All language subtitles for A New Economy (Trevor Meier, 2016).ENG

[upbeat folk music]

[ocean waves crashing]

[mellow music]

-[people chatting]
-[instruments tuning]

[Yuel Yawney] Should we just
double-check our tuning?

[instruments tuning]

[chamber music]

[Gar Alperovitz] I think
there's a lot of things going
on that are

driving people to
experiment, and to explore,

and hunger for something
different.

It's a very interesting time in
history

where people are beginning to
see

the old system isn't working.

Not only economically,
ecologically,
but in human terms.

[Richard Sennett]
You can look at cooperation

as an ethical, good-hearted
thing.

Or you can look at it
as something people need to do

to take their work seriously,

to take other people seriously,

to organize politically.

This isn't touchy feely stuff.

This is about actually getting
the world to work.

[John Fullerton]
We're in transition,

and what's remarkable to me
is that people feel that in
their bones.

We need to figure out how to
align

the human economy
with the principles and
patterns

that tend to operate
in all living systems.

That's the essence of it.

And so the challenge is to kind
of

figure out how to switch out

the engines on the plane
while we're keeping the plane in
the air.

[chamber music]

What if we were able to

really build the foundations
of a cooperative world?

What would it look like?

What would be free and exciting?

What would be generous?

What would be moral?

What would be exciting?
What would be liberating?

That's the kind of direction
we're talking about.

We're at ground zero
beginning to explore

designs that take us beyond
the 20th century capitalism,

20th century socialism.

There are a lot of people
beginning to say

there's gotta be a better way.

You talking
about changing the system,

the whole system?

That's what this is about,

but that means
people have to really

start small, but also think big.

[mellow music]

[Jessy Kate Schingler] Housing
is one of the primary social
institutions.

We have an opportunity
through technology and

kind of open collaborative

philosophies that have
been emerging in the last few
years

to really rethink the way
that the built environment works

and the way

that major societal structures
work.

I helped to instigate the
project

that we're sitting in right
now.

It's called The Red Victorian,

and it's a 20-room hotel,

um, bed and breakfast,
it's been here for 100 years.

We took it over about a year
ago,

and turned it into
what we're calling a co-living
hotel.

The Red Victorian is really

a new way of thinking
about home and housing

in the 21st century.

It's a combination
of long-term residential
accommodations,

but in a very fluid way
with short-term housing
options.

So we have people staying
here everywhere from one night

to one month to indefinitely.

We're aiming to serve,
you know, the kind of modern,

nomadic creative population,

and so people are often
traveling,

or they're working late,

or their schedules are very
different.

We don't have a particular
hierarchy,

and I certainly wouldn't
call myself a, um...

like the boss or the manager,
or we're all managers,

or, you know, you can think of
it
in many different ways,

but it's a cooperatively run
space.

[man]
Okay, which one are we looking
at?

-[woman] Can I show you
something?
-[man] Sure.

[Schingler] The way we make
decisions at The Red Victorian
is

open to everybody
who's in the community.

I went and I met
with the Department of Public
Health,

and they provided a couple of
options

for what we could do
in the short term to be
compliant

with what health codes are
required.

So the first
is that we could be officially

a bed and breakfast,
providing the breakfast

and other things that go along
with that.

It means that only employees
and innkeepers,

which they don't even know
what they're defined as,

may provide food for the guests,

but we have to provide it,

and the guests can't provide it,
can't access it themselves.

That's so silly 'cause it, like,

precludes you from
doing new and innovative stuff.

We basically
don't fit into any of the boxes

that they have for anything.

They could basically say
you've gotta shut down your
hotel

because you're not complaint.

We're witnessing an era

where the diversity of economies
are starting to flourish

and so government
doesn't know what to do.

[woman] But this seems
to be written for, like, a B&B

that's family-run.

-Yeah, yeah.
-Is what I'm seeing here.

[man]
Family-run bed and breakfast,

-That's a thing right?
-Yeah.

But, yeah, that's actually...

It turns out a co-living hotel
is a family-run bed and
breakfast.

-Who knew?
-Easy.

[man]
Thanks everyone for coming
tonight.

This is our Wednesday dinner
at The Red Victorian.

For those of you
who may not have been here
before,

the Red Vic is our home.

[people chatting]

[Schingler]
I'm really inspired by living

around and being exposed to
people

who are up
to amazing things in the world.

We can provide
an environment and a structure

that not only selfishly
gets us exposed to those
people,

but, actually, I think supports
and amplifies the work that
they're doing

by making it easier for them
to do what they're doing

and also to hopefully meet
others

who are inspiring to them.

We've been totally
bootstrapped up to this point.

I mean, I think that this--

To me,

a very exciting aspect
of having a physical building

is that it's an opportunity

to provide literally a
container
for a whole bunch of humans

to walk through the door,

and when you walk through that
door,

we get to say, "Hey, the rules
are
a little bit different here."

We really like to play with
that
in terms of having people
getting to say,

"Actually, here
you do have a say in things,"
and then

looking at it and saying,
"Okay, well, how's that
working?"

Like, you know,
"Actually, that didn't work very
well,

but that worked really well.

Okay, let's update how
we're doing things and try it
again,"

And it's sort of a...
It's a big experiment.

[chamber music]

[Sennett] I first really
understood about cooperation

because my background
is as a musician,

and, of course,
when we play chamber music

or any kind of music
that doesn't have a conductor,

we have to find ways to
cooperate.

You know,
the way most musicians rehearse

is by grunts

or eye contact, you know,

or grimaces.

[chamber music]

[Yawney] Like being able
to really listen to the other
person,

all three of them, in fact,
you're kind of trying to hear

three voices
in your head at the same time

as you're looking at your own
music
and playing together,

so you kind of get
into the flow as a group.

Do you know what?
I think we need to practice
number one,

just right from there, from one
to two.

Yeah, why don't we try one at a
time?

Why don't you do it
once with her from one?

[playing]

[Nikita Pogrebnoy] Yeah, we
are
part of one thing and, you
know,

each-- each one of us
have a role, and, uh...

And sometimes we're trading in
roles,

so it's a real conversation,
sort of...

Well, reminiscent of... of life.

You know, it's communicating.

It's fun.

[chamber music]

[Lissa Goldstein] We are on
about one and a half acres of
urban land.

It was a parking lot,

and through a partnership
with Concord Pacific,

we have been able to farm this
land.

So we are an urban farm.

[Michael Ableman] We felt
certainly
a great need on the downtown
east side

that nothing agricultural was
going on,

that a social enterprise
based on agriculture

had the potential
to not only provide meaningful
work,

but also a number
of other healing aspects

that occur by nature
of working the soil,

growing living things,
taking care of something,

feeding other people.

So we have five farms.
Each is different.

They each are
in different neighborhoods.

They each are doing different
things.

Uh, this is an orchard, for
example.

Pacific and Carol,
our largest site, big
production,

and First and Clark, an entire
acre,

16,000 square feet

of unheated tunnel houses.

You know, where we're
producing tomatoes and peppers

and melons and things like
that.

So, we have to,
because of the...

the intensity and scale of the
operation,
we have to make

maximum use of time and space.

So, as soon as a crop is done,
boom,

replant, you know.

Here people are using
these words "urban agriculture."

Nobody had ever heard
those two words together.

When I would describe it,
it was like, "What?"

And we felt we needed to
demonstrate

that it was possible
to have a successful enterprise

business based on agriculture
in the city,

and at the same time
support people's needs.

We had to bring the farm to the
city.

You know, we had to create
within these boxes

an entire ecosystem.

Kinda crazy, imperfect,

but has potential. [chuckles]

[Goldstein] We are providing
employment to people

who are facing barriers.

Sometimes that's an addiction,

sometimes that's a mental
illness,

sometimes it's a physical
illness.

Whatever the barrier,

it makes it hard for most
of our staff to work a regular
job.

They need a job where
there's flexibility and
understanding

about the ups and downs
of their-- of their lives.

-Right there, lemon tree

with lemons, right?

That's special.

It's awesome, yeah, yeah.

I missed my calling, man.

I should have been
a fucking gardener, right?

You know, instead of what I was.

[Hayes]
It's not very often, like, down
here

'cause, you know, you're
pretty rough around the edges,

that you get to care
and nurture for something.

When I was a kid, punishment
was going to weed the garden,

so when I came here,
it's like, "Oh, man what am I
doing?

I remember this."

But it's not like that, right?

You get into the soil and stuff.

You get to see stuff grow, and,
actually,

it's kind of beautiful, right?

It is beautiful. It's not
kind of beautiful. It is
beautiful.

[Ableman] Sole Food
has two primary goals, you
know.

One is the a social one,

and I think one
is an agricultural one.

The social one is first and
foremost.

But the agricultural one

dominates and informs
the social piece.

This, as a community,

this is a place to go,

this is a reason
to get up in the morning.

This has a choice between
something
that's gonna bring you down

and something that might be
positive and, you know.

This is where you're getting
hung up right here.

[Alain Guy] 'Cause these guys,
they don't give up on you.

You don't show up,
you're not feeling too good,

you're not making it,
come back the next day,

we'll keep working.

You don't get fired here.

And, hey, I come in every day.

Oh, I missed one day last
month,

and that's the only day I
missed.

I do all the seeding here just
about.

Yeah, I guess I'm the boss for
here.

Tell people where they need to
be,

what needs to get done
and stuff like that,

but it's only my second year,
and I'm still learning,

and I'm learning from the best.

Lissa is a beast.

She might be small, she's
strong, too.

She can work her butt off.

[Ableman] She's awesome.

She really kinda
holds us all together for us.

And-- and she's a good weeder.

Thanks, Michael.

At least I know I can't mess
that up.

[laughing]

[Goldstein]
Why do I do this?

Some days I don't know.
[laughing]

I mean, we all want
the world to be a better place,

and I think that there's
real...

For me, personally, there was
a lot of transformative power

in agriculture in my life.

I come from a really privileged
world.

I... I went to university,

which was paid
for primarily by my parents.

I grew up in a stable household

with a really loving family.

I had people all along
telling me that I could do
things.

It is quite hard coming in
this.

You try to find a common ground
with people.

I don't know what it's like
to go through opiate
withdrawal.

I don't know what it's like to
be...
not be able to get

my prescription in the morning
when I need it every day.

There's days when, like,
I really can't understand

what someone's dealing with,

but you can be compassionate.

[mellow music]

[Hayes] A lot of people
on the east side are great
people.

It's just that they don't
think that they're worth

the puddle that they're
stepping in,

and that's the truth, right?

You know.

I've been a heroin addict
for about 20 years.

I battle with addiction, and,
uh...

it didn't matter to them.

Right?
Like, it didn't matter to them.

Like, you know,
I had track marks, it didn't
matter.

I wasn't being judged, you
know, like,

"What's going on here?" Right?

[Ableman]
The power of what we've done
here

has to be shared,
both by the influence

of the soil and the plants
and the healthy food,

but also by the community of
people

who have been involved
with this experience.

It's about the people.

[Fullerton]
What we see emerging is what we
call

a regenerative economy,

and in very simple terms,
we're having this conversation

because our bodies have been,

and are continuing to
regenerate.

So we're sustainable
because we're regenerating,

and, uh...
and the whole universe works
that way.

And we see it everywhere,

usually driven
by the intuition of an
entrepreneur,

who has no theoretical
framework in mind.

They intuit it.

So that's why I'm confident
that it's an emergent property,

and it's amazing how often we
see
these patterns repeating
themselves.

[mellow music]

[David Thuss]
The London Brewing Cooperative

is located in London's Old East
Village.

Tight community, vibrant
community,

um, a community
that really has its own
identity and is

uh, kind of moving forward.

[Aaron Lawrence]
I suppose it's got its roots
in, uh,

my friend Marcus receiving
a used book for his birthday

Papazian's
New Complete Joy of Home
Brewing,

and he sent me an email and
said,
"Hey, you wanna brew beer?"

And I liked beer.

I had no idea it could be made.

[Thuss] We were brewing
together, you know, in my
garage

just with, you know, something
we built.

It was a propane-fired,
gravity-fed system.

I mean, we didn't paint it up
even to look nice.

It was very utilitarian.

It made beer,
it made very good beer.

Everybody has a good time
brewing the beer.

Everybody has a good time
sitting around and chatting.

And usually beer brings
out some good debate,

brings out--
brings people together.

[Jeff Pastorius]
It was a very makeshift system

uh, that we had,
you know, thrown together

and garage door wide open
so the propane fumes could go
out and...

You know, we were just having
a lot of fun brewing beer.

And, uh, we started to realize,
wait a minute,

these recipes are actually...

people kinda like them,
and it's starting to work.

And we looked at different
models of...
of cooperative brewing,

um, ways that a brewery could
both be

financially viable,
but also be collectively owned.

And, uh, we couldn't figure it
out,

so we just kept brewing,

but we just enlarged the circle.

At that point, it was myself,
Dave...

Dave often jokes that he got
involved
'cause he had a garage.

Um, that's partially true.

[Alperovitz] I think people
want
to be in on big decisions that
matter.

How to structure
that becomes really tricky.

We have to learn that.
It doesn't come naturally.

A cooperative
is simply a one-person,

one-vote ownership structure.

So you get a group of people
together,
everybody gets a vote,

and you set up a company
or a bank or a store or a farm.

It's a very simple structure.

[Thuss] We purposely located
ourselves in Old East Village.

It's a neighborhood we love,

it's a neighborhood
that many of us live in,

and so we want to be part
of that community.

So we don't want to have a
huge,

you know, pollution-spewing
kind of operation.

We want to have a community
brewery,

so one that everybody
feels they can be a part of,

um, everyone feels that

is doing things that are
in the best interest of the
community.

[Lawrence] Co-ops, I mean,
they're a very old business
model,

they're an underutilized
business model,

and, I mean, at the premise,

they're about a more equitable
distribution of power and
wealth.

If we can just make
a couple of notes of positive

and then things
to improve on maybe?

[Thuss]
The idea is a very beautiful
one

when you think about how it can
work

and how everyone works together.

Do it on a night that...

Like, on a Friday
or a Saturday night potentially

when we're gonna be busy
in the cellar.

[Lawrence] It's one member,
one vote. It's not $1, one
vote.

So it doesn't matter how much
of the company you own,

how much you have invested,
um...

it's that you have
a stake in the outcome.

That's a food house.
That's a real food house.

[Thuss]
So there's no need for a
president,

there's no need for a
secretary,

but they say,
"No, no you need to have one.

What kind of corporation
doesn't have a president?"

[Lawrence]
So it's about engagement.

It's about folks having control
over the workplace

as much as they also
end up in a position

of the workplace
having control over them, right?

[woman]
He must have misgivings.

[Jenellie Hellyer] At the end
of the day,
we're people helping people,

and I think that's how a lot of

my coworkers view this job,

and if you're coming into this
job
from a non-cooperative
structure,

then it can be very different,

but I do think it-- it
encourages folks
to view their work differently,

and, therefore, work in...
in a different way.

We're not taught to cooperate,

and we're not taught to trust.

Um, think of all the board games
that we played when we were
kids.

I just remember playing
with my cousins and you got,

Monopoly,
and it's about being at the top.

-Working together is--
-Working together is really
hard.

[laughing]

Um, and when everyone has...

I mean, the purpose of a worker
co-op
is democracy between workers.

Um, so when everyone has an
equal voice,

it-- it can be difficult
to reach a consensus.

But, yeah, basically human
interaction
is hard,

especially when there's
not a hierarchy saying,

you know, "I'm the manager,
this is what we're gonna do."

[Thuss] We can all work
together for somebody else's
goals.

So cooperation to me means

deciding on those goals
together,

and maybe the benefit
of having a brewery is that

you get together
and you have kind of that

you know, Habermasian cafe
style
where everybody debates is
that...

that's the democracy,

and not a voice
that's just understood through
a vote,

but a true voice at the table.

Well, we're having a baby in

-a few months.
-Four and a half months.

Yep, really soon,
coming up really fast.

You know,
this has brought another aspect

of long-term planning
into our co-op meetings

and the development of our
co-op.
So, you know,

what does...
what does maternity leave look
like?

Well, we have to decide that,
right?

What does paternity leave look
like?

Is it going to be possible for
me

to step away from my daily job

for, you know, three, four
months,

maybe longer?

Um, which brings us
to another complication,

which is where do we find more
people

with the...
you know, the vision that we
have,

the dedication we have to our
work?

[Lawrence]
Who was I speaking to the other
day

who said, "Never get
in business with your friends."

And it's just like I don't know
who I'd wanna work with
otherwise,

because if they don't know you,

if they don't know your story,

then how do they understand
where you're coming from?

It's running at 100, though,
with just one element.

-100 with one is probably good.
-Yeah.

But I thought a couple boilers
is all right.

[baby fussing]

[Thuss]
It can be a real difficulty to
be

cooperative at all times,
right?

To work in a democratic way

and to make sure
that everyone's on board.

-How long does it take to--
-It takes 40 minutes in total.

You know, it's, again,
a real reality in the corporate
world.

You have a child
and you need to take time off?

You're falling behind.

Do you wanna baby piece of
toast?

[Lawrence]
It might be easier to do if it
were

just a straight-up business
sometimes.

If you didn't have to deal
with relationships

and you didn't have
to deal with cooperation,

you might be able to do
something

that was far more efficient

than what we have,
but it wouldn't...

We wouldn't be the ones doing
it.
It'd be somebody else.

[Kelsey Brick] Well, I had
kind of come to, I guess, like
the end of my rope

with job hunting
and had applied for several
things

and wasn't really getting
anywhere
and saw this job posting

and then I was like,

"Oh, well, somebody
who knows how to work with food

and can talk to chefs."

I'm like, "Well, that's pretty
much
what I've been doing my whole
life,

so that job has got my name
written all over it."

I guess, technically,
I'm a salesperson,

but maybe
this is why I'm good at sales

is 'cause I don't like sales.

I just let the quality
of what we do speak for itself,

and they either

want it or they don't want it.

I don't wanna sell something
to someone who doesn't want it.

There's, like-- There's--
It's dishonest.

[Kenny Vallee]
My job is what I call quality
control.

So, I mean,
everything you see here

I-- I make sure that

I go through everything
before it comes here,

so that means everything's
as best as possible

and as perfect as possible.

One of the things
that Sole Food's always been
about,

it's always been about quality.

We will not put anything out
that,
you know, we wouldn't take
ourselves

or more likely better
than we would eat ourselves.

[Hayes] Another bonus I get
that some people don't get,

I get to work the market.

So I see the finished product

and then I see the people
that are buying that product

for a really good price

and how happy they are with it.

People are happy with our
product,
and I love that.

[Kaylah Zander] One thing
that's so great about Sole Food
Farms is

I think that they know their
community.

They know their neighborhood,

and that's why it's important
that they're nearby.

That's why-- Another thing
why we choose them is they get
it.

You know, they understand
the difficulties that we have.

We're very, very small, first of
all,

and every day, the menu's
different.

It's what's ever in season,
whatever's fresh,

whatever they're proud of
they send to us,

and then we use that as
inspiration.

[Ableman]
It's embodied in how you feel

when you've done this work.

How you feel when you see
somebody who's eaten the food

and comes back
and tells you how incredible it
is.

Those are the things
that are so intangible

and so difficult to put a value
on.

-You had those before?
-My first time.

Oh, man, let me see
what you've got here.

Oh, yeah, that's gonna be good.

[mellow music]

[Ableman]
These overpasses,

they're gonna come down in four
years.

And when they do,
where we sit right now,

where there's
these wonderful crops growing,

you know, the carrots
and the radicchio and the
arugula

and parsleys and whatever's
here

will be replaced with
high-rises,
and people will be living

on this land where we sit right
now

20 or 30 stories up

as far from this

as you can possibly get.

[Thuss]
So what we're doing today is

going up and down the corridor
in the Old East Village,

which is where we wish
to maintain our presence as a
brewery

looking at potential spaces.

[realtor]
Okay, so there's no light up
here,

so you have to be careful
and watch your step.

Okay.

Right now,
we're in a lease situation,

so if we could
potentially purchase a building,

if that makes more sense,

either sharing it
with other businesses, et
cetera,

that's what we're interested in
doing.

So we're kinda doing
walk-throughs.

[Thuss]
Like, there was work done.

-At some point.
-At some point here.

[Lawrence] Not that long ago.

[Thuss] At least it's easy to
find
where the roof is leaking.

There's a lot of opportunities,
a lot of options,

and we're trying to just
determine,
what options are in fact
opportunities

and what may be,
uh, money pits, if you were.

[owner]
The second level's been
renovated.

I put $75,000 in it, brand new.

I mean, that-- It would be,
um...

It's the skateboard co-op,
main floor, right?

[Lawrence]
Skateboard co-op on the main
floor?

[owner] Yeah, yeah.

-What is the next one down?
-658?

-Yeah.
-Yeah, let's go. You wanna see
it?

'Cause we like the skateboard
co-op.
They're good guys.

We don't wanna mess
around with their spot.

Oh, no, they're cool.
I already got a spot for them.

They actually might go there
regardless if you buy it or not.

-Yeah, yeah.
-'Cause they wanna go over
there.

We've already talked about it.

I spoke to them
about it a couple weeks ago.

-Oh, that building?
-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

If you want it,
they're taken care of, trust me.

I love those guys.

-Come on in, everybody.
-All right.

We're here to stay
as long as we can stay.

Oh. Well, that's--
That's what he said.

We're like,
"We don't even wanna look at it

if you guys are staying."

Oh, he's trying to get you guys
to buy the building, too?

-Well, yeah, that's news.
-Yeah, well, no, no.

The whole thing is
is this is the building we want.

Yeah, that's awesome
and we support that 100%.

So we'll stop looking right now.

Yeah, we wanna stay here.

There's a chance that if it
doesn't work out for us here

that we'll try to get
the Father and Sons building,

but this is 100%, like--

-Where you wanna be.
-Yeah, man.

Oh, dude, let's...
Now we're just on a tour.

Yeah, that's what
we were just told that out back.

We're like, "What?"

Sorry, man,
We didn't-- we didn't know that.

Well, yeah,
but a certain level of honesty.

It's a chance for us
to start talking about

this landlord nonsense.

Yeah. The owners
of these buildings, come on.

[overlapping dialogue]

So, interesting day.

We did a bunch of stuff

and we're planning on
making a ramp tonight.

[Pastorius] Like, Jim's like,
"What are you guys doing here?

No, we want this building."

Like, "Aw, come on, these guys
are friends. That's no good."

So we gotta clean that up.

[laughing]

You need small businesses

that may not have a ton
of capital in order to buy it

to at least have
a reasonable expectation that

the building won't be
swept out from under them

as soon as it becomes
profitable to somebody else.

[Pastorius] This neighborhood
provides a real opportunity

in that it can become,
if we want it to be,

it can become a place
where all are accepted

where we have a mixed
neighborhood

where people from all income
brackets,

all walks, all backgrounds
have a capacity to interact

and build a good life.

That's what we're aiming for.

Uh, there are some
pretty big, um, obstacles in our
way,

and quite directly,

it's those who control the
property
are in our way.

[Thuss] It's not money.

I mean money is,
it's a necessity in this world,

but that's truly not the
relationships
we're trying to build.

[Fullerton] Collaboration is
ultimately
the more sustainable approach
than...

uh, than competition,

whereas, of course,
our competitive capitalist
system,

in Wall Street
no more than anywhere,

is rooted in the idea that,
you know, this--

this false understanding of
Darwin.

What Darwin said is the
fittest...

In fact, he didn't even coin the
term
"survival of the fittest,"

but the way he used it is

fittest as in the one that fits
best

within the whole system,
not the strongest.

[mellow music]

So, my name is
Tiberius Brastaviceanu.

People know me as Tibi.

When I first came to Canada,
I was 14 years old,

and I went to University of
Montreal

for a master's in Applied
Physics.

Laser applications
to biology and medicine.

I work here at the Sensorica
Lab.

Sensorica is this new type
of organization

where you're free to join

and to take initiative
and start new projects.

It is a commercial venture,

and you work
collaboratively with people.

And, uh, you share the revenue
according to everyone's
contribution.

It is a decentralized network,
and there is no boss.

We focus on material
production,

meaning hardware, electronics,

so we put stuff together.

So we're trying to solve
how material stuff

could be produced in an open
way.

Sensorica started by focusing
on open source hardware,

but on the high-end side.

So we said,
"Let's first prove that open
source

can produce scientific
instruments."

Five years ago,
open source hardware was just
starting.

Now we see drones and 3D
printers.

These two industries
are driven by open source.

[machine whirring]

This is the main hub
of the network where things
happen,

uh, where hardware gets done,
prototyped, and produced.

And there's other people working

from their own little home labs
around the world,

uh, that do some prototyping
and then we mirror it here.

We're democratizing here
access to the micron world.

Traditionally these pieces can
cost you
tens of thousands of dollars.

Open source,
um, maybe 20% of the cost,

allow scientific labs in
universities
in the emerging world

to do their science.

My background is in lasers,

so everything you see
with optics, optical fiber,

that's my contribution
to the projects, yes.

The mechanical side
and the electronics part,

these are other people
that have contributed to it.

It's a collaborative work.

There's many different sections
here.

So this is our micro 3D printer,

which will be used for, um,

micro 3D chips design.

What we do, we add an optical
fiber.

It's just the size of a little
hair.

So this is like a pen of light

that solidifies or polymerizes

the, um...
the resin that you put inside,

and you're able to do
tiny, tiny, tiny structures.

It just needs a bit of
integration,
but the proof of concept is done

so that's something that will go
on crowd funding pretty soon.

The tiniest printer in the
world.
[laughs]

People here are motivated by

what's the next big thing
we can work on

uh, that can...
can be so disruptive, right?

From micro 3D devices

and democratizing testing
of food and water quality,

how to automate a garden,
how to automate a greenhouse.

Well, here's all the
electronics
that you need

and the software to run it.

We affectionately call this the
iPot.
[laughs]

A completely autonomous flower
pot.

We have an atmospheric
temperature
and humidity sensor,

so the plant knows if the air is
dry

or if the air is very humid,
and it knows the temperature.

And here we have a light sensor,

so the plant knows
when to turn the LED off/on

based on how much light
it got during the day.

You know, the scientific
instruments
that reduce the cost of
innovation

allows people in Africa
and Asia and South America to...

to catch up
with scientific development,

so I think we're highly
motivated
by these kind of projects.

The real change happens
when economic relationships
change,

and-- and so then the idea was
let's set up new economic
organizations,

um, based on these new
principles

by respecting
some fundamental principles

that were behind
what was already existing,

so let's build the enterprise
of the future.

And that was the seed value
for the Sensorica network.

[Fabio Balli] First you have to,
uh,
release all the air you have,
okay?

So you can jump into the water,

and then you can try
to catch the stars by exhaling,
okay?

Breathing Games is a project
we started for children

with cystic fibrosis.

Blow, blow, blow, blow,
or you're gonna hit the banan.

Ah, you hit him.

It's really about
making the therapy fun.

[chuckles]

Having the therapy is quite a
challenge

-for, uh, chronic illnesses...
-[coughing]

...and about one person over
two
doesn't do the therapy well.

It's an exercise they have to do
daily,

so it's quite tedious and, yeah,
boring.

So the games make the...

the therapy fun,
but it also gives the feedback
to them

about you're breathing too...
too low or too high or...

[laughing]

We just connect
this medical device to the
computer

so that we can use the data

for the game
and for the research, too.

[man]
If you want to print sensor
value...

[Balli]
For hospitals, it's costing

at least $1,500.

So it's not something
you can have at home easily.

If we include
all the parts that we plan to
add

such as the memory card
and the battery and so,

it would be about $200.

In a later phase,
we want to do a microchip,

and it would reduce
the cost to maybe $60, $80.

[Brastaviceanu] The cost of
innovation
using open source is very low.

These products can be
10% of the market price.

So you're sinking
the, um, costs of innovation,

and you're taking away
some costs of production or
assembly.

Here's the file printed
at your local, uh, 3D printing
shop,

uh, and then put it together
IKEA style.

It really reduces the costs of a
product.

[Balli]
With, like, open licenses,

someone could take this and
improve it,

and re-share it-- re-share it.

But once it's completed,

the "how to" is gonna be
put out to the world,

and anyone that has
the capacity to replicate

the device can do it?

-Yes.
-No cost?

But there's also going to be
potentially
a commercial aspect to it.

How's that gonna work?

The question
is open source hardware

a viable, uh,
you know, business model?

You have something at home
to bake something, to bake
bread?

-Oh, yes, I do.
-Everybody has right?

Why don't you make your own
bread?

You find tons of recipes on the
Internet,

why don't you make it?

You know, and then you
make money on convenience.

You say, "I can source
the parts for you,

put 'em in a bag,
and send them to you."

Open source hardware businesses
also survive on services, okay?

People are asking,
"Yeah, but if you can't patent,

how can you protect?
People are gonna copy you."

[Daniel Brastaviceanu] You might
gather
your thing to protect your idea

and develop it,

okay, but then you patent it
and you protect it,

what if tomorrow somebody,

uh, thinks of something
that you guys didn't think of

and improves it,
and all of the sudden, uh,

releases their new technology

that is better than yours,
so yours is obsolete.

So your patent, uh, is useless.

[chuckling]

[Fullerton] This is a journey.
We're on a journey to figure
this out.

I'm pretty confident that

the regenerative frame
is the right frame,

and a regenerative frame
means that a system

is self-organizing,
self-refueling...

-[chamber music]
-...self-learning

and so, you know, we see it
in lots of projects in the
world.

It is-- It is emergent.

[Patricia Shih]
Did we mention not to...

to vibrate here, or are we
vibrating?

-No.
-Should be no vibrato there.

[Yawney] No vibrato, okay.

Yeah, okay, let's... let's try
that.

-You wanna try that?
-Yeah, let's try it.

Let's try that from the top.

[chamber music]

[Sennett] A good listener is
somebody
who can understand meaning

beyond what people actually
say.

Very few of us
actually can find right away

particularly the words that

we want to use

to explain what we mean.

And a good listening skill

is the ability to sense

what's behind

what people obviously say.

If you're playing a faster
tempo,

then we can't fit together,
it's not working.

[Shih] Yeah,
and I think Yuel's in between
us,

so it's real hard for him, too.

Yeah. Well, let's try it again,

see if we can kind of feel this
a little bit more together as a
group.

[chamber music]

[Ben Knight] If you were
describing
Loomio to your brother,

I think you would say something
like, um,

"Loomio is a, you know, simple
technology
that enables people

to come together to talk
an issue through,

generate ideas,

and come to a clear,
shared understanding together,

and a decision
about what action to take
together.

The idea came out of our
experience
during the Occupy movement

of the potential
for collaborative
decision-making.

When the process is well held,

it can be totally amazing,

like, transformative for
people.

When diverse perspectives

continually fade
into a collaborative process,

you know, groups can end up
making more intelligent
decisions

than any individual
would by themselves.

[Schingler]
At The Red Victorian,

we invite many people to be
part

of the decision-making process,

and the way that we do that
is we provide them a link to
Loomio.

I'd love to get people to chime
in in the next day or two.

Well, yeah, in the next 24 hours

on the Loomio thread,
and then at least I'll have some

kind of direction
to start a conversation with
them.

Some things are decided
fully on Loomio,

some things involve
the offline component as well.

For larger issues, we tend to

then take
that Loomio conversation,

meet in person,

and kind of go over
some of the nuances,

um, as a group.

So it's like do we wanna, like,
take that battle on as our own,
or...?

[Knight] So when a discussion
gets to the point

where someone in the group
thinks,

"Hey, we can make a decision
here.

I've got an idea,
this is what I think the group
should do."

They can put up a proposal.

And so you've got discussion
on the left of the screen

and decision-making on the
right,

and a proposal
always has a time limit on it.

So it always comes
to a clear conclusion.

So you've got this sort of
divergence
in the discussion,

and then you converge

on a shared outcome,
an agreed outcome.

People participate in a
decision

by clicking one of four
buttons.

So you can either agree,

or you can sort of opt out or
abstain,

or you can disagree,

which is like saying,
"I don't know that it's the best
idea,

but I'm not gonna
stand in the way of the group,"

or you can block or raise a red
flag,

which is saying, like,
"I think this is a really bad
idea.

I've got a serious concern
that I would like to be
addressed

before we move forward with
this.

That's huge!

[Schingler] I think that Loomio
is really interesting

for the fact that it creates
space

for people to kind of take the
time
to deal with their emotions,

and then process them,
often in more constructive ways

by writing...
writing down what they're
thinking.

There's all kinds of, like, you
know,
awful stuff that happens online,

bullying, and...

but Loomio's sort of designed
with that, um...

I guess with this idea in mind
that

if we design online environments

in a way that makes
certain types of behavior
easier,

uh, you know, so really fosters
a sense
of respectful, constructive
dialogue,

I mean, it's really about
people
coming together to achieve

a shared purpose in a way that
works

for all of the people involved,

and it's kind of that simple.
Like, little kids get this
stuff.

You know, we have 12-year-old
kids
using Loomio effectively

in their schools
with parents and teachers

making decisions together.

[Schingler]
I think that Loomio really
catalyzes

those kinds of conversations,
because you...

you pick up on those nuances,
and you start to see them.

And it's not just
actually the technology,

it's the types of collaborative
structures that technology
enables.

This idea that we expect
democracy from our government

and we're totally fine with,
like,
tyranny or dictatorship

in our workplaces for some
reason,

even though that's
where we spend eight hours a day

for most of our lives.

Um, so I have a lot of hope
that that's changing.

It feels like there's a real
movement
building around changing it.

It's just people coming
together
to achieve something

around the creation of value,

and the cooperative structure
is,

we've found it to be
totally flexible enough

to have, you know, real room to
move,

to be adaptive, to be...

You set things up in a resilient
way
that does involve
specialization,

and, you know, most effectively
serves the social mission.

[Brastaviceanu] At Sensorica,
we found, um, a system,

which is the value accounting
system,

where we can log our time.

And as soon as we have
finances,

we can use the log we created
to redistribute the money.

Pizza number one.

Ladies and gentlemen,
pizza number one.

Sensorica is a network where

people can collaborate
on different projects,

and the idea is, um, that the
system
that we have put in place

captures all these contributions
from different individuals

in the context
of that particular project.

And then we decide
how to share the benefits.

According to the value equation.

According to a value equation,

which is a social contract

that we, um, make and we agree
on
before the project starts.

So there's 5% that goes actually
to sustain the infrastructure,

to sustain the labs, okay?

So, let's take this little part
here,

and nobody eats this one, right?

And now here's a guy that
contributed,
let's say, a quarter.

Our system allows anybody
in the world to contribute

as much or as little as they
want.

Somebody's gonna get
just a little piece,

and that's fine.

Because this guy is probably
doing something else,

he's working on other projects,

and that's his little
contribution.

Here, I'm gonna take this piece.

-I'm gonna be modest.
-So conservative.

[laughter]

Got a big one right there?

[Brastaviceanu] How I got
to the participatory economy

is by having been shocked,
you know, with my previous job.

In 2006,
I left Montreal to the Silicon
Valley

near San Francisco,

and this is where I got my
first job

as an engineer
in a company manufacturing
lasers.

I was very stimulated.

I put a lot of heart into...
into the work,

and then 2008 financial crisis
comes,

uh, and then you see
how people are treated

once they're not, uh, an asset
anymore.

So, I just got laid off
and kicked out essentially.

That led me to use
the Internet to find solutions,

and I realized how much power

the Internet can give to an
individual,

um, and to groups.

So that frustration turned
into something constructive.

I got the pictures.

[man]
Yeah, I'm trying to see if
there's more.

Well, you're-- you're there?
Are you there?

[Brastaviceanu]
When I first came to Canada,

I just knew a bit of English,
uh, not much,

and I didn't speak French.

Canada was pretty open to

immigration from Romania back
then.

I think the second community
that adopted us

was the Italian community.

We spoke Italian,

and they were more established
than Romanians,

who were just arriving.

[man] So you started here,
what, bus boy first?

-Yeah, for sure, for sure.
-I didn't speak French or
English.

I just, uh...
I just started working here.

And then slowly, slowly,
I started to pick up orders.

Tarly was here every week.

Those were the days, my friend.

Beautiful days.

Now all of a sudden, you got
smart.

Whatever you do,
I hope it makes a change.

[Brastaviceanu]
What do you think about change?

If it comes from you,
it's probably a good thing.

[man]
What a beautiful day, huh?

[speaking foreign language]

My father's place from in
Romania,
it's the capital of watermelon.

So this is something
that we eat every day.

[woman] Do you need help?
Do you need help eating it?

Yes, yes, go ahead.

It drives my mother crazy
the way we eat it, going...

[laughing]

I knew the truth since I was
young,

because my father was very open
about it.

My father was imprisoned
in Romania when he was young.

He always stood up against the
regime,

so I grew up in an environment
where, you know,

idealism comes first.

They're very, very supportive
parents.

You know, we're always speaking
about what people have done for
society,

so it runs deep.

-How do you say father in, uh...
-[speaks foreign language]

-Huh?
-[speaks foreign language]

[Brastaviceanu repeats]

They just dropped everything
to flee the country,

and that was to give us a
better future.

[chamber music]

[Alperovitz]
People actually come to this

kind of notion of,

what I call it building the
next society,

building the next system.

They come to it from different
reasons.

Some come out
of a lot of pain and poverty

and excruciating difficulties.

Either try something new
or we're in real trouble

Another part of it, I think,
is, um...

kind of, it's cultural,
but it's also people

who... who really crave getting
away from individualism

somehow,

but the hunger
for what community can bring.

[chamber music]

[Shih] Sometimes
we can just play through the
music,

the first time's not so good,

but then, even without words,

it-- it evolves into something.

I mean, we're just all giving
and taking at the same time.

[mellow music]

[Sabina Ali]
The mothers in Thorncliffe
Park,

we wanted to make this place
a better place for everyone.

I'm originally from India,

and one of my husband's friend,

he gave a tour of Thorncliffe
Park,

and the first day itself,
we felt home here.

The next day when we got up,

and we wanted to walk
in the neighborhood,

we walked into the park,

and we were really
not happy with the condition

of the park and all.

But when we are here,
we have to fix things.

We came to know
about a lot of women

who live in this apartment
buildings,

mostly the immigrant,

and they are doing
businesses from home.

-No.
-[woman] Oh, my God.

They bring stuff
from their home countries,

and then sell it
to their neighbors, friends,

at a very good price,

and make
a supplement income for
themselves.

[women speaking foreign
language]

This is for your great
grandchildren.

[woman] When we come together,
we talk about,

"Oh, this is our,

like, backyard,"

because all years, we're
in back home when we are living,

house always have backyard or
front yard.

There in the building,
you don't have any backyard any
private.

So we call this there is a
backyard.

So in backyard,
we have to have some activity,
too.

[Ali] So we thought
that this, uh, is a really good
idea

to create a market.

This market will serve as a
platform

for the vendors
and these newcomer women

where they will feel
confidence,

and, you know, and it will also
empower them,

build their self-esteem,

and build the clientele as well.

This is the magical storage.

[laughing]

What you think it will be
inside?

You will afraid to go farther.

[Ali]
The park completely
transformed.

People gathered, they--

they started looking
from their apartment buildings,

and we could see
the change in the park.

I'm making roti.

Roti in Persian, we say this is
naan,

and the dough for roti is
different,

because we add yeast for this
one.

[Ali] The park serve
as a common space for them

where they meet immigrants
and new Canadians

and spend some good time
having tea, coffee.

That was the main goal.

We are waiting, waiting
until Friday come.

When we, Friday come,
we come out just we enjoy.

There is something,

just because of market we come
out.

[Ali] As in the new immigrants,

a lot of women go through
stress
and isolation on a regular
basis.

And we thought, like,
this market would serve

as, um, a stress-relieving agent

or something
like that where people feel

really good when they come
outdoors.

I mean, it's good to empower,
empowerment in women

the support to get out house
and to learn, yeah.

So, yeah, there's the main
goals, yeah,

to empower the women, ladies.

So, yeah.

Did you buy any tray for
yourself?

Did you buy any canopy for
yourself?

Next year I'll be
[speaking foreign language]

You won't be coming to the
market.

[Ali] There are challenges,
and there are achievements,
right?

We started with zero,

nothing in our hands, and...

But we had a strong vision.

We had that commitment
to give it to the community,

to return back to the community.

The community comes up
with their own ideas,

and all because
they can feel comfortable.

They feel, they see us as

part of their own self,

which is really challenging
for us to take

everyone's suggestion
to work on one thing,

but we do acts of the
suggestions,

and we, uh, choose how best

those things fit
into what we are really trying
to do.

I mean, looking at the bigger
goal.

Her husband passed away
recently,
and, for her,

these are the opportunities
which provide supplement income
for her

to run her house, and she has
kids,

and she has to look after them,

and the more over
is when she comes to the market,

she comes with the friends,

and they are supportive,

and, you know,
they are always there for her.

It's like a building family
kind of environment in the
market,

and they're all friends
come to the market to eat

what she is making,
and they love doing it.

Thank you. Enjoy.

[Ali]
You know, when I look at their
faces,

I can see in their eyes, you
know.

I can sense that happiness.

And that is-- I think that's
the value this market is
bringing.

It's emotionally, and, uh...

Though there
is definitely a financial
support

for them,
but still it is like more about

building relationship, building
trust.

She is very nice,

and she always support us,
and this she bring.

-Thank you so, much.
-Aw, my pleasure.

-Thank you so much.
-Pleasure.

[chamber music]

[Sennett]
Maybe there is no reward

when cooperation works well.

Maybe you're just in the
process,

and the process is the reward.

There's something
that's innately satisfying about
that.

[chamber music]

Sorry, sorry, can we do it
again?

We didn't start together
I don't know why.

[Yawney]
If we weren't able to work
together,

music itself would suffer,
and it would be, probably,

we wouldn't be able to
communicate
effectively as a group.

The music might
still sound like music,

but it just wouldn't be
convincing.

We wouldn't have the organic
quality

that we are always striving
for.

[chamber music]

Should we just do it one
more time with Sungyong now?

And then I'll join in the end
'cause my part's easy.

Yeah, let's see how it works.

[chamber music]

Here's our motor, right?
We have this engine,

then we have the car driver.
[laughs]

[chamber music]

[Pogrebnoy]
The process itself is very
satisfying.

You know, you go through stages,

and, uh, you come to a different
result,

but all the stages, you know,

it's enjoyable, yeah.

I would just say, it's a lot
more fun.

There's certain times
when you have to play

like a soloist with a virtuosic
passage
in every one of our parts.

And there's no leader,
but then we're all leaders, too.

So it's just-- It's just--
It's just a great experience.

[chamber music]

[Hayes]
I don't know if I was a bad guy
or not,

but I definitely wasn't a good
guy.

You know?

You know,
you gotta leave that shit
behind you

if you wanna grow, right?

And so,
that's what I've been trying to
do.

The farms in themselves
by nature of what we're doing
here

are kind of like the great
equalizer,
you know.

If you're out there picking
radishes
or filling boxes

or planting trees or...

It doesn't matter what your
history is,

how much suffering you've been
through,

it really levels you off.

Yeah, it was a good opportunity
to get

into the, uh, giving back
department a bit, right? You
know?

Working for your
community a bit, right,

instead of taking from it all
the time.

It wasn't a big idea that we
were gonna go out and, you know,

rescue people, you know.

We just--
Our idea was set the table here,

and do it with
soil and seeds and growing food,

and allow that process to do
what it does for all of us, you
know?

You know, people ask me why I
farm.

You know,
it's as much for my mental
health

as it is for anybody else
who's working here.

I'm in no different. I'm--

We're different in some ways,

but we're all alike in other
ways.

-We all have our stuff.
-It is spiritual for me, too,
right?

Like, you put something in
the--
a seed in the ground,

ya nurture it,

ya care for it,

and it gives you something
back.

Yeah, it is something
actually that changes...

changes ya.

[Ableman]
We've survived a lot of crazy
stuff,

but I think it's important
enough

to the people who we work with

that it has to continue.

And it's important enough
that it has to include more
people

who haven't been able to take
part.

And our goal is not,
unlike most social service
agencies,

is not to graduate people
and send them down the road.

No, we feel like we want them
to be

for as long as they want,
to be able to come here.

Yeah, you guys are
my family, right?

[Ableman]
The first time I met this guy,

I was like,
"Who is this guy?" you know.

-Yeah.
-And you had kind of a hard
edge.

Well, I wasn't very, like,
socially integrated, either,
right?

-Well, you were new.
-Yeah, I was.

[Ableman]
This guy's got the softest
core.

You hear that guys?

-He's got a really good--
-That better be on tape, man.

[Ableman] He has a good heart.
He's got a good heart.

I might need that one day
as character evidence.

[Ableman] That's right.

No, I mean it blows my mind,

somebody who's gone
through the kind of shit

that you've gone through,
and that you're--

Yeah, I appreciate that,
Michael, I do.

[Ableman] You guys don't have
the monopoly on suffering by the
way.

-Oh, yes, I know this.
-And so, I'm just saying, for
me,

You know, I needed to do this

for myself
as much as for anybody else,

and that's the honest truth.

It's hard to admit, but it's
true.

I mean, I got my own stuff
I gotta deal with.

[chamber music]

[Pogrebnoy]
Actually, the, you know, music

is sort of like a reflection of
life.

This medium allows
to have a conversation

with different people at
different times,

and-- and if it works well,

it's-- it's-- it's really

it's really good. [laughs]

[chamber music]

[Fullerton] It's very clear to
me
that to have a healthy system,

finance is a--
is a piece of a bigger whole,

and needs to be
in service of that whole.

The basic premise of investment

is to invest money in order
to create more money at the
end.

We call that return on capital,

but it's money in
creating more money out.

So we've grown a pile of money

while we've destroyed
the atmosphere.

That-- That's not sustainable.

There's a whole sense is that

we've gotta go
beyond just profit-making,

which takes no regard
for what happens to the
environment.

And another piece of it is
human and communitarian,

trying to build
a different sense of community.

But those themes, I think,
democracy, wealth,

changing wealth and ownership,
environment,

community, participation,

those are the themes
that we're seeing develop

in many parts of the country
and in many parts of the world.

[chamber music]

[Thuss] I think of the first
time the beer
was served at the Root Cellar.

I mean, that feeling is--
is tremendous,

and you realize
that, "Hey people are enjoying
this,

it's not just us."

There's a great mix of younger
folks,
older folks,

uh, women, men,
those who are coming in

who might not feel that the
beer culture

is currently really speaking to
them,

that might feel alienated.

I think our approach helps
to kind of even that playing
field

to where it's like, "Yeah, this
is a,
you know... it's a good
beverage."

I love craft beer. I just do.

And really, in London,
there's not a lot of options
right now,

and as soon as I found it, I'm
like...

I'm just happy
that I have a beer that I enjoy,

and the whole co-op idea is so
cool.

I've actually never experienced
that in a beer-wise.

The big brewers out there who
are...

they're sales and volume,
and that's their market.

The more they can sell the
better.

[man]
There's a lot of beers, you
drink one,

and it tastes the same as the
other,

and these ones, every...

When you look down,
even the colors are different,

the flavors are different.

It's worth supporting, yeah.

[man 2]
When they name some of their
beers,

you recognize the name of...

it was the Springett Stout.

These are farms
that I grew up around the corner
from.

They're bringing in local
ingredients

and making a fantastic beer with
it.

There's a morality to their
business.

Like, these guys
aren't gonna make it rich.

That's not the point of their
business.

They're providing
good beer for the community,

making jobs in the community.

It's a fantastic way to kinda go
about it.

[Fullerton]
We've known for decades

that if you circulate money

and materials in a local
economy,

you get these multiplier
effects.

And so, um,

by circulating money
and materials and information

in a local economy,

you're gonna be more in
alignment

with the regenerative process
that actually run--

You know,
it's the way the world works.

[Thuss] What I really love
about
that kind of community
engagement

is our neighborhood tart.

So it was a wheat base with
rhubarb,

and that rhubarb came
from Old East Village.

So we had somebody
take up the cause,

she went around
and just chats on the street

trying to find rhubarb
in people's backyards.

We got a ton of it,
we threw it into the brew,

it was really tasty,
and I think for us it, again,
just...

it's a lot of fun.

I mean, beer can be a lot of
fun.

Right now, we brew
an incredibly inefficient beer.

Um, it's...
It is not a turnkey process.

It is not pressing
a few buttons and things work.

It is a labor of love,
but it is a lot of labor right
now.

And so, we're hoping to
streamline
some of those processes

by an expansion
so that we can focus on

the kind of value that we feel
our beer is bringing as well.

The hops for the next one
are sitting over there

with the Irish moss
in the latest edition.

[Lawrence]
Brewing is an economy-of-scale
thing.

It takes largely
the same amount of labor

to produce one barrel of beer

as it does to produce
ten times that amount.

[Pastorius] The London Brewing
Co-op
at its current size,

it fiscally doesn't work.

So we need to scale up.

And in order to scale up,
we need more space,

we need, well, resources,

time, energy, to do that.

We're gonna need some
investors,
willing investors

to believe in the co-op model,
believe in our product,

and believe
in the local food movement.

I don't know that Josie's
ever been down here.

-Okay.
-So, I think a lot--

[Thuss]
Is demonstrating what-- what
works?

What-- What's here.

[Thuss] We know what the
expansion
looks like, 225 to 250.

That's not including a purchase,
but...

-Mm-hmm.
-[chuckles]

Have I got
an investment opportunity for
you,

and in the first year,
you'll double your money.

-Nice to see you.
-Yeah, good to see you.

Thank you for joining us.

Thanks for having us
in your business.

[Pastorius] If you're up for it,
love to chat about

what we've done here,

and maybe where we could
go into the future.

Financing in part
may come from Londoners who
support

our vision and our dream.

And we want it to be angel
or patient investment

where they believe
in the purpose of what we're
doing,

not just the fiscal return
that they will receive.

[Thuss] I think certainly
those short-term goals that

you know,
the expansion of the brewery
system,

that would be in a lease
situation.

[Pastorius] So it's specific
investors
that we're looking for

who understand our vision
and believe in it.

And that'll include

doing the renovations
in the next building,

moving the brewery there,
and having it up and going?

Okay.

[Thuss]
Yeah, we'll get that to you
soon.

[Lane] Yeah, absolutely,
and if you have any questions,

you know, anything putting into
it
just let me know.

-Yeah, absolutely.
-Fantastic yeah.

It drives me nuts
when I start talking this way,

and people, "Ah, you're a
socialist
or you're a communist."

This has nothing to do with--

This has nothing to do
with socialism versus
capitalism.

This is how real systems
in the real world work,

and that's physics
and biology and energy.

Everything is energy.

This is the way it works
from a tornado, to boiling
water in a pot,

to, um, insects,

to entire ecosystems,

to human bodies,
to human consciousness,

to the entire universe itself
is a learning, living system.

[mellow music]

[Brastaviceanu] We are in
Whistler, BC,
at the Impact Economy Summit.

We've been trying to cook

a new economic model
for the citizen media ecosystem.

There's a lot of energy
in the room with ups and downs,

which is normal for these kind
of

interactions, discussions,
and working together.

So, this is building bridges,
right?

Um, building bridges between
the open world and the classical
world

so that we can establish
these flows of resources

in this process of
metamorphosis, right?

We can't just start building
from scratch from nothing.

We are within the system,

and by establishing
these interfaces and the trust,
okay?

We can allow these resources to
flow.

This is not
in any way a classical business,
right?

This is not--
This is not around a corporation

that wants to maximize profit
for its shareholders.

[Brastaviceanu] I see
traditional corporations as
boxes.

Okay? So they're spaces
of confinement

that limits you
in what you wanna do.

Let's say you have a project
and you go to a corporation,

and the question is,
do we have the budget?

Or the budget, that number is a

parameter that confines you.

Do we have the skills?

So, essentially,
you're looking in a box,

and you see what's in there?

How much money we have,
how much people we have.

So NASA is doing a lot of
prizes,

and this is competitive crowd
sourcing.

You see, you have a prize,
you have a project, and you say,

"All right, who comes up
with the best design,

you know, they get the prize."

And there's a lot of redundancy,

and everyone spends money
for their own prototyping,

and for delivering something,

and then you have one winner
and the rest are losers,

and the only thing they take
home
is the experience, right?

Um, so, with the value
accounting
system, we say,

"Well, why don't you
collaborate,

and log your contributions,

financial materials, time,
everything you put in there,

and then the prize, you share it

according to everyone's
contribution."

Okay, so you turn
competitive crowd sourcing

into collaborative crowd
sourcing.

What you're building
is a set of businesses

that feed the community.

'Cause this is
a real paradigm shift what
you're doing.

It's-- This is not capitalism
as we know it.

-This is something entirely
different.
-[Brastaviceanu] Yes.

Then it's clear that this is
really another way to go for me.

This is the kind of answer to a
big
problem that we have today,
which is

you know, you don't get paid
for things you like to do,

you only get paid
for the things you don't like
to do.

So I think the system
that is actually able,

you know, to create livelihoods
without destroying the planet

and without creating social
strife

is the one that
eventually, hopefully, has to
win out,

because otherwise
we're all doomed anyway.

[chuckles]

[woman] If everyone wants to
take their seats, that would be
lovely.

[glasses ringing]

I will go home
with a positive message, um,

that, you know,
what we're doing is important,

that it's perceived as
important,

which is a validation of what we
do.

Um... yeah.

So... that's why I live
for these kind of moments.

This is the currency I'm looking
for.

I met some people that said,
"You, Tibi, you can't fail,

because you've been there,
and you've paved the way,

and if Sensorica fails,
then it sends this message."

I said, "Holy shit,
so now I'm kind of trapped

with all this responsibility
to show that, yes, it can be
done.

Everything's converging towards
a more collaborative economy
for sure.

And when you free people
economically, they're free.

[upbeat music]

[tape rips]

-I like that noise.
-What?

The tape,
it's like, "You're moving, man."

[man laughs]

The actual lab space
that we have now is pretty
packed.

There's a lot of people,
so very crowded.

It's kind of tough on us to
have to move,

but it's something that we have
to do,

and we're pretty tired.
We're pretty, uh, drained.

There's a new chapter for
Sensorica.

We are really coming out.

You know, we're getting exposed
downtown Montreal.

I see myself as part of the
Montreal
new economy set-up.

We're taking over, guys.

[laughing]

The belly of the beast.

Visibility and presence,
legitimacy,
right in people's face.

When it's time for you to go,

you know, you look back and
you're
not gonna count your money

or your material possessions.

I think the things that will
give you
more satisfaction is,

"Do I leave a trace?"

Well, the greatest hope
for the collaborative economy

is to have this smooth
transition
without too many bumps,

because we can feel
that we're frustrating, uh, the
losers,

and they're powerful.

[Ableman]
There's no land.

I'm hoping that we're gonna get

some acreage in the middle of a
park
that has to be developed here.

We need a permanent location.

We need multiple locations,

but we need one permanent
location

to replace Pacific
when the viaducts come down.

We need more people who can

really carry the workload.

And I think eventually we
could,
if people felt that incentive,

that they had something
at stake beyond their hourly
wage,

develop something that was,

did return something to our
staff,
but we're not there yet.

I want them to come to work

because they're working
for themselves, you know.

They're working for their own
healing,

and for a community
of farmers and eaters

that surround it, you know?

I want them to feel
that sense of ownership.

[mellow music]

I think it's probably
better than stock options

or shared ownership or anything.

I mean,
we've had this idea of a
cooperative,

turning this
into a workers-owned
cooperative.

But the truth is
what would they be owning?

There's nothing to own.

So what we can offer

is this shared experience
of what happens

in the process of doing this
work.

Hold that. Oh, awesome.

I wanna retire here. I'm 56,

I'll be 57, November,

and this is-- this is it for me.

I think it's my last stop.
If we last that long,

this is my last stop,
and I'm hoping we do.

All we need is boxes.

We can fill the boxes,

we will put out whatever
we need the boxes.

We need infrastructure.

If we get the infrastructure,
we will... We can do--

We will fill them up and
we'll...

We're good, we really are good,
you know.

[Hayes]
Here's what the garden kinda
taught me.

Like, if you're not gonna help
yourself,

it's pretty hard for other
people
to help ya.

Right? They can't.

Like, you know what I mean?

Like, if you're not willing to
do it,

why should they invest all the
time
in fucking spinning their
wheels?

Man, if I didn't have this job,

where would I be in the last
three years?

Like, think about it, right?

Like, dead,

in an alley shooting up,

or a penitentiary.

Those are my three options.

So, yeah, Sole Food saved my
life, right?

What else can I say, it did.

Over the carrot or over the
leaves?

Over the carrots
on the first one,

then over the leaves on the
rest.

[Hayes]
For me at this stage of my
life,

this is value to me.

Spending time here with my
friends,

feeling good about myself.

Right? Being able to close
my eyes at night,

saying, you know,
I didn't hurt anybody today,
right?

I did maybe a couple good
things.

That's value to me.

[mellow music]

[Fullerton]
So what is real wealth?

Well, let me tell you what it's
not.

It's not money,

um, but, you know,
there are people going around
saying

we need a new theory of value.

So we don't really know what
that is.

I can rattle off a few ideas.

So, obviously,

fresh air to breathe,

clean water to drink,

access to clean food,

family, friendships, community,

art, beauty, is obviously
what we know is real wealth.

[Thuss] I think that's a big
thing, too,

with the cooperative is that

the cooperative shifts
with the needs of its workers,

not just with the needs
of the end product.

[mellow music]

I think the five of us

I would imagine soon won't
be the five of us

from a, you know,
worker/owner perspective.

I think really we wanna see
that full realization of the
cooperative,

so that we can bring
in new workers

who have the same values that
we do

so that when people come into
work,
it's 'cause they wanna be
there.

It's 'cause they know they're
part of,

you know,
kind of a larger movement,

and it's not to the detriment
of who they are.

Of course, the timing is
hilarious.
[laughs]

Um, 'cause I don't know,

is it legal to have
babies brew beer for us?

I don't think so.

No, but babies with, like,
craft beer marketing is really
cute.

[laughing]

[playing scales]

[chamber music]

[Knight] We'll never make
really good progress

until we realize
that it's not a chore to get
there.

You know, you don't have to
have a really

unenjoyable life
in service to this cause.

It's gotta be fun, right?

I mean, fundamentally,
it actually needs to be
enjoyable.

Just taking that approach
to thinking about how we do
activism,

how we do social change,
how we organize our work,

I think it's one of the most
powerful
levers of social change.

[Fullerton] I don't think we're
gonna
wake up one day and say,

"We're now
in a regenerative economy."

You know, how did we know we
were
in the Enlightenment?

This is a lifetime's
transition,

and the challenge is
are we gonna screw this up

before we make the transition?

The symptoms that we feel
will lighten.

It will feel different.

It will feel healthy.

And then we'll say,
"Wow, it feels better."

[Alperovitz]
It's a very moving period in
history.

Potentially big things can
happen.

I think we are at a moment,
maybe--

always a maybe--
that we are laying the
groundwork

for potentially,

not only transformation,
but irreversible
transformation.

That's a big deal in history.

It's a very interesting time.

[chamber music]

[piece ends]