

One of the biggest
problems in my business is

that I have to go vendors
and say, I'm sorry,

I know you've paid more
and you've been promised

that this is eco and
compostable by the person

that sold it to you but
they didn't actually go

and do their product
stewardship and find out

whether the composting
industry can take it

in every place.

- I think we've actually got consumers

that want to do the right thing,

we've got businesses that
are doing amazing stuff,

and we've got a government
completely missing in action

in terms of providing a
framework to encourage

those behaviors more and more.

- So when you do buy a
container at the supermarket

you make sure it's a reusable container

and then you wash it
out and you take it into

one of these stores and
you get them to weigh it

and you fill it up with whatever you want

and they take the weight of it

and you've just stopped
that plastic packaging.

- If people combining
composting and learning

how to recycle and
they're just putting a bit

of extra thought into
how they're shopping,

particularly considering
their packaging...

(gentle music)

It's that choice when
you're at the supermarket

or at Buntings or whatever,
thinking about the item,

essentially if it's plastic
or got other composite

materials in it, what can you do with it

at the end of life, not
much, it's gonna be rubbish,

it's gonna be around
for thousands of years.

Every time you spend a dollar it's a vote.

We have so much power, so
much more power than what

we realize, so it's like
keep on that knife edge,

yes, see, there's these
big issues, but also yes,

we can make a difference.

(gentle music)

- Like there's part of me,
you know, when I go to recycle

my bottles or compost my waste...

It's like, well what good does it do?

Now I'm just subtracting
one plastic bottle

from the enormous trash heap
that gets shipped to India

and is making new mountains
in India and China, you know,

of waste, like what does it matter?

One bottle different?

You can say well if everybody
did it, then it would make

a difference, so you have to do your part,

but part of you will say,
well, I'm not everybody

and if everybody does it, then
it doesn't matter if I do it.

So we have to have another reason.

For me it comes down to
relationship and ritual.

I like to save my compost
and use composting toilets,

for example.

Not because I've done
some calculation that...

This is gonna save the world
but because it's a different

kind of relationship with
the beings around me.

(gentle music)

- Composting toilets, like
composting your own shit,

processing your own toilet waste
is a real basic fundamental

thing that we should
all practice, it's a...

Simple way of being, of
demonstrating self responsibility.

- So with a flush toilet
basically you take really nice

clean drinking water and our
shit and mix the two together.

Both wonderful resources,
when you mix them together,

you create a toxic problem.

So with a compost toilet system,

you're able to capture that
amazing resource and...

Take care of it and treat
it in a way that removes

any pathogens or problems and
create a wonderful resource.

(gentle music)

- Okay, so welcome to
our toilet, for a start,

it's a composting toilet
bucket bench system.

We've got cover material
which we use old sawdust

from the mill, it's already
got bacteria and a bit

of fungus in there.

So you go make your
deposit, (clicks tongue),

put a bit of cover material on, leave it.

And then when we've got a
certain amount of buckets

we go to the compost and
add straw and garden waste

and kitchen waste.

(upbeat music)

And this is one I did maybe a week ago

and we'll put the compost
thermometer in here

and see what we're looking at.

It's still looking at 50
degrees, it's going up,

we've got up to 65 degrees the other day,

I recorded it.

- You know, there are
pathogens you have to consider,

there's roundworm eggs and
all these different kinds

of worm eggs that can
exist in your manure.

If you do a hot compost,
that's the safest way

because you can nuke all
those things within hours.

(upbeat music)

- And over here...

Is...

What you get.

I put it in a bag, but you
don't need to. (grunts)

That there is about a year old,

it's got lots of worms in it.

We put all our garden waste
and all our kitchen waste

in here, but the worms are a good sign.

If you've got worms, it
means it's not too acidic and

(sniffs) mmm, yum, good stuff

and that goes straight on the garden

and the plants love it and
we love the plants. (laughs)

- When it's finished
composting it doesn't look like

or smell anything like poo.

It's just beautiful black compost.

So we have monitored it closely,

we've watched the temperature,

we know all the pathogens have been nuked,

we feel confident in our process

so we feel safe to use it in our garden.

Anyone can do this, it's
just really a matter of being

engaged and wanting to do it
and getting the knowledge,

it's a knowledge based
system, it's not technological

or anything really advanced,
I've seen people do it

in cities with a wee
backyard, small backyard.

Yeah, and I've seen people do
it in really rural settings.

It's just a matter of being engaged.

- Yeah, it's for everyone, everyone,

everyone who wants to take more

responsibility for themselves

and not pass it off.

Everyone who values their poo. (laughs)

I value my poo. (laughs)

I value your poo too, so you're
welcome to leave a deposit

before you go, it's sort of expected,

actually, no pressure. (laughs)

(gentle music)

- I've come to see that in
order to be part of the solution

we really need to use our
everyday choices to change

our behavior and it's a cultural shift

that needs to happen in
order for us to at least

sustain ourselves, which
isn't even enough, of course,

because...

What are we sustaining? (laughs)

And so that's something
I've really been putting

a lot of time into recently,
is designing my work

so that it's actually regenerative.

(upbeat music)

Sort of out of necessity I
started this organic waste

collection.

Check this out, whoa!

Now we're currently picking
about two and a half tons up

each week from local
businesses and instead of that

all going into a hole in
the ground, it gets returned

back to the way of wind
row erodic composting.

So we currently have around
45 businesses on the Why Waste

collection, and they have a
number of bins or buckets,

mostly wheelie bins and
some have up to five

wheelie bins at their
business and every week

Why Waste comes and picks
that up and we take it to,

we weigh it, we record all
the data, things like that,

we take it to a composting
facility and so yeah,

we're in partnership with them
so that we can return that

waste back to the soil.

Recently, one of my clients rang me up

and they were super stoked
because they were able to cancel

this big, like, skip bin
for their rubbish, you know,

and now they just use
a 240 liter wheelie bin

which is much, much smaller
and that's as a result

of all of their...

Compostable waste going back to the soil.

Ooh, what's that, ooh,
tasty muffin. (laughs)

(upbeat music)

I'm really passionate about
composting as a solution of

minimizing our waste and
our impact here on...

This one planet that we have. (laughs)

Food scraps and biodegradable
waste takes up over a third

of what we send to a landfill.

When biodegradable matter
biodegrades, anaerobically,

it produces a lot of methane
which is 23 times worse

than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas

and not only do you get that
gas going to the atmosphere

but you also get a liquid version of it

leaching into our soils,
into our water table.

(upbeat music)

So what we're trying to
achieve here is build

a really hot compost
around this drum and also

all of this, build all
this irrigation into it

so that when that aerobic
hot compost heats up

we should be able to pump
water through the system

out and over to these bathtubs over here

and have free biologically
heated hot water.

The reason why I'm so
enthusiastic about compost is that

it's fertility in its purest form.

This is how nature builds
soil and that enables us

to grow more food and...

If people are conscious of composting,

they're probably gonna
become more conscious

about what they're eating
and if they're opening

less packets, that's good for everyone,

that's good for the planet,
that's good for our people,

if we can get people to
focus on eating better,

then we're actually able to
produce a lot less landfill

waste and a lot more biodegradable waste,

which in turn can be
turned into more fertility

to produce more food,
so the healthier we eat,

the better our waste is
and much easier to manage

and return to the land.

(upbeat music)

People talk about thinking
global, acting local.

I suppose I'm really sitting
in that truth presently.

I'd rather think local and act global,

but we've got to start
somewhere, you know?

And so...

Yeah, that's the change that
I'm wanting to see in the world

so I'm being it the best I can.

(upbeat music)

(somber music)

(upbeat music)

- I see a lot of people who
are very sensitive to...

The devastation, the
damage or just civilization

and it paralyzes them and that's sad

because we need those
people, all of those people.

You know, there are a lot of
things that could depress you

out in the world, but if
you take each negative act,

there's almost like an
opportunity or a provocation

to do your thing, which
is the opposite of that,

give more life, then it's
fun, it's a winnable game,

that's how I see it.

(gentle music)

- Wouldn't it be awesome
to see our country

before human contact?

You know, the thousands and
thousands, millions of birds.

Huge, huge Cody trees,
it's just unimaginable.

I think we all have done a
misjustice to the (speaks Maori).

My ancestors weren't exactly
the best conservationists

either but we now have a chance to revive

and recover those landscapes
before it's too late.

- Over a three year period
we planted 85,000 trees

and the majority of those
are New Zealand native trees

which are now flourishing
and really transforming

the landscape.

I just sort of would love
to see what this place

looked like 1000 years ago, which is such

a brief period in ecological time

and in that time we've sort of stripped

most of the native vegetation
and done a whole lot

of damage and we've gone
about as far as we can

down that road and so now it's time for us

to try and find the balance
and restore those...

Ecosystems but find a place for humans

living harmoniously within it.

- You don't realize
this, but this used to be

pastoral desert.

- It was just grass.

- Yeah, and...

This is what people can do.
- Mmm.

- [Man] You can create heaven on earth.

(birds chirp)

- Start growing food, food is
central to the way we live,

our health and our whole
ecosystem, environment.

Even if you're in an
apartment, windowsills, pots,

whatever, you can start
and that's the first step.

Once you engage with growing
and experiencing nature

then things start to happen.

- I get asked this a
lot, what can somebody do

if they're not a farmer,
if they're not on the land,

what can they do to change it?

Well, they can do a lot, the
best thing that anybody can do

is to vote with their wallets.

While in some cases it
may be more expensive,

do what you can, you know, you can see

people in your area that
are producing food that is

ecologically healthy,
they're doing it in a way

that is looking after the environment,

then that adds up, you
know, the more people

that do that, the less
expensive it will become

as that becomes normalized.

(gentle music)

- You know, from an
individual's point of view,

the biggest change by
far that we can achieve

in our own by changing our own lifestyle

is to reduce the amount of meat we eat.

That will have a much bigger effect

than what we do transport
wise, almost anything else.

- It's a lovely poem that talks
about, we don't have to be

good, we don't have to
walk 100 miles on our knees

repenting in the desert,
we just have to do

what the soft animal of our body loves

and I really like that,
I really like that.

For me this turns out to
be what I love and I have

a suspicion that this is
actually the blueprint

and there's something
when people get to it,

everybody would want to live
this way, I suspect, but...

It might be a really long
journey for some folks

to get to that knowing.

- Last year, I made a submission to...

The council of longterm plan
that I thought climate change

was by far the most
urgent and important issue

that council should...

Be concerned about and...

They said, and what would that look like?

I got a reaction.

So I ruminate on that for a while

and I took it back to a
group that I was part of,

called Project Wairarapa, and...

They said, yes.

Let's do this.

You should've heard the
buzz at that first meeting,

it was fantastic and that
feeds me, that encourages me.

That I'm doing something
useful, it's my time

to give back to the community
that's been so good to me,

where I've raised my kids
and had such a good life.

- So my vision for the future,
I have to be really clear,

it doesn't have anything
to do with things working

the way they do now but
with renewable energy.

That's actually not a possibility.

Working on renewable energy
and being quite different

from what we do now,
evolving into something else

is the vision I see.

Now how well that's all
working, how high a quality

of life that is, how fair
it is, how equitable it is,

how stable the governments
are, how much war

has come between now and
then completely depends

on what we do right now.

(gentle music)

- I think that the place that we're going

is a place that we cannot
see from where we are.

It'll only emerge or become
visible as we move toward it

so I'm not gonna say,
okay, here's the blueprint

for the future system,
I've thought it all out

and so now I'm gonna tell you what it is,

but I do catch glimpses
sometimes, you know.

One thing that comes to
me is that in the future,

we'll feel really at home
in the world, we will be

intimately familiar with
the landscape around us.

We will be in rich communities.

The best experiences
you've had in your life,

the most authentic, the most vibrant,

those don't have to be exceptions.

Trust what feels loving,
trust what feels good,

trust what feels aligned
with who you really are.

If you live by that and spread that vibe

and other people start living by that

then the whole planet is gonna change.

(hopeful music)