Introduction
The Zeitgeist Movement (TZM) is working to change the dominant cultural and social climate of our time. Hence the name “Zeitgeist”. At our core, we are committed to a post-scarcity economic model that puts sustainability and efficiency at the heart of the well-being of society, in balance with nature. This post-scarcity economic model is called a Natural Law/Resource Based Economy (NL/RBE). With regard to this, our focus is on analyzing, researching and then creating. The latter is only possible if a large group of people is well informed about the Zeitgeist train of thought and those same people can also articulate it clearly and convey it to others. For now, the focus is mainly on analysis, research and education because we don’t yet have a large knowledgeable group of people to focus on creating.
Chapters
The Zeitgeist Movement functions through a network of chapters (local groups) which in turn may consist of teams. A chapter can be grouped at a local, regional, national or international (online) level. Nationally can be e.g. the @chapter_netherlands, regionally could be on a provincial or state level such as @chapter_se_michigan and local could be on city level such as @chapter_new_york or, for example, a university campus. These chapters operate in a “grassroots” culture. This means that one functions independently with the same collective Zeitgeist train of thought, there is no central control. Each chapter is working to spread and improve this Zeitgeist train of thought. This translates, for example, into raising awareness about our core social and economic problems. But also to investigate the practical solutions that we have at our disposal and to make them better known so that we can subsequently outgrow the current outdated socio-economic system.
Activism
We communicate through public (online) events, social media and volunteer work. The activism of The Zeitgeist Movement is based on peaceful methods that address the root causes of many common social, environmental, economic and technological problems. For more information, check the Chapters Guide.
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.
Train of thought
The Zeitgeist Movement is not a political movement and does not recognize races, different classes of society, religions or a country. This is because we want to outgrow these separating concepts. The Zeitgeist Movement recognizes that it is beneficial for us to see ourselves as global citizens and not separated from each other and nature. Nature is a dictatorship, so it is important that we align ourselves with it as much as possible. Our problems and concepts are not linked to national boundaries or such personal views. We are an educational movement that aims to achieve sustainable social change. A shift in our social values is crucial for this. A society that operates under the assumption that we can ignore our ecosystem in our decisions is harmful. Sustainable technology in the hands of such a society has limited success. Especially when our society is not aware of the utopia to maintain an infinite growth economy, on a planet that does not have infinite resources.
Without well-founded social and sustainability values, science and technology may not be used optimally. For example, splitting the atom could have remained with the possibility of generating a lot of energy with less. But now our planet is littered with the most deadly weapons ever. As the world craves more Manhattan projects, not to make more weapons of mass destruction, but mass creation projects to make the world a better place. Without positive cultural and economic change, the next Manhattan project may be even more damaging to humanity. It can be compared to a child who finds his father’s gun, as a society we are not yet mature enough to handle this responsibly.
Educational movement
This train of thought that advocates cultural and economic change is of great importance, beyond just focusing on sustainable technology or redesigning cities. The Zeitgeist Movement is an educational movement that communicates this train of thought to the general public in many forms. This train of thought has an open end, just like nature, we must constantly adapt. The Zeitgeist Movement’s assumption is that culture is the most difficult factor to change. After all, science and technology is already in a constant state of improvement. We also demand this from, for example, the smartphone industry, unfortunately we are not that critical and demanding on cultural change. It is therefore primarily an educational awareness process that we are committed to.