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For the first time, we have the capability,

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the technology, and the knowledge

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to achieve a global society of abundance for all.

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The question is:

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What kind of world do we want to live in?

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If we continue as we are,

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the consequences will surely be dire.

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We are presently depleting natural resources

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50% faster than the planet can renew.

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Are we incapable of anticipating and planning for our future?

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Are politicians competent to manage the world around us?

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Are we innately flawed in ways we can't change?

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We often hear our worst qualities are inborn.

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- Only human nature!
- The culture doesn't know any better.

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They don't know what forces are involved in shaping human behavior.

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Therefore they say "That's human nature."

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That's where they're wrong.

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The Determinants of Behavior

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So the science of behavior needs to be applied

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like the sciences of physics, chemistry, and biology have been.

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That's the one missing ingredient in our culture.

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And that's the toughest one because it opposes

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the way that most people think about themselves.

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If the surroundings that establish our values remain unaltered,

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the same behaviors will persist.

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If you made a movie of the present day culture,

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in the future, it would be a horror film.

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- Savage? - Savage!

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- Saving the planet? They want their money!

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Every institution that we live in is corrupted by money.

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It's a fiat system that we operate under and

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it's actually someone punching numbers on a computer somewhere.

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That is how we manufacture money today.

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You have what is effectively a criminal enterprise

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based on the manipulation of people's attention, resources, and time

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in order to extract value from them.

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They're stealing money from us that way.

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They're stealing the results of our efforts and our labor.

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The media's morphed into just peddling the corporate interests of

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the money masters that control the political establishment.

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Those interests are going to be served first

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and everything is going to be secondary.

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And that's the sad reality of it.

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Up to 40 to 50 percent of the people

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in our criminal justice system are black men.

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And black men make up roughly five percent of the nation's population.

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And I think people can discuss and debate the causes for that,

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and this goes for everything from institutional racism,

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policing practices, and that; but I think at the end of the day

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it all boils down to class, as I think that the reason racial minorities

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are disproportionally incarcerated

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is because they're also disproportionally poor.

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What are the Real Costs?

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The current energy infrastructure,

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which has been going on for a long time,

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has resulted in the accumulation of greenhouse gasses and particles

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that cause warming of the earth's climate.

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And the earth's climate is warming at a rate faster than any time

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since deglaciation from the last Ice Age.

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We're seeing this environmental damage

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on the earth, created by humans,

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but we see it from a cosmic perspective,

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means that it's just not something that we can ignore.

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The planet is responding to the presence of humanity.

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If you were to integrate the cost of war, the cost of pollution,

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the cost of environmental disruption, a gallon of gasoline

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would cost between 15 and 20 dollars a gallon.

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We have to realize our planet does have a certain amount of

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regenerative power. There is a limiting carrying capacity though.

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There's no end to the possibilities of the civilized world.

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It hasn't even begun yet.

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There's no limit to the possibilities of science

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and technology in the near future.

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We have to reclaim the environment,

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and human beings as well.

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That's what The Venus Project is about.

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The Choice is Ours

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Documentary film by Roxanne Meadows and Joel Holt

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Original Score by Kat Epple, katepple.com

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2015 The Venus Project