Review of 2012: A Time for Change

So on July 8th I went to see 2012: A Time for Change at the living room theaters in portland, which is an incredible theater and very comfy, with nicely cushioned chairs almost like mini couches in the theater. Its based on the book "2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl" by Daniel Pinchbeck, who is also the narrator and main figure in the movie, interviewing such people as Sting, Ellen Page, people involved with the Buckminster Fuller foundation, a co designer of the Euro and economics expert, among many other experts and a few random people off the street. The director and animator for the movie is Joao G. Amorim who is an Emmy nominee. It starts out with an interesting story of the Mayan's origin story of how humankind came to being, with some rather interesting animation as well.

I dont remember all of it but the gods tried making humans out of wood and mud, but neither attempts worked, but then made them out of corn but were too powerful. They were also in touch with nature, but in time the gods felt they gave them too much power and blinded them with a mist, in time they ignored nature, fought amongst each-other, cut down the forests. The movie then starts with some background information on Daniel Pinchbeck, providing some social commentary on his personal life and work, hes a journalist that advocates the use of psychedelic drugs, which the movie goes into some depth about, primarily iboga used by the Bwti tribe in Africa and Ayahuasca. His previous book before his 2012 book was primarily about the use of drugs and how it led to many of his personal and spiritual revelations, even saying that after taking part in a Bwti shaman ritual he severely cut down his alcohol consumption.

Ayahuasca is used by Santo Daime churches, which is a combination or blend of Christianity and spiritualism. Daniel interviews Sting about his use of Ayahuasca after he visited a Santo Daime church in Brazil, of which he said helped him deal with alcoholism. Later on he admitted to be a tree hugger and has done yoga every day for many years. The movie talks and covers a lot of topics covered in the Zeitgeist movies of which I am a big fan and since watching have become an active participant in the Zeitgeist Movement, I went to Z day and joined the local PDX Zeitgeist Group. He interviews Ellen Page about her experiences with aquaculture and says at the time she started doing it and being an activist, it was a good spiritual experience for her, especially since it was around the time her popularity and movie success was skyrocketing. He interviews those involved with permaculture communities and I like how they take a symbiotic approach to use of land, water and resources to grow crops, plants and food, and by mimicking and using the concepts of nature. It also shows clips and interviews with Buckminster Fuller Foundation members, and how he does the same with nature and architecture, and his vision of the future.

Jacque Fresco who is the founder of the venus project and is combined with the Zeitgeist Movement, I know spent some time with Buckminster and is where he got a lot of his ideas from, they showed some inventions he made and they were rather remarkable. They compared the dymaxion car to a car of the time he lived in, and his car got a lot better gas mileage, carrying capacity and higher top speed. He also was able to construct buildings in about 24 hours as opposed to the longer process it takes now to build houses. He also used less living space then people living in his era as well.

He interviewed a chemical engineer, who has a PHD in chemistry and demonstrated how using electrolysis, had created a battery using water for a scooter. Another person he interviewed, was able to clean water in septic tanks and in a greenhouse, with plants and plant matter and within a few days was able to use it for watering and other purposes, not clean enough for drinking water but rather impressive. Daniel interviewed a scientist who is a big believer in the power of mushrooms that grow naturally, who spoke at TED, and demonstrated how mushrooms planted in contaminated soil (whether it be toxic chemicals or oil) and cleaned it up within a few weeks in time lapse photographs.

This movie really inspired me and i liked it a lot, i believe they covered a lot of ground on social issues, environmental issues and even economic issues, when it comes out on dvd id love to buy it and would love to see it again. One of my best parts of the movie was when Daniel Pinchbeck interviewed an economics expert on the economy and said that how the current economy is, it isnt set up to deal with the environmental issues, or current economic issues, and gave an awesome analogy. The analogy he gave was he said that the current economic model or vehicle is if someone were to drive a car with no brakes and a bad steering system, no matter what you do, your going to crash even if you get a new team of experts in the car. He also went into some depth about how if something can't be made a profit off of it, it is not really thought of, especially in our capitalist economy. They even talked briefly about an Oil Tycoon that is buying up water companies and reserves and selling it, for profit, a natural resource that should be available to anyone. I thought the analogy he gave was pretty spot on as Im fed up with how the current economy is, debt system and even how money is literally made out of thin air by the federal reserve. Thats how money is made people! The only other person that can make something out of thin air is God.

This was an awesome movie I would recommend to anyone and to those that say its already too late, or have a negative cynical view, I say sometime sooner or later we will have to deal with it. Like one of the native americans that Daniel also interviewed, I believe a lot of people give over their power or faith to such things as the economy, your job, or even religion, distinctions between good and evil, or that someone will ultimately save us. It may happen or it may not, i dont mean to encroach on commonly held beliefs and opinions, but thats what they are, commonly held beliefs that aren't apparently true, its time to wake up, dont drink the coolaid and think for yourself. Just because your doing okay now and have in the past, theres always something more and better to work towards, dont give your personal power away to such a thing as a job, career, or even life itself I believe. I hope that my book and ebook, if nothing else will wake people up and shake them to the very core of their realities and perceptions. Anyways, go out and see this movie, and tell me what you think, what do you agree or disagree on. I think we have all the tools and resources to figure out all our problems, its just our attention or focus is not on it but on ourselves, materialism or something else.