Lisbon, Portugal, 2010

Roxanne Meadows. The Venus Project World Lecture Tour.

I want to apologize for all the technical difficulties.

July 3rd, Altis Park Hotel, Lisbon. - They worked really hard and

Jacque and I want to thank all of the Zeitgeist members,

who really worked so hard to make this possible.

We appreciate it so much. Ups. What happened here?

I lost my mic. Ok. And also the audio visual people.

Who volunteered and eventually it worked.

So, I also wanna mention that for those who don't know this.

All those designs in this video were done by Jacque Fresco.

So...yeah.

So, unlike the film you just saw, we live in a world where our social systems are old.

Our language is old.

The way we acquire goods and services is outdated.

And our cities are detrimental to our health, chaotic,

and a tremendous waste of energy and resources.

And our politicians do not provide a way out of this problems.

In other words, they don't serve us. Is this on?

Ok. Can you hear me back there? Yeah, ok. Great. Thanks.

But our technology is racing forward.

We're trying to adjust to the rapid advances in technology with obsolete values,

that no longer work in our technological age.

What is needed is a change in our sense of direction and purpose.

An alternative vision of a sustainable new world civilization,

unlike anything in the past.

This is what we are presenting here.

And we call it The Venus Project.

And its activist arm, organized by Peter Joseph,

which I guess you've just got a briefing of,

it's called The Zeitgeist Movement.

When I refer to sustainability, I'm not referring to sustainability for the banks,

that keep us in perpetual debt

or the corporations, or our obsolete social systems, that we all live under.

By sustainability, we mean the well-being of all people, in a new system

that would help bring them to their highest potential,

while protecting and preserving the environment.

What I'm talking about is the intelligent management of the Earth's resources.

By using the methods of science to organize and manage society.

I'm not referring to scientists running things,

but the methods of science applied to the way we live

to achieve a more humane society for everyone.

We apply the scientific method in limited areas.

In such things as surgery, the building of aircraft, skyscrapers,

bridges and automobiles.

Over the centuries, we've developed a consensus,

that when it comes to matters of personal safety, we choose science and technology,

rather than primitive belief systems or politics.

Because science has been proven to work.

Then why don't we use scales of scientific performance,

when it comes to planning our societies.

Transportation systems, agriculture, health care, and so on.

As a total integrated systems approach.

If science has a lot to do with what works, then clearly,

there's much about today's social and economic system that is not working.

Because things don't work very well for the majority of the world's people

or the environment.

If they were...war, poverty, hunger, homelessness, pollution,

would have been solved long ago.

Unfortunately, our social systems evolved with no overall global planning

or an understanding of what shapes our behavior.

And this things aren't been considered today.

The Venus Project, on the other hand,

wants to apply an intelligent method of planning for planetary survival.

If we don't use scientific methods to the way we live,

unnecessary human suffering will continue.

We have the technological ability and the resources to feed, house, educate,

and clothe everyone on the planet.

But our practice of rationing resources through the use of money

never provided the means to do so.

Then how do we even begin to solve our problems,

by using the methods of the monetary system that we all live under?

The use of money is hardly ever examined,

but let's consider it, along with how much it influences

our behavior and our values.

Money doesn't have any value at all. There's no gold or anything to back it up.

It's just a picture on a cheap piece of paper,

with an agreement amongst people as to what it can buy.

And I would say a forged agreement

'cause we really don't regulate the prices of things.

If it rained hundred dollar bills right now, everyone would be happy,

except the bankers.