The Story of Solutions

The Story of Solutions explores how we can move our economy in a more sustainable and just direction, starting with orienting ourselves toward a new goal.

In the current 'Game of More', we're told to cheer a growing economy -- more roads, more malls, more Stuff! -- even though our health indicators are worsening, income inequality is growing and polar icecaps are melting.

But what if we changed the point of the game? What if the goal of our economy wasn't more, but better -- better health, better jobs and a better chance to survive on the planet?

Shouldn't that be what winning means?

The Story of Solutions (Why making real
change starts with changing the game)

with Annie Leonard

Do you have one of these, of course
not this thing is five years old

now everyone's got on of these.

Can you imagine how much genius and focus
it took to turn a music player into

a hand-held computer, phone, GPS, remote control
for everything in life in just five years.

Seriously

The thousands of people who made this
thing had to solve thousands of problems

that literally could not have
been solved five years ago.

That's what people can do when they are
motivated to find solutions to problems.

But the problems we've been busy solving are
not the problems that most need solving.

So much focus has gone into
faster, cheaper, newer.

That we've actually lost ground on things
like safer, healthier and more fair.

It is as if we are getting better and
better at playing the wrong game.

And, in many ways this system is a lot
like a game, but with very high stakes.

Just like a game

our economy was designed by people to
get everyone to play by certain rules

and, like a game, it comes with
instructions telling us what the goal is.

Think about the last time
you played a new game

Remember ?

The first thing you did was
find out what it means to win

and that guides every decision
you make along the way.

So naturally the solutions most people are
working on pursue this games simple goal

and that goal is more.

More money being spent, more roads being
built, more malls being opened, more stuff.

That's what economists
call growth.

So we take all the money spent
on stuff that makes life better

and all the money spent on
stuff that makes life worse

and we add it together
into one big number

called GDP.

Were told that a bigger
GDP means we're winning

So it's the number that thousands of the
rules and laws are designed to increase.

But there's a big difference between more
kids in school or more kids in jail.

More windmills or
more coal-fired power plants.

More super-efficient public trains
or more gas wasted in traffic jams.

'duh!!'

But in this game of more
they are counted same.

Now we can't change a game this dumb
one rule or one player at time.

The problem is the goal itself.
We need solutions that change that.

What if we built this game
around goal of better.

Better education, better health,
better stuff.

A better chance to
survive on this planet.

That's what we all want. right?

So shouldn't that be
what winning means?

Changing the goal of the
entire economy is a huge task.

Of course we can't
do it all at once.

But when we focus on
game-changing solutions

we gradually make it possible
for a new game to be played.

To do that we have to be able to tell the
difference between a game-changing solution

or just a new way to play
that old game of more.

For example,

let's look at two solutions to one
of the many problems we face today.

The scourge of plastic packaging that
everyone knows is a disaster for the planet.

Especially the oceans.

And, here are two groups of people

with very different ideas of
solutions to the plastics' problem.

These guys decide
that enough is enough

and they start by launching a citizen campaign
to ban the plastic bag in their community.

these guys have a
different solution.

They start a business

that gives people's gift cards to buy
stuff if they recycle their plastic waste.

Both of these are
happening right now,

but only one if them
changes the game.

The gift card solution does keep some
plastic out of landfills and incinerators.

But it creates more plastic by
encouraging people to buy more stuff.

Even worse,

it teaches that more consumption is the
right reward for being a good citizen.

Making it even harder to think
outside that old game box.

The 'ban the bag' solution
is harder to achieve,

but it's a game-changer.

Why?

Well, by volunteering their time,
these citizens are declaring that

there's something more important to them
than just earning and spending more.

To win this campaign, these citizens
are gonna have to team up with

forward-thinking businesses offering
alternatives to throw away plastic packaging.

They're gonna have to build power to fight
back against the American Chemistry Council.

Which is lobbies for the company’s
that make all that plastic junk.

And they're gonna have to get out and
talk to their neighbors and friends

inspiring yet more people to
begin to question the old game.

This is exactly what's happening in
towns and cities all across the world

and they're winning.

But can banning a few million plastic
bags transform the goal of the game.

By itself no,

but in combination with
millions of others working on

game-changing solutions
that they care about,

YES.

Together these solutions are
beginning to turn the tide.

As people build power
to change the game

their citizen muscles grow.

They work to ensure the local solutions
they create get copied and scaled up.

And when they see the solutions getting blocked
by corporations with way too much influence

they team up with other solutionaries
to fight for a real democracy

by the people, for the people.

Gift cards will never do that

but thousands off citizen
campaigns can.

Whenever I'm asked to join in a solution
I want to know if it's transformational

will it change the goal?

To figure it out I
use the word GOAL

I want to know that it G-
gives people more power

taking power back from
corporations to build democracy.

O - opens people's eyes to the truth
that once basic needs are met

happiness and well-being don't
come from buying more stuff

but from our communities, our
health and a sense of purpose.

A - accounts for all
the cost it creates

including the toll it takes
on people and the planet

In other words it internalizes
costs instead of externalizing them

as most businesses do today.

L - lessens the enormous wealth gap between
those who can't even meet the basic needs

and those who consume way
more than their fair share.

When I see solution that does all
that or can be redesigned to

I'm in.

And they're popping
up everywhere.

Like the Evergreen
cooperatives in Cleveland.

Where worker owners are
running green businesses.

A laundry, a solar company and
a super productive urban farm

that are healthy and safe.

They provide secure jobs to people
that the old game has left behind.

We all know we need to get
businesses out of our democracy.

But cooperatives go even further and bring
democracy into the businesses.

Sustainable,
democratic, equitable.

That's a game-changer.

Or in Capennori, a town in Italy where local
citizens working with businesses and governments

are not just seeking
to manage waste better

but they're questioning the
very inevitability of waste.

They're promoting solutions to waste
not with expensive techno fixes

but by working together as a community
to reclaim compost for the soil,

to find reusable substitutes
for disposable products

and then to put discarded
material to good use.

They've already reduce some
waste streams by 82 percent

while creating jobs and
building social fabric.

And how about the new trend
of collaborative consumption

formerly known as 'sharing'.

Sharing may sound like
the theme of Barney song

but think about it, it's a
huge challenge to the old game.

It gets as off the treadmill
of 'More-More-More',

conserves resources, gives people access
to stuff they otherwise couldn't afford

and builds communities.

what does it look like?

Bike share programs
in major cities,

online platforms that let us share everything
from our cars to our homes to camping gear.

In my town the public library
system lends out tools.

There's just no reason that every
house needs its own power drill,

crème brûlée torch, scanner, wheelbarrow,
a bike pump, when we can share.

As transformational solutions
like these gain traction

we will reach a tipping point. If we
keep focused on the new goal of better.

Without a new goal all the work we're
doing to build a better future will be

A) not enough and B) really hard.

Too much genius and focus will continue to go
to solving problems like iPhone battery life

while the problems that threaten
human life spin out of control.

Five years ago when we
made the story of stuff

we started building a community of people who sensed
that something was really wrong with this old game.

We agreed there was a problem.

Now it's time to
build the solutions.

Solutions that won't just change a few of
the rules but will change the entire game.

Wanna help?

Come on let's do it.

Subtitle by - Palash