All posts by Casey

About Casey

Casey is the national coordinator for TZM Australia and has a passion for educating on a variety of topics, organising and participating in a range of TZM projects and events and connecting with other like-minded individuals.

19Oct/15

The Healthy, Happy, Simple Living Festival Experience

Two weeks ago a group of us went down to Bindarabbi, a picturesque sustainable community on the QLD/NSW border, to take part in the Bindarrabi Common-Unity Festival: “Healthy, Happy, Simple Living”.

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Next door to a national park and nestled between a custodial mountain and gorge, the visionaries of this community are creating a dynamic, creative community with affordable housing – focusing on natural energy systems, permaculture principles and a mutual respect for each other and the land.IMAG1681

We were fortunate enough to present The Zeitgeist Movement to these wonderful people on the Saturday before enjoying a night of delicious food and great conversations around the campfire. During the presentation we gave a brief introduction to TZM and allowed opportunity for discussion and feedback. Unexpectedly there were a lot of children present who participated in the discussion too, answering some questions very insightfully. The recording of the presentation will be available soon.

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The following day was filled with a range of exciting, inspiring and interesting presentations based around sustainable lifestyles. Here are some highlights.

John Harding presented his idea to make solar power more accessible – starting from as low as $1000 and building upon it. He also discussed his invention which allows you to update your solar power equipment easily with every-changing solar technologies.

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After that, Lori and Bay shared how they make their own bread and feta cheese Trisha Van Den Brink also showed us how we can grow our own medicinal herbs and George shared his composting knowledge and self-watering wicking beds with the group.

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We were fortunate enough to check out Jane Milburn of Textile Beat discuss Slow Fashion, which empowers people to  become more conscious of our clothing. She encouraged the audience to slow down, take stock and be empowered to resew, restyle and refashion clothing that already exists. She had some wonderful fresh, new clothing on display that she had created using old clothes.

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Also on display were some homemade solar cookers, made from simple, recycled materials that had the ability to cook a full pumpkin in 45 minutes, or even put a hole in metal (if not used carefully)!

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The day of events was finished with two discussions by the Bindarabbi community owners, Carol and Doone. Carol discussed the concept of “Living Simply” with the group, which brought up some wonderful discussion about what this actually means, and maybe how the word could be misleading in today’s current culture. Doone explained his process of creating a Ram Pump from the water at the top of the gorge, down  to all of the allotments on the property.

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Apart from the wonderful presentations, the TZM group also had the opportunity to enjoy swimming, sunbaking, great music and great company.

– Casey

Bindarrabbi, seems as paradise on Earth in the backdrop of the Koreelah National park, surrounded by the dry grasslands & mountains of the NSW border region.

We set off for the 3 hour trek from Brisbane prepared with vital supplies: wine, market purchased foods & of course, lots of warm clothing for the cold nights. Driving. Landscapes of rural Queensland, perfect weather & last minute guerrilla preparations for the coming presentations just hours away.

Counting ‘belly lizards’ & ‘angry cows’ for the last stretch, Bindarrabi arrives & we are greeted by ‘Dune’, the cheerful & well-mannered “patriarch”, guided to our yurt style communal tent. The spot is amazing, bushland just meters away.

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Presentation goes well, the adorable, inquisitive & intelligent children, amaze us with their engagement, making this by far one of the most enjoyable we have done. The campsite is filled with likeminded, friendly People; designed with solar power, spring water taps, eco toilets & well maintained gumtree forest.

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The mild, late afternoon tour for bird watching, turns into evening, as the community built pizza oven is fired up & volunteer kitchen puts professional restaurants to task, in the cooperation & dedication of its people. Dinner is incredible, as the locally grown food is baked into delicious kilm oven pizza, dessert is homemade apple pie & thick cream. Served with open bonfire & great company.

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The morning chill is replaced by breakfast, dry summer clothes & workshops. Permaculture, solar cooking techniques, innovative solar power design are the subjects, with traditional country demonstrations on making Breads & cheeses. Lazy afternoon sets in with insightful nonsense chat, naps & lying around watching the wilderness channel, nothing to do, nowhere to be. 

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We start the last day exploring Koreelah Park, the hot dry weather is contrast to diving into clear, cool rock pools. Swimming in bush filtered sunlight & exploring unique rock formations. The well natured children guide us all back to the 4WD tracks. We say our goodbyes to the lovely people we spent the weekend with. Drearily, we count ‘tiny & holy’ cows on our way home as Tim Minchin serenades us with hilarious & witty conclusion dialog, an amazing & rejuvenating weekend.

By James Hill

04Aug/15

Pointers, lessons and experiences from TZM Brisbane

The other day I was sent a message from the Finnish National Coordinator, Teemu Koskimäki asking me a few questions about the level of TZM activity in Australia over the past couple of years, how our chapters are doing now and about any challenges we have faced. This got me thinking about all of the valuable lessons we’ve learnt along the way, especially the local chapter in Brisbane and how we’ve managed to end up with a solid active growing group.

brisbaneBurn-out is super common amongst social activists – and I’ve noticed it particularly with TZM activists. Once people discover the importance of educating everyone about the monetary/market system, the concept of a moneyless society, the scientific method and the overwhelming immediate need to change the world – it can become incredibly stressful and disappointing when others around you don’t understand or don’t follow through.

stressIf you are in a different part of Australia (or the world for that matter) and you’ve been thinking about starting a chapter, or you’ve started one and you’re not sure where to go from here, here are a couple of pointers, lessons and experiences we’ve had that can help you on your journey.

  1. Find the core group and low-hanging fruit

breakfastI wouldn’t say our success has been anything to do with the ‘type of people in this city’. As a matter of fact, I think a large amount of people in this city are generally quite ignorant and dismissive of global problems, or they’re caught up in local political debates.

Don’t go all out expecting to change everyone’s mind – especially as a lone wolf or couple! The first step is to find other people who are on the same level already. Yes, they are out there – especially if you live in a city of a million or so people! These people probably already feel alone and misunderstood too and would probably love to connect. I’ve found starting a Meetup to be incredibly effective, as well as starting a Facebook group. Attending other sustainability events and connecting with people can also be helpful. Start with organising something super simple – hanging out at cafes, having picnics, dinner parties, movies and so on. Unnecessary over preparation for a young chapter can be exhausting and lead to burn out.

  1. Delegation

people-chain-bannerOnce you get that awesome little group, don’t be surprised to get a lot of you-shoulds, it’d-be-better-ifs and why-don’t-yous. Of course suggestions are welcome! However, you have no obligation to follow through on suggestions. Remember you are only one person and can only do so much. If I think it might be too much to take on, my response might be something like, “That’s a great idea! I’m happy to support you in organising that in any way I can.”

  1. Utilising national and global resources and support

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Especially with marketing, don’t make everything from scratch. There are so many resources out there made by passionate and skilful activists from around the world. Check out Emboonite’s stuff on our activist material page. Also, if you hold movie nights, it might be a good idea to show a part of one of the Zeitgeist films, or a short Z-Day presentation from somewhere else in the world. Here’s a great example from Abby Martin.

I received an email a couple of months back from someone who used to be part of the Perth chapter, who explained that the core group didn’t want to have much to do with global because it was a ‘centralised’ system, which is in essence against the core train of thought. I would say coordinators have no interest in policing – we have absolutely no control over who starts a chapter or who doesn’t. We can only choose who we support and who we don’t. Networking, brainstorming, finding solutions and sharing ideas. That’s what it’s all about.

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  1. Staying in touch with global chaptersworld

Involvement in monthly global Teamspeak meetings has kept us up to date with what’s happening with other chapters around the world. We get updated with the latest available material and latest events and share what we are doing too. You can also help with their projects from afar – be part of the global team, help with adding to online content or if you’re more technically minded you can help with their website or even decision-making processes.

  1. Start an event like “Monthly Movies that Matter”.

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Our main public event in Brisbane is a perfect opportunity to connect with like-minded people and discuss the Zeitgeist Movement train-of-thought. Its advertised on the main website, Eventbrite, sent out to the Australian mailing list, Facebook (the national and local chapter pages) and Meetup. This draws in people from a range of different backgrounds and experiences and sometimes brings in people who actually don’t know much about TZM but are interested in sustainability in general. It’s a great environment for them to learn and connect. Not everyone will understand or be into it, so just focus on the successes and remember that it takes some people a while to fully comprehend several of the concepts we discuss. Keep it simple and focused on a topic that’s not too controversial, until you have a fairly solid group.

  1. Hang out!

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Most importantly, I believe the success of our chapter comes down to developing long-lasting friendships. Over the years of hard work, we’ve also got to know each other personally. Events are the most exciting time of the month and in between that we have movie nights, parties, go on trips together and generally have a lot of fun. We are honest with each other and not always dead serious about changing the world – TZM activism is something to be celebrated!

03Jul/15

The Zeitgeist Movement Australia Podcast

The TZM Australia YouTube Channel has been revived with podcasts aimed at educating the general public about a range of issues and ideas related to the Zeitgeist Movement. Podcasts are like short radio shows where people can ask and have their questions answered by the radio host and guests on the show.

In the first episode, Zac and Casey discuss how they discovered the Zeitgeist Movement, veganism, consumer expectations in a capitalist system, education, human behavioural psychology, charities, atheism and religion, the monetary/market system, sustainable communities, open source and planned obsolescence.

Listen to our first podcast here:

Here are some useful links for some of the topics discussed:

Anyone else with an interest in anything related to TZM we encourage you to take part. Contact the host of the show, Zac to have your voice heard: zacsyme@hotmail.com

18Apr/15

7 easy ways you can be involved in TZM Australia projects

Fifteen supporters of TZM met at the Brisbane Square Library on Saturday to discuss new and upcoming projects. If you’d like to get more involved, check out the projects below and contact the coordinators to share your skills, knowledge and interest.

our project meeting room at the Brisbane Square Library

Our project meeting room at the Brisbane Square Library

  1. Community Tours Project

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Visiting Communities Project
This project is aimed at learning about and reaching out to existing sustainable communities. The idea is to learn about their management structures, their decision making processes, the systems they use to manage resources and their overall goals. Once discovering this, using the concept of a resource-based economy (RBE), we will share our vision and share ways in which they can live  even more harmoniously together. Although we do aim to visit a range of local communities, one of our first tours will be held in Christie Walk in Adelaide. In the projects meeting, we outlined several volunteer roles which people could become involved in.
  • Database Editor – A person who updates our database, the RBEM Knowledge Base with information we gather.
  • Tour Organisers – People who would like to contact communities and collaborate with TZM to organise dates and times. Doodle may be a good platform to help with this.
  • In-house Presenters – People who do a presentation at Monthly Movies that Matter on a community that they have visited or researched. This is especially appropriate for communities that are either in the pipeline or inaccessible due to distance and/or language. It also helps reduce our carbon emissions. (Only about 15 minutes long)
  • TZM Presenter – People who do a presentation of TZM to explain to communities our train of thought.
If you’d be interested in any of these roles or being part of any of these projects, please email Simon the project Coodinator or better still, come to the Monthly Movies that Matter meeting and make yourself known. You can also contact us through our Meetup or Facebook group and we will put you in touch with the project coordinators http://www.meetup.com/The-Zeitgeist-Movement-for-Global-Sustainability

 

  1. Outreach Program
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A similar project coordinated in Vancouver, Canada

 

A simple project for regular attendees of our events – to survey people in the mall area before Monthly Movies that Matter – an event held on the second Saturday of each month. Rather than regular attendees sitting through the introductions, newcomers can ask questions while regulars  take to the streets talking to people about the concepts of the Zeitgeist Movement. A similar project was conducted in another chapter a few years ago, where Geisters carried around a clipboard and pencil and surveyed people on four simple, yet enlightening questions. Outreachers then return to Monthly Movies and report back on their experience. For this project we’re looking for:

  • Survey conductors – for those of you who are fairly knowledgeable about TZM
  • Question writers – questions such as “How much oil gets used per day in the world?”
  1. TZM Trivia night and Bring-a-friend day

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The Outreach Project got people thinking about other ways we can reach out to people.  An idea was suggested to create a trivia night based around Zeitgeist related content, issues and ideas. This would be open to everyone and would be a fun and entertaining way to educate. For this we need a:

 

  • Trivia night facilitators – for our charismatic members who like to get up on the microphone and ask the questions
  • Question writers – for those who can think of questions that aren’t too easy but aren’t too hard either – a way to educate people and get them thinking but leave them feeling good too.
  • Researchers – lets get our facts right!

It was also suggested that we could have another Monthly Movies Bring-a-friend day.

  1.  TZM Australia Monthly Podcasts

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The TZM Australia youtube channel is being revived with monthly podcasts, aimed at educating the general public about a range of issues and ideas related to the Zeitgeist Movement. Podcasts are like short radio shows where people can ask and have their questions answered by the radio host and guests on the show.

  • TZM Australia Podcast Guests – Anyone with an interest in anything related to TZM, whether it be in sustainability, technology, social design, communication, psychology or anything else, we encourage you to take part.

Contact the host of the show, Zac to have your voice heard:: zacsyme@hotmail.com

  1. Intelligent Systems for new governance

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For the techsavvy, scientific-minded folk who share our vision, we have a strong diverse team who are currently working on creating software that can create optimal decision-making – in a way that is fair and efficient. The system needs to be community-minded and open-source. Meetings are currently taking place weekly and are open to anyone who has any knowledge in this area.

  • Programmers – to help with the software design
  • Social design coordinators – to help develop the system
  1. Zeitgeist Media Festival

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Each year, the TZM Global encourages chapters around the world to organise a Media Festival. Unlike Z-Day, The Zeitgeist Media Festival is not so much an information symposium, but more a platform for artists, musicians, poets and film-makers to showcase their work – to inspire, to rouse emotion, to connect. As quoted at the beginning of Moving Forward: In a decaying society, art, if it is truthful, must also reflect decay. And unless it wants to break faith with its social function, art must show the world as changeable, and help to change it. – Ernst Fischer

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We are looking for:

  • Musicians, Film-makers, Poets, Artists, Writers – Whoever would like to promotes TZM by performing or displaying your work at The Zeitgeist Media Festival in October
  1. TZM Australia Website

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You may have noticed that the TZMAU website underwent many changes this year to share more information and make it more user-friendly for visitors. We’d like to have more people contribute to the blog (like this one here) and share their thoughts on our projects and events. If you also have suggestions for ways we can make it easier to navigate please send through your suggestions.

  • Writers, bloggers, vloggers – share your thoughts and ideas with us – we’d love to have more contribution from Geisters around the country.

If you’d be interested in any of these roles or being part of these projects, please contact us through the meetup group and we will put you in touch with the project coordinators http://www.meetup.com/The-Zeitgeist-Movement-for-Global-Sustainability

25Mar/15

Z-Day 2015

Each year, Zeitgeist Movement advocates from all over the world come together to learn more, connect with like-minded people and share new ideas to promote global unity, social betterment and a more humane society.

cropped-zday-2015.pngZeitgeist Day (Z-Day), the annual global symposium for The Zeitgeist Movement, was held for the 7th time this year in several different countries around the world on Saturday 14th March. The main event for Australia was held in Brisbane City at the Brisbane Square Library.

470_square,0This year was outstandingly successful for the Australian chapter, with a range of inspiring and interesting speakers. Coordinators are working hard to make all of these presentations available online as soon as possible.

I’d like to thank everyone who volunteered their time, money and effort towards making it a fantastic day. The free fruit for our guests was a very special touch!

I had the very fortunate opportunity to welcome our guests and give a brief run-down of the Zeitgeist Movement for guests who may not have heard of us before. This was followed by James Hill, who discussed how an NLRBE would be governed.

IMAG0649After James, Tom Miller from Unlimited You Education set the scene for the day by conducting a very collaborative discussion stemming from the question “Why are we here today?”. This brought about a range of reasons from our very diverse audience, that really set the group up to think about ways in which they could really connect with the group.

IMAG0651Caroline Rentel followed Tom, giving us a very special triple plug on three topics close to our heart: James Pauly’s updates on his electric vehicle conversion, updates on Beyond Zero Emissions and her novel about an RBE set in 2050.

Screenshot from 2015-03-25 16:56:24 Our audience was then wowed by Roman Spur’s amazing rental property that he transformed into a sustainable living story. In a tiny space in the city suburb of New Farm, Roman provided food including vegetables, honey and eggs for his whole family and neighbours, as well as use recycled materials to create solar power cookers and solar hot water.

IMAG0660After Roman, Simon Cole gave us a run-down of the TZM Australia Community Tours project, where a group of Brisbane Geisters aim to visit a range of communities around the country and beyond, to share our knowledge and discover the best ways we can manage groups in the early stages of developing an RBE. For more details, click here.

Screenshot from 2015-03-25 16:58:09After a quick break, John Roles decided to share his vision for Australia as a former candidate for Sustainable Population Party. John was an interesting guest, as someone who was not very familiar with TZM, but he was not only able to share his thoughts on population, growth and sustainability in Australia but connect with many people who think beyond politics.

IMAG0666Before our final speaker, Aaron Hilton the driving force behind this project, and Andreas Huemer, an expert in artificial intelligence and systems management shared their idea for system that can minimise harm and maximise abundance.

IMAG0671Our final speaker was Natalie Lawler, one of the last 100 remaining candidates for the Mars One mission. She shared updates on Mars One and explained her passion and reasons that she wanted to travel to the red planet forever. We were very fortunate to have a lot of question time for Natalie, as many people in the audience were curious about her mission.

Screenshot from 2015-03-25 17:29:41Thanks again to everyone who came along to support the Zeitgeist Movement. As stated previously, our local coordinators are working hard to make these presentations available online as soon as possible. An email will be sent to our subscribers as soon as the videos have been uploaded.

A recap of the global chapter event can be seen here. To read more about it, check out the global chapter blog here.