Learning from Mountainfilm: Aspiring to health rather than wealth
Those of you who know me know that I love Mountainfilm in Telluride. This was, I believe, my fifth year. It was the most popular year ever and completely sold out. This alone is testament to the power of Mountainfilm’s vision for the role of storytellers in solving our most pressing human problems.
If you change the narrative you change everything. It is a simple truth. We once believed in slavery and thought women’s suffrage was insane. We thought the world revolved around the sun. We burned wise women as witches. We allowed the power of churches to inflict a reign of terror for hundreds of years. We believed that smoking was good for your health and that being drunk made you sexy.
It is time to believe that we are causing our climate to change in a way that destines our extinction. It is time to believe that we need to love our fellow human, no matter their race or wealth. It is time to believe in social justice for all. It is time to abandon our faith in Corporate Capitalism and change our society from a focus on wealth to a focus on health.
All of these beliefs are being articulated by our artists and were present at Mountainfilm in Telluride, 2013. Creative people are the front line of our future achievements. All those stupid things we used to believe are now history. To move from aspirational wealth to aspirational health is entirely possible, it is a story. This years Mountainfilm was about the new narrative. It was more angry in its response to the fossil fuel and industrial food industries. The bad guys were named, frequently: Exxon Mobile, Monsanto. It was more confident about the power of humanity to realign around deep human and natural harmonies. The end of the industrial age brings with it profound conflict. At the same time the technological age brings great hope. Of course new conflicts will emerge but the dire problems of pollution, the rape of the earth and social injustice are solvable. In the past the enemies have been those who ruthlessly achieve and cling on to power. This is the behavior of companies such as Exxon Mobile and Monsanto. Each in their own way are legally protecting their own businesses. As such they are doing no wrong. But we know that the impact of their businesses could be profoundly damaging. New controls are needed, they simply have too much power. The land is more important than the shareholders. Social justice is more important than wealth. And, of course, we are witnessing the terrible impact of industrial food on our health. These things should be the focus of governance, as civil rights and anti trust movements were in the past.
Mountainfilm successfully presents the artists and adventurers agenda. The stories and experiences of the people who gather here are very important. They are witnessing the change. Take a look at the films on their website and see what you can catch. It will help you relate to the world in a real way.