ACT
Because men and women are already engaged on the path of change, this page wants to be the witness of it, by presenting certain documentaries and essential literary works in a non-exhaustive way; any other suggestions are of course welcome!
​
Also, to help us answer the question "What can I do now that makes the most sense to me?" », Hélène Gérin and Frédéric Laloux co-constructed the program The Week, to be followed with family, friends, neighbours, colleagues etc.: https://www.theweek.ooo/
Bella and Vipulan are 16 years old, a generation convinced that their future is threatened. Climate change, 6th mass extinction of species... within 50 years their world could become uninhabitable.
They may alert but nothing really changes. So they decide to go back to the source of the problem: our relationship to the living world. Throughout an extraordinary journey, they will understand that we are deeply linked to all other species. And that by saving them, we will also save ourselves. The human being believed that he could separate himself from nature, but he is nature. He too is an Animal.
How can we succeed in speaking fairly about climate change, agriculture and their impacts without demoralizing or making people feel guilty?
Since 2013, the American association Kiss The Ground has been campaigning for regenerative agriculture and raising awareness of the importance of living soils in the USA.
When documentary filmmaker John Chester, his wife Molly and their dog Todd receive an eviction notice from their small apartment, they decide to make a radical change in their lives. Thus, they buy a land of nearly 80 hectares, near Los Angeles, on which they develop a sustainable farm. They decided to film their progress, their success and failure, during eight years of their life.
This 2016 documentary is probably still to this day the most complete about the environmental disaster affecting the oceans of the globe, due to our way of life.
Journalist Craig Leeson teams up with free diver Tanya Streeter and an international team of scientists and researchers to travel to twenty locations around the world over four years, explore the fragile state of our oceans, uncover alarming truths about plastic pollution and reveal working solutions that can be applied immediately.
The film describes in an informative and captivating way how society can prevent the disappearance of endangered species, ecosystems and indigenous communities around the world. Audiences will discover visual evidence of the deepening environmental crisis, which is inflicting irreversible damage on pristine landscapes from Greenland to Indonesia, upsetting climate equilibrium and precipitating the extinction of animal species.
What if showing solutions, telling a story that does good, was the best way to solve the ecological, economic and social crises that our countries are going through? Following the publication of a study announcing the possible disappearance of part of humanity by 2100, Cyril Dion and Mélanie Laurent left with a team of four people to investigate in ten countries to understand what could cause this disaster and especially how to avoid it. During their trip, they met the pioneers who are reinventing agriculture, energy, the economy, democracy and education. By putting together these positive and concrete initiatives that are already working, they are beginning to see what the world of tomorrow could be like…
Neither an environmental documentary, nor a road movie, embodied but not intimate, this film is destined to a disillusioned generation in search of wisdom and common sense.
By bringing together the messages of a cell biologist, an urban gardener, an itinerant shaman or an NGO president singer, Marc and Nathanaël invite us to share their questioning, and question our visions of the world.
This American documentary by Davis Guggenheim released in 2006 dealing with climate change, is largely based on a multimedia presentation that Al Gore, former Vice-President of the United States and Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2007 (shared with the IPCC), prepared for its global warming awareness campaign.
Since the dawn of agriculture, great civilizations have descended into poverty after destroying their once fertile lands. Today, few people realize how close we are to the same fate if we do not act. In “Growing a Revolution,” David R. Montgomery takes us on a journey through history and the world to see how innovative farmers are abandoning the plow, planting cover crops, and adopting complex rotations to restore soils, laying the groundwork for the next agricultural revolution: a soil health revolution.
Moving beyond conventional versus organic farming debates, Montgomery shows how new, regenerative methods are healing damaged environments and improving farmer outcomes. Ancient wisdom merges with modern science and Growing a Revolution shows how agriculture can help solve modern environmental problems.
Who are the committed women, men, children and organizations of our time? Nelson Mandela, Jane Goodall, Philippe Martinez, Paul Watson to name but a few, they are also ordinary citizens: from the volunteers of associations to your neighbor next door... Generous, united, kind and committed, the latest work by the GoodPlanet Foundation 615 stories about commitment presents them through short portraits.
They work in the field of the environment, solidarity, food, health, education, information, justice and tolerance.
In 2012, on the occasion of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, known as Rio+20, a text published by the Ancient and Mystical Order of the Rose-Cross, entitled "Advocacy for a spiritual ecology” is read at the Senate in Brazil. This text in eleven points highlights the essential reasons which justify the need to take care of our planet and to respect nature. It recalls that if the Earth certainly allows human beings to live, it is also the environment in which they can incarnate to carry out their spiritual evolution. A true masterpiece of Creation, it is the expression of divine, natural, universal and spiritual laws, which act with intelligence and wisdom across all kingdoms. This is why Serge Toussaint emphasizes the importance, certainly of ecology, but even more so of a spiritual vision of ecology.
Faced with the violence of economic competition, talking about happiness, kindness and solidarity may seem naive, even utopian. The purpose of this book is to show that, on the contrary, humanism has its place within the company, including in the largest structures. Jacques Lecomte makes us discover hundreds of fascinating scientific studies which even prove that these values are beneficial. He has met and interviewed many managers of leading companies in their field. Many ideas are shattered (are we really working for money? Why is surveillance counterproductive? How do sanctions deteriorate security? etc.). A new management philosophy is taking shape (serving leadership, appeasement of conflicts, protection of the environment, appreciative approach, etc.).
And, finally, it is a whole reflection on the raison d'être of companies that is emerging.
Humanistic companies are stronger not by calculation, but by choice. And they can change the world.
By opening our eyes to the world, only one observation seems to be essential: the apocalypse threatens us, in all directions. But the apocalypse, in the first sense of the term, is first of all a revelation. What these multiple crises reveal to us is that another world is possible. We are at the time of a new and indispensable Renaissance. Throughout the world, a multitude of silent, discreet revolutions are initiated by citizens, by companies, by local officials. Challenges ? A fairer, more sustainable and inventive planet. Without further waiting! offers a new vision of humanity based on respect: that of human dignity and that of ecosystems. In three parts devoted to food and energy self-sufficiency, the emergence of a regenerative economy and the need for creativity-oriented education, Guibert del Marmol discusses the technologies of the future and concrete avenues; but beyond that, it is a question of provoking a leap of individual and collective consciousness. Because it is possible to marry science and conscience to offer a serene and bright future to future generations. We have the means... but we can't wait any longer! Guibert del Marmol, an economist by training, has managed several international companies. Today, he is an advisor, author and speaker specializing in the field of regenerative economics. It also trains leaders in the practices of inspired and inspiring leadership by marrying ancient wisdom and modern technologies.
They are men of great wisdom, brought together for the first time: a Buddhist monk, a psychiatrist, a philosopher farmer and a professor of medicine.
Faced with contemporary malaise, faced with the crisis of meaning and ecological disasters, they offer remedies.
Green, former CEO and current chairman of HSBC, the world's fourteenth-largest bank by total assets (in U.S. dollars), and an ordained pastor, reflects on good business and the good life, values and the common good, and laments the massive collapse of trust in the financial system, business, politics and the media.
The author reviews the astonishing impact of globalization on human history and consciousness, then draws us forward and inward with personal reflections on the purpose of work and the meaning of life.
It addresses three ambiguities in the search for personal peace: human imperfection, uncertainty, and the hope or belief that something better is possible.
Green decries siloing, that is, the fact that individuals apply different standards to their professional life and their personal life.
The issue of transport is still the subject of lively debates and clear-cut positions among politicians. The citizen is not left out: on this subject, each of us has dozens of edifying anecdotes to tell. Written by two experts in sustainable mobility, in collaboration with a journalist specializing in "daily life" subjects, this book paints, not without humour, a complete picture of the current situation: while mobility rhymes with modernity, why is it so often the hassle of getting around, between traffic jams, saturation of public transport and prohibitive costs? On what false good ideas has transport policy been built for sixty years to bring us to this point? And if the progress went through the optimization of existing means rather than a mad dash for the kilometer of additional roads? By placing the user's behavior back at the center of their thinking, the authors explore the possible solutions, encouraging everyone to be involved in their own mobility.
Imagine a world in which every house produces electricity, every road produces fuel, every neighborhood produces its water, every wall cleans the air... Imagine a world where 6.5 billion people participate in a positive economy, that creates skilled jobs, while restoring and enriching ecological capital. This world is at your fingertips. Maximilien Rouer and Anne Gouyon have identified the solutions that make it possible to respond to climate and environmental issues, with one obsession: protecting the environment is no longer enough, we must repair what has been destroyed. In this practical and optimistic book, they show, with examples, that this is possible.
Studies and cooperation completed, Sylvain Darnil and Mathieu Le Roux set off on a world tour in search of exceptional men and women: entrepreneurs - architects, surgeons, bankers, chemists - who are reinventing their profession and creating profitable businesses to build the world they want instead of submitting to the one that exists. Imagine a world:
- where profitable hospitals treat two-thirds of their patients free of charge,
- where public transport is so pleasant and efficient that you only use your car for a few hours a year,
- where houses produce more energy than they consume,
- where a bank lifts its customers out of poverty while earning money
This world exists. Sylvain Darnil and Mathieu Le Roux studied all these initiatives; they recount the destiny of these men whose confidence to pulverize the economic prejudices deemed indestructible!
Biomimicry is a revolutionary scientific approach to imitating nature's finest inventions - the energy efficiency of photosynthesis, the strength of coral, the strength of spider silk threads, the adhesive properties of the filaments of mold - to adapt them to the service of man. In Biomimicry (When Nature Inspires Sustainable Innovations) - the book that made this theory popular around the world -, Janine M. Benyus introduces us to effective and environmentally friendly applications, developed by pioneering researchers in fields of agriculture, materials, IT, industry, etc. Above all, it reveals to us the marvelous richness of nature, and encourages us to better observe it in order to... imitate it.
“In an era where communication has become the watchword of a society enamored of technological innovations but in complete disarray as to values, models inspired by nature can suggest useful reflections. This book read, it will probably no longer be possible to see the plants and approach them as before.
Yes, plants do have their own sensitivity. From where naturally possibilities of communication with the man, many times underlined, but never, until very last...