Articles by Joe Brewer | Films For Action

Joe Brewer · We have already altered the planet — and many have already been harmed by it.

If I Die Before We Wake… This is for the Healers

Joe Brewer · Are you a healer who is trying to bring love and light into this world? If so, you might feel the way I do sometimes… in those moments of clarity about how big the forces of harm have become and that the darkness may last for the rest...

You Pay More Taxes Than Exxon Mobil

Joe Brewer · Want a simple way to tell if humanity is taking the threat of global warming seriously? Ask yourself this question: Does Exxon Mobil pay more taxes than at least one U.S. citizen? That’s right. Just one. Right now, the answer is a...

There Is Life After Civilization Collapse

Joe Brewer · We are living through the collapse of the first truly global civilization in Earth’s history. This is bigger than the fall of Rome. Much more dramatic than the end for the Mayans. Greater in magnitude than the fall of the ancient...

A Design School for Planetary Collapse

Joe Brewer · Storm clouds gather for a future that will be turbulent and dangerous. We need designers ready for this future.

Protests Feed What They Oppose

Joe Brewer · A “memetic” observation about all the resistance marches since Trump took office… the protests feed what they oppose. There is a finite amount of emotional energy available in the world — the aggregate of all things that people are...

We Stand for All Sacred Life on Earth

Joe Brewer · All that is sacred in this world has become threatened by a pathological cultural system of wealth extraction and hoarding... Awaken and take a stand for life on Earth.

Cultural Evolution in the Anthropocene

Joe Brewer · Where humanity is going, there are no roadmaps. The terrain is unlike anything we’ve seen before. The changes sweeping the Earth right now are literally planetary in scale and so filled with complexity that few among us even have a...

All Change or No Change?

Martin Kirk, Jason Hickel and Joe Brewer · This is a story of power, but perhaps not the traditional kind. The kinds of power we are interested in are the deep currents.... the cultural forces that shape all of our lives at the deepest levels.

We Are All Stepping Into a Broken Future

Joe Brewer · Your feelings of pain and uncertainty are real. The world is now in a time of darkness. Shadows are all around us. It can be very confusing and painful. But it may reassure you to know that feeling pain and confusion is a sign that you...

The Deep Truth About "Fake News"

Joe Brewer · Peel back the layers of information about “fake news” and a deeper truth begins to take shape. We start to see outlines of hidden media worlds that give birth to very different communities of truth. The deep truth about “fake news” is...

The Most Powerful Algorithm in the World

Joe Brewer · After the insanity of the U.S. election, a lot of people are blaming Facebook for its algorithms that parse us into ideological bubbles and spread “fake news” and other kinds of misinformation. Some critics — like

Living Through the Death of Capitalism

Joe Brewer · Now is the time to hold strong to our humanity. The world is changing quickly and much is at stake. It is even possible that our entire global civilization will collapse in our lifetime. This is a very difficult concept to sit with —...

Why I Didn't Vote Trump or Hillary

Joe Brewer · This is my ballot. It arrived in the mail where I live in Washington state — and I’ve already sent it back to the elections committee. Note how I didn’t vote for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clint

Living in a World of Billion Dollar Lies

Joe Brewer · Are you having a hard time knowing who to trust? Not sure what is going on in the world? Is your Facebook feed full of lies, misdirections, and half truths? This is because billions of dollars are being spent to confuse all of us. More...

Political Revolution Is About Waking Up

Joe Brewer · Have you been watching the political circus in the United States wondering why so many people are putting up with this nonsense? Trust me, you are not alone. There are millions of us who have awakened to the reality that the...

The Parasitic Logic of Profit-Making

Joe Brewer · What does it mean to earn a profit in an extractive economy? Simply put, it means to behave like a parasite. All you need do is attach yourself to a nutrient-rich host and suck the value out of it. When the host dies, move on to the...

Let's Stop the Wealth Hoarders

Joe Brewer · They mindlessly consume wealth — and destroy the planet.

Capitalism Has a Metaphor - It's a Cancer

Joe Brewer · My mother died of cancer five years ago. While most of the cells in her body grew and reproduced at a rate that merely kept her alive, there were a few rogue cells that mutated and changed — reprogramming themselves as greedy...

Are You Hopeful about the Future? I Am. With Eyes Wide Open. Here's Why.

Joe Brewer · It is a delicate balance to know how much the world is messed up and still be hopeful about the future. This is something I dance with on a daily basis — while writing about systemic corruption, the angst that arises from&n

Suffering From Rampant Individualism?

Joe Brewer · Do you suffer from loneliness? Feel isolated and distant from other people? Do you long for connection? Strive and hope to be noticed? To be loved? To be heard? To be touched? To be seen? Well you are not alone. Or perhaps I should...

Why Don't We Take Action on the Global Crisis?

Joe Brewer · Taking action requires practice, and that means training for it. Simply put, we have not been training to build the skills necessary for actively evolving the institutions of our civilization — so we are not skilled in the practices...

How Political Mind Control Works

Joe Brewer · The illusion of power IS a kind of real power. There is a lesson in this for the majority of humanity.

The Cultural Sickness That Needs to Be Named

Joe Brewer · All over the world there is a feeling that something is deeply wrong. It is often felt more than seen, an unnamed darkness that keeps millions (even billions) of people disconnected from the reality of authentic life-affirming...

Now Is the Time to Be Rooted in Reality

Joe Brewer · In this time of unprecedented global change, we need to be rooted in reality more than ever. Yet it is quite clear — by simply tracking all the ways people make an exodus from “the real” on a daily basis — that we are not doing this...

Cultivating Empathy for the NEXT Crisis

Joe Brewer · A central question for this moment in history is how do we collectively navigate a crescendoing wave of crises and move toward planetary resilience and thriving?

How the "Bad Guy" Hides in Your Mind

Joe Brewer · I’m going to let you in on a little secret. There is no such thing as “the bad guy.” Every time we see an enemy it is because our minds have projected them onto the world. If we didn’t create them first in our thoughts and perceptions...

The Great Lie of Living on a Dead Planet

Joe Brewer · The modern era is built on a theory of the Universe as a giant mechanical clock — dead matter with gears and springs.

Will There Still Be Ivory Towers in a World Without Elephants?

Joe Brewer · Universities have become detached places for the pursuit of career advancement — a fantasy world in these turbulent times.

Be an Island Crystal of Hope In These Times of Profound Global Turbulence

Joe Brewer · We can all feel it — the mental disease of late-stage capitalism is causing widespread depression, an epidemic of suicides, chronic feelings of guilt and shame, and a general malaise of powerlessness. The lack of economic opportunities...

Solving a Problem That Has Not Been Named

Joe Brewer · Many changes happening around us remain unclear. We need better names and stories for them.

Who Is Creating the Future Nobody Wants?

Joe Brewer · Here’s an amazing fact: It’s 2016 and humanity is collectively moving toward a future that nobody wants. We are literally going somewhere that will hurt every single one of us. Mass extinctions are terrible things. Impoverished...

The Pain You Feel Is Capitalism Dying

Joe Brewer · I know it hurts — but what you are feeling (alongside millions of others) is the natural consequence of late-stage capitalism.

Do You Get Out of Bed in the Morning to Make Money for Billionaires?

Joe Brewer · We have been told a great lie about capitalism — that everyone who works hard in life will be successful, make a lot of money, and have a good life. So why is it that most of us wake up on Monday morning with groggy heads, grab some...

Can We Let Capitalism Die and Move On?

Joe Brewer · Death can be very painful and confusing. This is true for economic systems just as it is for personal loved ones. Moving on is just a hard thing to do. It’s really tough to work through all the difficult feelings we have about loss...

We Need a Social Movement for Healing Broken People

Joe Brewer · The world is a pretty screwed up place. So how do we fix it when we ourselves are broken? This is the question that rarely gets asked — and it is a keystone piece of the solution to all the global crises in the world. Global...

The Mental Disease of Late-Stage Capitalism

Joe Brewer · I’ve been talking with a lot of my friends recently — in private where they felt comfortable letting their guard down — about the dirty little secret no one is supposed to talk about. The shame people feel when they can’t find a...

The Global Architecture of Wealth Extraction

Joe Brewer · Wealth inequality has reached truly epic proportions — with 62 individuals amassing the same aggregate wealth as 3.7 billion. Most of us intuitively sense that this outcome was rigged by design by a global elite. Here in the United...

Why Don't We Feel as Burned by the Panama Papers as We Do by Donald Trump?

Joe Brewer · Outrage abounds these days, but the biggest story of all is hardly getting any attention

Hacking the Sustainable Development Discourse

Joe Brewer · A Narrative Strategy for Changing the Story of Global Development