Four visionaries—Kevin Kelly, Peter Schwartz, Ari Wallach, and Tyler Cowen—share their insights on the future, urging viewers to consider the impact of their actions on future generations.

Four visionaries—Kevin Kelly, Peter Schwartz, Ari Wallach, and Tyler Cowen—share their insights on the future, urging viewers to consider the impact of their actions on future generations. Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, A guide to surviving humanity’s tipping point ► https://youtu.be/teNE748O-vw?si=WlxD159us0dlLUap Explore the future with visionaries Kevin Kelly, Peter Schwartz, Ari Wallach, and Tyler Cowen. While each is looking into the future through a different lens, they all share a belief in the power of optimism and proactive engagement as essential tools for overcoming today's challenges. Wallach introduces "Longpath," urging long-term thinking, while Kelly advocates for "Protopia," emphasizing gradual progress. Schwartz highlights scenario planning's importance, emphasizing curiosity and collaboration. Cowen reflects on America's progress and calls for urgency. Together, they stress empathy, transgenerational thinking, and diverse futures to collectively build a better tomorrow. The message: the future is a continuous creation requiring proactive, collective action. Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/the-big-think-interview/progress/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ► About Kevin Kelly: Kevin Kelly is Senior Maverick at WIRED magazine. He co-founded WIRED in 1993, and served as its Executive Editor for its first seven years. His newest book is The Inevitable, a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller. He is founder of the popular Cool Tools website, which has been reviewing tools daily for 20 years. From 1984-1990 Kelly was publisher and editor of the Whole Earth Review, a subscriber-supported journal of unorthodox conceptual news. He co-founded the ongoing Hackers’ Conference, and was involved with the launch of the WELL, a pioneering online service started in 1985. ► About Peter Schwartz: Peter Schwartz is an internationally renowned futurist and business strategist, specializing in scenario planning and working with corporations, governments, and institutions to create alternative perspectives of the future and develop robust strategies for a changing and uncertain world. As Senior Vice President of Strategic Planning for Salesforce, he manages the organization’s ongoing strategic conversation. Peter was co-founder and chairman of Global Business Network. He is the author of several works. His first book, The Art of the Long View, is considered a seminal publication on scenario planning. Peter has also served as a script consultant on the films "The Minority Report," "Deep Impact," "Sneakers," and "War Games." He received a B.S. in aeronautical engineering and astronautics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York. ► About Ari Wallach: Ari Wallach is an applied futurist and Executive Director of Longpath Labs. He is the author of Longpath: Becoming the Great Ancestors Our Future Needs by HarperCollins and the creator and host of the forthcoming series on PBS A Brief History of the Future, which is being executive produced by Kathryn Murdoch and Drake. He has been a strategy and foresight advisor to Fortune 100 companies, the US Department of State, the Ford Foundation, the UN Refugee Agency, the RacialEquity 2030 Challenge and Politico’s Long Game Forum. As adjunct associate professor at Columbia University he lectured on innovation, AI, and the future of public policy. Wallach's TED talk on Longpath has been viewed 2.6 million times and translated into 21 languages. Ari was the co-creator of 2008's pro-Obama The Great Schlep with Sarah Silverman. ► About Tyler Cowen: Tyler is the Holbert L. Harris Chair of Economics at George Mason University and serves as chairman and general director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He is co-author of the popular economics blog Marginal Revolution and co-founder of the online educational platform Marginal Revolution University. He graduated from George Mason University with a bachelor's degree in economics and earned a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University. He also runs a podcast series called Conversations with Tyler. His latest book Talent: How to Identify Energizers, Creatives and Winners Around the World is co-authored with venture capitalist Daniel Gross.

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Business revolution: What is the membership economy? New videos DAILY: https://bigth.ink/youtube Join Big Think Edge for exclusive videos:

Business revolution: What is the membership economy? New videos DAILY: https://bigth.ink/youtube Join Big Think Edge for exclusive videos: https://bigth.ink/Edge ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "I think that the membership economy is having as big an impact on business as the industrial revolution," says Silicon Valley consultant Robbie Kellman Baxter. Memberships or subscriptions fundamentally change the relationship between the consumer and the brand by delivering what Baxter calls a "forever promise." The famous example of Blockbuster vs. Netflix illustrates this perfectly. Subscriptions are not a new idea. Charles Dickens released his books to subscribers one chapter at a time, as he wrote them. What's different today is technology and the speed at which even a one-person business can reach a huge number of customers. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ROBBIE KELLMAN BAXTER Based in Silicon Valley, Robbie is the author of The Membership Economy: Find Your Superusers, Master the Forever Transaction & Build Recurring Revenue (McGraw-Hill 2015), andThe Forever Transaction: How to Build a Business So Compelling, Your Customers Will Never Want to Leave (McGraw-Hill 2020). Robbie’s expertise extends to include SaaS, media, consumer products and retail and community organizations. Clients have included Microsoft, Fitbit and the Wall Street Journal. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRANSCRIPT: The membership economy is a term that I coined to describe what I was seeing starting about 15 years ago when I was working with Netflix and continuing into this massive transformational trend where companies of all types were moving from a model that focuses on ownership to access, from the transactional to the relational, from anonymous to known, from one payment to many smaller payments and from the organization talking at the customer and hoping they’re listening to multidirectional communication among customers and back and forth between the customers and the organization under the brand umbrella of the organization. So when you put all of those things together you have this kind of painter’s palette to reinvent your business model and that’s what’s driving this membership economy. So membership isn’t a new concept. We have been joining things for as long as there have been humans. We joined clans or tribes. We’ve had professional societies and trade guilds for centuries. Charles Dickens sold his novels in subscription format so people subscribed to have access and as he had the chapters done he would deliver them to his subscribers. So this is not a new concept, but what has changed is the ability to build a business model around it that transcends time and space. So Charles Dickens actually had to know the people he was delivering to, had to print it out, had to bring it to them. Today we can deliver it to strangers digitally and we can do it with time lapse. So that has created so many possibilities for organizations to build this ongoing relationship which is what people want. One example of the difference between a membership economy company and a non-membership economy company is the comparison between Blockbuster and Netflix. So when people, you know, way back when people used to have to go to the corner store to the Blockbuster on a Friday night to see what movies were available to rent, bring them home and it was never the movie that you really wanted. It was whatever happened to be available. And then if you forgot that you had it and you kept it for a few extra days the cost would end up being like triple what you thought it was going to be. And compare that to Netflix where they sent you three DVDs at a time, so three movies that you had on your long list, your queue. You didn’t have to leave your home. You always had three movies at home. And, best of all no late fees. So it’s a very different way of thinking about the model that starts with a forever promise. A promise of what it is that you really want to achieve. So in the case of Netflix versus Blockbuster, which was what really inspired me, what I wanted was to always have movies, professionally created content delivered in the most efficient way possible because I had little babies, with cost certainty – no late fees. And that’s what Netflix delivered on 15 years ago that pretty much put Blockbuster out of business. And today even though they have streaming, even though they create their own content, even though a lot has changed at Netflix they still deliver everyday on that promise of professional created content delivered with cost certainty in the most efficient way possible.

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Monday, October 11 is 2021 National Coming Out Day. Join us for a screening of the Pixar short film Out plus fascinating conversation with a talented Pixar animator who directed Out and the filmmaker

Monday, October 11 is 2021 National Coming Out Day. Join us for a screening of the Pixar short film Out plus fascinating conversation with a talented Pixar animator who directed Out and the filmmaker who produced Out. About the Speakers Steven Clay Hunter joined Pixar Animation Studios in 1997 and has worked as an animator on a number of Pixar’s most beloved films, including A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2 and Finding Nemo. He was an animation supervisor on The Incredibles, WALL•E and Brave. Recently, he helped bring to life the characters Hank from Finding Dory (for which he won the 2013 VES award) and Duke Caboom from Toy Story 4. Most recently, Hunter made his directorial debut with the SparkShort Out on Disney+, which was shortlisted for an Oscar Nomination this past year. In addition, Out is nominated for a GLADD award. Prior to coming to Pixar, Hunter worked for Walt Disney Animation on many projects, including Fantasia 2000 and Hercules. He first learned computer animation at Industrial Light & Magic on Casper the Friendly Ghost. Max Sachar is a San Francisco-based filmmaker and film producer, and for the past 15 years he has worked at Pixar Animation Studios on critically acclaimed short & feature films, including Coco, Incredibles 2, Wall-E, Toy Story 3, and Lou. Most recently, Sachar produced Pixar’s 2020 Academy Award Shortlisted film Out (written and directed by Steven Clay Hunter). As producer, he worked creatively with the director to help navigate the story and visual development, while also focusing on casting, staffing all art and technical teams, and making strategic decisions around the schedule and budget. In addition to his work at Pixar, Max is a co-director and cinematographer for Concept o4 films, where he has helped created several award winning dance films. During what’s left of his free time, Max spends as much time in the outdoors with his fiancé and 2 pups, and roaming the streets of his hometown, San Francisco, camera in hand. NOTES "OUT" film excerpt copyright byDisney/ Pixar Animation Company. Used with permission." See more "Michelle Meow Show"s at The Commonwealth Club:http://commonwealthclub.org/mms 💯SUBSCRIBE for more VIDEOS: https://www.youtube.com/user/commonwealthclub 📆 UPCOMING EVENTS: https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events 🎉 BECOME a MEMBER: https://www.commonwealthclub.org/membership 💰 DONATE NOW: https://support.commonwealthclub.org/sslpage.aspx?pid=298 📺➕📻 Watch & Listen https://www.commonwealthclub.org/watch-listen CWC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecommonwealthclub/ CWC Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cwclub/ CWC Twitter https://twitter.com/cwclub The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum 📣, bringing together its 20,000 members for more than 400 annual events on topics ranging across politics, culture, society and the economy. Founded in 1903 in San Francisco California 🌉, The Commonwealth Club has played host to a diverse and distinctive array of speakers, from Teddy Roosevelt in 1911 to Hillary Clinton in 2010. Along the way, Martin Luther King, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton have all given landmark speeches at the Club.

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In the past few years, massive wildfires have devastated California, destroying thousands of homes and killing more than a hundred people. Experts say droughts and other conditions amplified by

In the past few years, massive wildfires have devastated California, destroying thousands of homes and killing more than a hundred people. Experts say droughts and other conditions amplified by climate change are one factor. But there is more to the story. "No matter what happens we have to hold PG&E, and whatever successor there is, accountable for negligent acts,” says Mark Toney of the Utility Reform Network. “PG&E was not put into bankruptcy by climate change,” he continues. “PG&E was put into bankruptcy through their own criminal negligence. And we’ve got to hold them accountable and come up with a way of stopping wildfires from happening in the first place. PG&E has admitted that faulty power lines, combined with drought conditions and dying trees worsened by climate change, lit the spark for California’s most deadly wildfire ever. But as far back as the 1990s, PG&E was ignoring the fire danger posed by aging equipment and overgrown trees. Not even hefty fines from the California Public Utilities Commission could get them to clean up their act. In 2000, “We fined them over hundred million dollars,” says Loretta Lynch, who was a commissioner with the CPUC at the time. “That was chump change to them. They continued to pocket necessary maintenance monies and profit from it while the system deteriorated.” In 2010, the San Bruno pipeline explosion killed eight people and injured dozens more; PG&E was later convicted of six felony counts. And last year’s Camp Fire, the deadliest, most destructive in California history, killed 85 people and decimated the town of Paradise. The company now faces a slew of lawsuits from fire victims. “Essentially what our lawsuit is demanding or asking for from PG&E is that the fire victims’ lives are made whole again,” says Patty Garrison, whose home was destroyed in the fire. “It’s just infuriating that that kind of negligence has decimated a town and is continuing to kill people.” This mounting series of transgressions has saddled California’s biggest utility into $30 billion in liabilities and propelled it into bankruptcy. Some have called for a government takeover, or a breakup of the power behemoth into smaller, community-run energy providers. What’s next for PG&E – and for California’s energy future? And in the second half of the show: Cycles of drought and rain have shaped California life since John Steinbeck’s writing seared the state’s water woes into national consciousness. Amplified by climate change, California and other western states now experience regular weather whiplash, careening between record drought and rainfall every few years. In his new book The Dreamt Land: Chasing Water and Dust Across California, author Mark Arax reveals the tumultuous history behind the myth of abundance in the Golden State. LA Times reporter Diana Marcum and water expert Faith Kearns explore the complex intersections between drought, climate change, and life in rural California. Can a decades-old distribution system meet the water needs of the future? Will redirecting rivers, drilling deeper wells, and building higher dams quench California’s demand for water? How will the state's robust agricultural economy — one that produces two-thirds of the country’s produce and nuts year-round — survive the next record-breaking drought? A conversation about living the California dream in a drought-prone state. #letstalkclimate https://climateone.org/ PG&E Bankrupt 3:45 Strict Liability 6:33 California Power Outages 10:17 Land Of Dreams and Drought 13:56 Stories of Drought 11:46 How Much is Climate Contributing? 19:01 Dystopian Water War 21:55

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On 8 April 2024, as part of WCEF Side Events 2024, CLG Europe’s Materials and Products Taskforce hosted a webinar titled ‘How the new EU institutions can kickstart the Circular Economy’. A

On 8 April 2024, as part of WCEF Side Events 2024, CLG Europe’s Materials and Products Taskforce hosted a webinar titled ‘How the new EU institutions can kickstart the Circular Economy’. A recent report from the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change (ESABCC) highlights that the EU has made very little progress in increasing the circular use of materials. ESABCC points out that the circular material use rate has been increasing very slowly in recent years; it went from 10.8% in 2010 to 11.7% in 2021. As mentioned in the report, the European Commission has announced its ambition to double the circular material use rate by 2030, but this would require a more than a tenfold increase in the recently observed average annual rate of change: from on average + 0.1 pp per year in 2017–2021 to on average + 1.3 pp per year in 2021–2030. According to the report, this would probably necessitate a combination of an increase in recycling and a decrease in the overall material demand. Leading up to the European elections, we anticipate a significant focus on circular economy in the coming five years. As a side event of the World Circular Economy Forum 2024 (WCEF 2024), this event delved into what role the circular economy should play in European politics and how the new institutions can promote greater circularity. The event convened a diverse array of speakers, encompassing scientific expertise, as well as perspectives from businesses and NGOs. This debate is ahead of the Taskforce for climate-neutral and circular materials and products (Materials and Products Taskforce) launching a report later in the year. This report will set the policy agenda for the EU's transition to circular economy, taking stock of the previous 5 years' progress and offering policy recommendations for the next 5 years. Speakers included: - Pieter-Willem Lemmens, Expert, European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change (ESABCC) - Claudia Bierth, European Public Affairs & Sustainability Manager, Ball Corporation - Céline Carré, Head of Public Affairs, Saint-Gobain - Caterina Rocca, Group Regulatory Affairs Director, ROCKWOOL - Edoardo Bodo, Environment Policy Officer, RREUSE - Diana Potjomkina, Project Manager, Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership - Moderated by Martin Porter, Executive Chair, Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership About the Taskforce for climate neutral and circular materials and products, CLG Europe The Taskforce for climate neutral and circular materials and products was created in September 2021 with the aim to drive forward policy discussions by bringing together a group of progressive businesses across sectors and value chains. The group brings together companies that are actively committed to using climate neutral and sustainable materials, and who want to work together to promote and support EU wide measures to decarbonise materials. Our key objective is to create an ecosystem that more rapidly shifts away from the energy and resource intensive production of materials to materials that are produced without using fossil fuels or emitting greenhouse gases (GHG) as by-products. The Materials & Products Taskforce is convened by CLG Europe, an influential and cross-sectoral group of European businesses collaborating to accelerate economy-wide action for a climate neutral economy. Our aim is to provide a forum to promote positive exchange between progressive European governments and businesses determined to support the development of a climate neutral and prosperous Europe.

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