Jeremy Rifkin's documentary on "The Third Industrial Revolution"
Jeremy Rifkin has been grappling with big trends of change in climate, energy and technology for a few decades. But he has gained most success in pushing his model of the "Third Industrial Revolution" to leaders in China, Germany and around the world - a revolution that sees the huge employment, infrastructural and planet-saving possibilities of shifting our economic models towards genuine sustainability.
Vice Impact has produced a documentary with Rifkin (trailer above), by means of which he hopes to trigger a "global collaboration among millenials to build a more human and ecological society".
An excerpt from their interview with him:
Millennials are a unique generation caught in a faltering global economic system that has taken us to the precipice of climate change. They're in despair, and their values are not represented in the economy or governance. I want to guide this generation to rethink the economic assumptions that govern how we live on this planet and find new approaches to innovation, business, and employment. I want this film to spark the beginning of a global collaboration among millennials to build a more humane and ecological society.
One of your boldest claims is that the world needs to be off carbon in the next four decades if we want to survive. Is that feasible?
I have been working on environmental issues since the 1970s. Back then, we already recognized climate change, but we didn't realize how quickly it was unfolding. What's terrifying about climate change is that it's happening in real time. We could soon enter the sixth great extinction of life on Earth, and it may take 10 million years to get life back. Half of all species are poised to disappear in eight decades. This is beyond anything humans have ever faced. But we can overcome it if we have a game plan to get off carbon. Certain European regions are already weaning off fossil fuels. We have to remember that humanity put together the entire infrastructure for both industrial revolutions in fewer than 50 years.
What's the next step in your journey?
We have to mobilize beyond Facebook. Now millennials have to engage in their communities and in the political world to turn this narrative into a social movement. The young people who demonstrated in North Dakota and DC remind me of when I decided to join the 1960s peace movement. It started with a small group of individuals before it turned into a nationwide movement.
More: See Rifkin's recent keynote on the 3ID, at Investing in Europe: building a coalition of smart cities & regions towards a Third Industrial Revolution.