“Hooked on Growth” is the quintessential David vs. Goliath story, starring modern-day filmmaker David (yes, his real name!!) Gardner in his autobiographical crusade against industrial civilization’s prevailing and largely unquestioned myth that Growth is Good, whether it’s populations or economies. As he points out, infinite growth doesn’t work a finite planet.

Bucking the tide, our crusader runs for city council in his hometown of Colorado Springs, pointing out to his constituency how continuing development and resource-use actually ends up costing the city more than they can tax for: budget cuts become inevitable. Even his own own supporters struggle against stigma of being anti-growth — it’s, well, it’s un-American, isn’t it?

And of course the city council members, like those elsewhere, are depending on new development to pay for current municipal services. But what about maintaining those services in the decades ahead? Oh well, they won’t be in office when the whole ponzi scheme collapses and the piper needs to be paid…as we see in austerity measures and cutbacks in many states and cities everywhere.

The film is thoroughly sprinkled with experts like Paul Ehrlich (the population bomb), Bill McKibben (The End of Nature), Bill Rees (inventor of the Ecological Footprint), Chris Martenson (The Crash Course), and many more.

I especially admire professor Albert Bartlett, whose examples of exponential growth (like human population numbers), almost exceed our human capacity to really comprehend. The film’s graphics make it vividly clear… especially showing that we cannot see the effects until it’s too late to change course. Which seems to be where we are now, with the status quo hanging on like Wily Coyote over the abyss, running in place.

The DVD cover shows our GrowthBuster crusader and his followers, working to fight the growth profiteers. Dave’s personal story could’ve been a stronger narrative thread tying together the expert comments. I wanted to follow him his journey of awakening about growth and see how it evolved to taking on the city council, and then running for office himself.

We taped a Peak Moment TV conversation with Dave in summer 2010. He’s a passionate at his best. I wish more of that passion had come shining through the documentary. Portrayals of his visits to the local shrink during his campaign seem particularly weak — or make him appear weaker than he really is, though certainly we can identify with his emotions, his reservations, and his search. Then there’s some outrageous humor — one of my favorites is Dave on the sidewalks offering “Extinct Species condoms” to help reduce population!

I felt inundated by the flood of website headlines underscoring his points about population and over-consumption. They go by too quickly to take in. Younger viewers accustomed to faster-paced media may do fine, but I would suggest that Less is More — more impactful.

I hope the GrowthBuster crusade catches on, as tough a sell as it is. The growth imperative is an invisible driver that needs to be stopped. In fact, it will be stopped — either voluntarily, or when planetary limits slam humans against the wall, as happens with any population that overshoots its environmental base. If humans choose to stop growth, there will be a lot less destruction.

This David facing the Growth Goliath is courageous, persistent and compassionate: he wants humans to find true prosperity rather than leaving a seriously impoverished planet for future generations (human and non-human). He may have lost his bid for the city council, but his film superbly busts the myth of growth from all angles, and I hope its impact reaches well beyond the city limits. It may be an uphill battle, but you go for it, Dave and the GrowthBusters!

Find a screening or buy the DVD and host your own at www.growthbusters.org.

December 15, 2010. Seattle, WA. The final week of our 2010 Pacific Northwest Tour. We left Seattle December 15th amid pouring rain and packed freeways a bit before the so-called  rush hour, reminding us why automobile-dependent suburbs and outlying areas will have the biggest challenges now that oil production is in permanent decline.

December 16, 2010. Portland, OR. We a taped a conversation with Daniel Lerch, co-editor with Richard Heinberg of The Post Carbon Reader: Managing the 21st Century’s Sustainability Crises, a compilation of essays by Fellows at Post Carbon Institute. It begins with our having reached the limits to growth, and looks at the interrelated challenges we face in fourteen different areas, including energy, agriculture, water, transportation, and of course food.

What struck me is Daniel’s stating that “resilience” rather than “sustainability” is the orientation we need for planning and action. The uncertainties of global climate chaos and resource availability make”sustainability” a moving target and essentially impossible to define (much less plan for). But community resilience can be planned for and worked towards. You can find the book at www.postcarbonreader.com.

In their laudable efforts to widely disseminate this information, Post Carbon Institute is putting chapters from the book online.

Watch our Peak Moment conversation, “Managing the 21st Century’s Sustainability Crises” (episode 192).

December 5, 2010. The conversation I had with Jon Cooksey, the writer-director of “How to Boil A Frog,” was a torrent of serious content, humorous side notes, and laughter spilling over the edges.

In his film Jon dares to cover the biggest, hardest stuff: overshoot, global warming, peak oil, the growing gap between rich and poor, our war on nature. But when you see the tag line — Make Friends. Make Fun. Make Trouble — you know there’s  more.

As the sole actor, Jon provides the narrative thread connecting interviews, animations, historic film footage, and his own story. He adopts different comedic personnas who deliver (or receive) the story of the Big Five problems, his personal feelings in response (all over the map), and his Big Five solutions. He even tapdances lightly on taboos.

I loved his evangelist preaching to boycott the world’s biggest oil company, the French-accented lover whipping out the condom persuading us to have only one child, and the kick-ass activist rocker advocating that we push back the corporations and reclaim the commons.

Along with the big problems, Jon suggests some responses as well as visions for a better future. One of the gifts of meeting this challenge, he said, is that we’ll break out of the loneliness perpetuated by this consumerist culture. When he became an activist, he began making a lot of new friends.

One of Jon’s five solutions is Relocalizing, shrinking our economies and activities back to where we live. In a computer animation he offers a visualization of what a small city might look like as it transitions towards relocalizing. The buildings get smaller and sprout photovoltaic panels and wind turbines; the cars are replaced by a trolley; people are out walking and biking; gathering in a town square and working in community gardens. By imagining it for us, he helps those ideas become a reality.

After we whipped through our half-hour conversation, I asked Jon if he could give us a little nugget, about a minute long, something short and sweet as a possible “teaser” to use before the Peak Moment video introduction. He launched in, and it was so engaging that he couldn’t stop. I joined in. We couldn’t stop. Forty-five minutes later, we wrapped it up with a big hug.

Afterward, we widened the conversation to include Robyn and our hosts Rick Flug and Gary Koch, who said it was like watching “My Dinner with Andre”, a movie entirely comprised of a single fascinating conversation. (Don’t feel left out — we’ll probably produce TWO Peak Moment shows with Jon, so you get in on most of it!).

Jon Cooksey has a very big heart. That heart greets you at the beginning of the film, lifts you in the middle, and empowers you at the end. Watch this film.  Share it with friends and neighbors. Talk about it afterwards. Then join the party and make it a movement: Make Fun, Make Friends, Make Trouble. I think you’ll be glad you did.

You can order DVDs of the film at howtoboilafrog.com.

View video stills of Jon’s expressive self at The Many Faces of Jon Cooksey, Star of “How to Boil a Frog.”

Watch the final program How to Boil a Frog - Meet the Filmmaker (Peak Moment episode 187).

It was a Peak Moment Conversation destined to be, and the angels must’ve worked overtime to bring it together.

It started last week when I “just happened” to see an email message for the filmmakers group on the Transitionus.ning website — a list I check maybe once a month if that. There was one message from someone videotaping a documentary who needed a place for two guys to stay overnight in San Francisco. I forwarded his request to friends there, and then transmitted to positive response to the filmmaker, Dave Gardner.

Dave replied with thanks, and to my surprise added:

“I’ve actually tried to email you a few times about this trip - was thinking you might be interested in interviewing me about this film project while I’m out there. Regardless of whether you’re interested or not, and whether you could even put the shoot together in our time-frame, I’d love to meet and visit if you have time.”

I checked out his website, growthbusters.org which had information about Dave’s documentary work-in-progress titled Hooked on Growth: Our Misguided Quest for Prosperity. Dave had a superb in-depth review of Bill McKibben’s new book Eaarth (yes, that’s spelled right) and a video interview with McKibben. We were on the same page. I said yes, I’d like to tape a conversation.

Turns out Dave was coming from Portland and would be taping a quick few shots at Oroville dam — which is basically in our bigger backyard. Couldn’t be more perfect: no long drive and a new place to discover.

So on Wednesday Cinco de Mayo, Robyn and I arrived at the dam and met up with Dave and his colleague Jason, and quickly found a good location overlooking the reservoir. As Robyn and I started setup, I was horrified to realize I’d forgotten the second tripod for this two-camera shoot. But hey, this guest is a videographer (our first) and had a tripod we could use. Angel assistance number two.

Just as we neared the final stages of setup, a park ranger drove up. Officer Carlson stepped out, calm and polite, and asked what we were doing. Dave and I quickly explained about my interview of him, the documentary filmmaker. Officer Carlson nodded and then asked to see our Film Permit.

Film permit!? My jaw dropped. Never heard of it. Never needed one. Officer Carlson explained that any filming on public property required a permit.

Robyn paused from setup work, thinking it might be curtains. Dave and I answered Officer Carlson’s questions. No, this taping wasn’t for commercial purposes, we said. We don’t make money from Peak Moment shows, we don’t have advertising.

By now you can be sure my mind was racing to figure where we could tape and still try to fit into Dave’s very, very tight schedule that day.

“Are you media?” Officer Carlson asked, and explained that journalists (media) can tape without permits. Yes, our work is journalism. But then, “if you’re media, he asked, “Do you have a press pass?”

No, I didn’t have a press pass, but I whipped out my Peak Moment business card, while Dave explained that Peak Moment distribution was through the internet, not the normal media outlets, but was certainly journalism.

There must have been several angel wings flapping really hard about then, because somehow,  Officer Carlson seemed satisfied that our online video series qualified as media, and he let us proceed.

Taking a collective deep breath, we rapidly finished setup and began taping. I could see why we got some help from the Universe for this conversation. Dave is articulate, passionate, well-informed about the predicament we’re in, and the need to take action.

Dave’s a storyteller. He talked about the “looney” way we’re living as the limits to growth are staring us in the face. Economic growth. Urban growth. Over-consumption. Dave also fearlessly named population overshoot as a symptom of the limits, but admits to no easy answers.

Dave had just come from a De-Growth Conference in Vancouver, B.C., where it was noted that humanity is now using 130% of the planet’s resources. We’re borrowing from future generations. He wants a world worth living in for his kids and grandkids. And he isn’t expecting the entrenched political and corporate institutions to take effective action anytime soon: his trust is in local communities and local action.

Look forward to a fast-paced and engaging conversation that’ll give you a flavor for an upcoming non-profit documentary film that’s being “crowd-funded, crowd-produced and crowd-distributed” by a worldwide network of growthbusters supporters (more wanted, of course. Join him).

Watch or listen to the finished show, “Hooked on Growth - Meet the filmmaker” (episode 177).

A recent email came around about a free-energy initiative to promote and protect inventors and their technologies. I wrote in reply:

New energy sources, even if implemented, beg the question of overshoot. Energy supports food production, which supports increased population, which supports ecological collapse.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t work on energy research, or rebuild soil, re-localize communities, plant gazillion trees to sequester carbon, massively conserve energy, water and other resources, and the million other responses. Yes, we need to address the problems of impending peak oil, potentially catastrophic global climate change, and the effects of a greed-based “cannibalistic” economy. (more…)