The stay in The Netherlands was a busy one. Andrew Buxton and Heather Odom joined us and they set up the exhibit of Jacque’s work at The International Center for Sustainable Excellence (ICSE), in Eindhoven. The Venus Project Design Team headed by Andrew Buxton and his assistant Julita Wielgat assembled this exhibit. They also developed the animations, and walk through of one of Jacque’s cities; they did a wonderful job.

The Exhibit opened first with a few words from one of the founders of the ICSE, Peter Gloudi, then some words from Jacque. The show was very well received. Peter mentioned it was what was missing in their center in regards to a direction to really achieve sustainability. The Venus Project Design Team is redesigning the original posters to improve them with freestanding 6-foot high displays. We are considering the possibilities of using this presentation elsewhere.

Tom Williams, Julita Wielgat and Jason Gleeson arrived for the opening of the exhibit. Tom and Andrew spoke on Sunday about The Zeitgeist Movement and Andrew Buxton about The Venus Project Design Team, and Jason was there to film the events. It was also good to see Lena and Steve attend, who have been extremely supportive to The Venus Project World Lecture Tour. We thank them and all the others including The Zeitgeist members who helped to make our stop in The Netherland so memorable.

Next was the lecture, which was held outside. It was a huge success and even through the audience needed umbrellas to give them some relief from the hot sun they stayed engaged and had more questions than we had time to answer. This usually happens at all events though.

A couple of days later Jacque addressed another audience at Eindhoven for Inspiration Day, an event put on in conjunction with the festivities around the 10^th anniversary of the Earth Charter which was originated with the help of Mikhail Gorbachev.

The Earth Charter is an international declaration of fundamental values and principles considered useful by its supporters for building a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society in the 21st century. It is endorsed by organizations representing millions of people, the Charter “seeks to inspire in all peoples a sense of global interdependence and shared responsibility for the well-being of the human family, the greater community of life, and future generations.” It calls upon humanity to help create a global partnership at this critical juncture in history. The Earth Charter’s ethical vision proposes that environmental protection, human rights, and equitable human development are interdependent and indivisible. The Charter attempts to provide a new framework for thinking about and addressing these issues.

Because Jacque spoke in Eindhoven for one of their events we were invited to the all- day celebration of The Earth Charter held at the Peace Palace at the Hague, where the Queen made an appearance, and then we attended the dinner they had at the end of the long day.

Well, the emphasis was celebrating The Earth Charter and we were not able to get much information out in regards to what we feel is the way to achieve the results they are so passionately concerned about. They want to make things just and ethical without touching the system that is causing the problems in the first place and they didn’t seem to be aware of the conditions responsible for the problems.

They use the word sustainable while not touching the banking system that keeps countries and people in perpetual debt and think they can solve poverty. They can’t achieve their ends keeping things as they are. One woman even mentioned they wanted to make everything in this system “sustainable” – everything. They are trying to do patchwork on a cancerous system but they know nothing about how this system works so our very short pleas to promote a resource-based economy fell on deaf ears.

We really had just a few minutes to say something. I think if we did have more time in front of the entire gathering we could have made some headway. Only two people came up to me after I was able to get the mic during the main event. One said she loved what I said and that it was much more advanced than what the Earth Charter is doing. The other said they were surprised to see the lack of response my short statements got.

I did mention The Venus Project and a resource-based economy therefore it did go down on record. When they took a group photo on the front steps of the Peace Palace at the end of the evening Jacque and I were right up front in the middle so The Venus Project was represented even if just a little.

It made me understand more of what Jacque means when he says “we talk at people not to them” when coming from a different background, and different experiences (or lack of them, in vital areas).

All in all it was an interesting and a bit of a frighteningly sad experience that these are the people who are suppose to be at the forefront for fighting for justice, ethics and sustainability with such little understanding of where the problems lie. This event just reinforced in me the urgency and need to further introduce the direction of The Venus Project.

News Eindhoven, The Netherlands, World Lecture Tour

Greece was an amazing stop. It was the first time we actually did a little sightseeing as you can see with the photos at the Acropolis, which was quite a thrill, but equally as exciting was all that is going on in Greece with The Zeitgeist Movement. The conditions are volatile there and the Greek people are very boisterous and do not take the austerity measures imposed upon them from their debts very easily. The country manufactures little to nothing and has been propped up through tourism, which is decreasing. There is a lot of anger there and it spills into the streets with protests regularly of various kinds. This was actually refreshing coming from the United States where the people are relatively passive in regards to social issues.

The Zeitgeist Movement in Greece has been extremely active. They have continuously scheduled events, reached out to people in all walks of life, showed The Zeitgeist’s films often, and the social conditions enabled them to get a lot of interest. Business people, scientists and others support them. Our lecture was sold out in advance so they scheduled a second one before we left.

We traveled to Heraklea a small island of about one hundred people to the south east of Greece and even they knew about The Venus Project presenting us with a plaque to acknowledge our work.

We traveled to this island to view a prototype desalinization project with professors who developed the project from the University of Aegean on the island of Syros. They are doing some wonderful work there and are very sympathetic with the direction of The Venus Project. They stated that The Venus Project gave them incentive to do the work they have been doing. But being able to create their own free water, even to this isolated location that has none, cuts into the profit of those who take large freighters of water to the island so there is much opposition to the notion of free water. The scientists from The University of Aegean are proposing a larger project on another Greek island to develop a showplace demonstrating several clean sources of energy, and a larger desalinization plant, but are running into obstacles along the way in regards to funding.

The Greek Chapter of Zeitgeist Movement is coordinating with other European chapters to see how they can work together to move forward.

For those who read Greek here are a couple of links to newspaper articles from Syros where Jacque did a lecture and I took questions with him. Antonia did a wonderful job with the translation.

http://www.syrostoday.gr/Events/453-Aeiforia-kai-Avaptujn-sto-Aigaio-The-Venus-Project.aspx

http://www.syrostoday.gr/News/1941-Stn-Suro-to-Venus-Project-me-8ema-tnv-aeiforia-kai-tnv-avaptujn-sto-Aigaio.aspx

http://www.syrostoday.gr/News/1965-The-Venus-Project–Aeiforia-kai-avaptujn-sto-Aigaio.aspx

Other media coverage

http://www.zougla.gr/page.ashx?pid=2&aid=152297&cid=40

Like everywhere we visited we feel we have extended our “family.” We feel The Zeitgeist members are wonderful and extraordinary people.

News Athens, Greece, The Venus Project, World Lecture Tour

I must admit – when I learned we had a lecture in Slovenia, I had to look up where the county was. A visit to the centre of the country is like a trip into the past, consisting of many buildings that date back to the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. It always looks so contradictory, though, seeing the rows and rows of old buildings with the latest electronics, or trinkets, for sale in their windows.

We were lucky enough to be visiting during the warmer time of year, so the land looked very beautiful. The soil must be extremely rich, as the landscape is very lush and, in some locations, we could see the snow capped Alps in the distance, which was an impressive site.

The lecture went very well and people came from surrounding countries; Italy, Poland, Croatia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, and Austria. This was very beneficial for all of The Zeitgeist Chapters, as it allowed them to communicate and collaborate with one another more intimately.

The Slovenian Zeitgeist Movement Chapter worked very hard trying to get publicity (as they do in all locations), but, once we arrived and did a couple of interviews, many others in the media showed interest and we were doing interviews non-stop. Every interview we participated in was very well received. We also had a lot of spare time to spend with the chapter members themselves. It was quite a memorable visit, as they have all been. Meeting all of the dedicated and interested people – who are actively supporting the direction of The Venus Project – has been, and continues to be, extremely inspiring.

News Ljubjana, Slovenia, The Venus Project

Bangalore, India was a place with a lot of contradictions. There were many new buildings going up with interesting scaffolding (shown in the slide presentation) and right alongside of them would be empty lots with cardboard shacks, or tents, where people lived. The air was dirty with dense smog. Traffic was chaotic and dangerous with just as many motorcycles as cars. It was a free-for-all when it came to driving and I don’t know why they even bothered painting traffic lines in the roads; whether it was for going in one direction or between two way traffic no one paid any attention to them while driving, continuously honking their horns. There were no sidewalks or crossways for people, so they were in the streets along with the sacred cows. These sacred cows were treated like street people left to rummage in the garage for food. This, to me, was not any way to honor anything sacred. There was no planning for the city. I was told there were many lakes at one time, but several of them have been filled-in for the haphazard expansion of the city. Occasionally, there were areas of natural beauty within the land itself, including many coconut and flowering trees, but their surroundings detracted from this. With all of this, astonishingly enough, real estate prices were several times more expensive than New York City in many instances.

This is a place that could really see tremendous benefits from the implementation of The Venus Project.

On the other hand, the dedicated people we met – had a good understanding of the direction of The Venus Project, were truly amazing. There was little exposure of The Zeitgeist Movement or The Venus Project in India and the few members were scattered throughout the large country, but this did not stop them. They did so many innovative things to make this lecture a success. Many people traveled under unpleasant conditions for over 24 hours to get to the lecture and had to go right back the next day. The Zeitgeist Movement’s India Chapter membership and Facebook rose by the hundreds due to the lecture and all their hard work. We deeply appreciate all their dedication and hard work.

News

Even though the Japan lecture had fewer attendees than the others, the people we met made up for it. There were also significant connections developed. They will be initiating a serious program to introduce The Venus Project to the Japanese people. We will discuss this in more detail as it progresses.

We want to thank Winston McClain, Christopher Madden and Marina Saga for all they did regarding the Japan lecture.

Japan is an interesting place. We even took time to do a little sightseeing. At the science museum someone gave a demonstration of biometrics and showed how it affects invention (a branch of biology that studies biological phenomena and makes discoveries by means of statistical analysis). They took out Velcro and I mentioned how Jacque first came up with this before World War II and tried to introduce it to the Navy. He had noticed that there were far too many buttons on sailor’s pants and laces on their shoes to allow them to get to the upper deck in an emergency.

Jacque was in design and development when drafted, and he suggested he could design shoes and pants that could immediately be fastened by pressing them together.

He got this idea by observing how burrs with many pongs all around them stuck to clothing and felt he could use this process as a fastening device for clothing and shoes.

We were surprised when the person demonstrating that the trigger mechanism for the design of Velcro was from nature took out these same burrs and placed them on a piece of Velcro, saying it was designed in the 1950’s.

Jacque did not follow through with this invention because when he introduced the concept of fastening shoes and pants very quickly to his superiors, they said you forget one thing. Eager to know what this may be, Jacque listened intensely as they proclaimed “tradition.” I wonder how many people tradition has killed.

News Japan, The Venus Project, World Lecture Tour

Well the Perth lecture was a success. It was just a very few seats away from a full house. It has been a fast pace through Australia and we now have a few days of well needed rest before we fly to Japan on May 4th. We are meeting with The Zeitgeist members one last time on Sunday before leaving. As usual they are all fantastic people. We are finding that the people associated with this movement are extraordinary people. People are always telling us how excited they are that we have visited their country but it is just as energizing to us to experience the enthusiasm and genuine interest of so many people.

I also want to mention how grateful we are to Heather Odom for first coming up with the idea of this World Lecture Tour and then taking the tremendous amount of time it took and still is taking to organize the entire tour. She has continuously communicated with everyone in each location working with them along the way as they develop their event. This is no easy task in conjunction with her full time job as a head surgical nurse.  We admire and deeply appreciate all she is doing.

We also want to acknowledge all the help we received from Tom Williams in the UK who set up  the Eventbrite sites for everyone who is arranging  a lecture. There is also much help and support from Andrew Buxton and Julita Wielgat. Andrew is working on an exhibition in Eindhoven in June of Jacque’s work while we are giving a lecture there. There are several events in Holland that we will be writing about as the events gets closer. Heather, Tom, Andrew, and Julita have all become very dear friends.

More updates soon from Japan!

News

We received a wonderful Maori Welcome when we arrived at the airport in Auckland. They had TZM t-shirt and TVP cap on for that! It was great and meant even more when I learned that their ancestors came from Hawaii the same as the people on the island of Tuamotu where Jacque learned a lot concerning many of the values of a resource based economy. One of these guys started TZM in Auckland. They identified with much of the communal sharing in TVP and associated it with their ancestor’s methods.

The last lecture was Wellington NZ and it really went beautifully I think.  Jacque was fantastic, I did my new PowerPoint introduction and we both did Q&A. There was a van and three car loads of people who drove 8 hours from Auckland to Wellington to stay with us for the Wellington lecture!

The amount of people we have met who are truly with TVP and TZM, and have worked so hard to bring us to these different locations – have to be priceless. It is so reassuring to see all this support and people who have done a lot of work to learn about this direction.  The tour is very important to reinforce them with as much information as possible. Jacque and I have been meeting with TZM almost every night to do this.

More updates soon!

News Auckland, New Zealand, World Lecture Tour

Also check out this interview with Roxanne Meadows, by The Zeitgeist Movement chapter of New Zealand.

Uncategorized

Reflections – from the World Tour

Ft. Myer’s Airport Sunday April 4, 2010 6:45 A.M.- stepping out onto the tarmac – I take a look back – and over at Jacque  .  .  .  .  who smiles  - as we board & begin this incredible Lecture Tour circuit – that will takes us around the world – to over 20 different countries – and thousands of interested peoples.

It’s warm  as we leave America – bound for Columbia – on the first of many international connecting flights and destinations.

Jacque is comfortable, and is never the least bit nervous or apprehensive – as he busies himself pouring over locations, dates, and contacts.

We made it to Columbia. Flight was fine of course a short one but you can’t go wrong in business class.  Jacque’s age does come with some perks.   A lot of luggage to deal with for carry on, two small but heavy suitcases, laptop, filled pocket book and Jacque. I feel like a work mule. I am tempted to dump one suitcase already!

We have a 5 star hotel for 2 days courtesy of the university then when we start paying we are moving to one more our style and price. We could all move into this one. It is bigger than my house.

The guys who picked us up at the airport are wonderful. We have been spending as much private time as possible with the Zeitgeist members and supporters and should  be able to do more of this as we don’t leave here until the 11th.

We wish to thank all of you who have been so supportive, and welcoming of this Lecture Tour. We appreciate each and everyone of you – and are excited to be able to finally meet you, and spend some time together.

Lecture will begin here in just a few hours! More updates coming soon!

Wednesday April 7th, 2010

We have finished the lecture on Wednesday April 7th. The audience seemed very interested. We deeply appreciate the help of Gabriel Vivas who did the translation and is working tireless with to translate almost everywhere we go.

There were many questions that ran overtime, as usual, so we tried to accommodate them and about 40 people met with us in our hotel and we continued the conversation there into the evening. This in fact has been going on each night since we have been here, we have been meeting with groups of people privately who want to know more about this directions.

We did several interviews with newspapers, tv and radio and of course what is most important to us we again met in the evening with many Zeitgeist members to discuss this direction.  We are pleasantly surprise with the amount of people who have worked so hard to bring this visit and lecture about .

The Venus Project on the newspapers

More updates coming soon!

Image Galleries

http://www.flickr.com/photos/boletin_ujtl/sets/72157623677902163/show/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gabssnake/sets/72157623836180324/show/

News The Venus Project, updates, World Lecture Tour

Credits: Russia Today

“War is the supreme failure of bridging the differences between nations,” according to the creator of a social model called “the Venus Project” – American futurist and inventor Jacque Fresco.

Fresco also thinks a resource-based economy is the key factor to preserving world peace.

“Democracy is a con game, it is a word invented to outplay people, to make them accept a given institution. All institutions sing ‘we are free’. The minute you hear ‘freedom’ or ‘democracy’ – watch out, because in a truly free nation, no one has to tell you that you’re free,” Fresco said.

He believes “It is not that people are good or bad, they are raised in an aberrant or twisted environment.”

“Social change cannot come above the intellect,” said Fresco answering a question about the current economic crisis in the US, “it comes about by people suffering. And the more people are related to that, the more they lose respect for an existing government. They will seek another direction. If there are too many people who seek a new direction, then the existing government calls upon the army and police to manage society – that is called fascism.”

Media, News Interview, Jacque Fresco, Russia Today, The Venus Project