A few weeks ago I found myself taking part in the single biggest ever online event, and by taking part I really mean just witnessing.
Briefly, the event, which was called The Art of Livin’ (note no ‘g’ at the end of ‘living’ so you can say this with a cool dude kind of Texan drawl), was hosted by the film actor Matthew McConaughey – who is actually Texan and very cool – along with various high-profile ‘self-development’ gurus, including Tony Robbins, who is described on his own website as the “nation’s top lifestyle and business strategist”.
Anyways… The whole thing kicked off at 6pm BST on a Monday, went on for six non-stop hours and pulled in an audience of 2.5 million, which is what made it the biggest online event in history. And if you’re now wondering what this has got to do with Resurgence, I’m going to venture one word: everything!
We spend a lot of time behind the scenes at The Resurgence Trust honing what we say about our charitable remit and activities, and one thing on which we all agree is that we offer a space and platforms (including the Ecologist website) for those who care about the planet and each other to talk about what matters, what they care about, what they are doing, and why. We run online events and talks too, and whilst we don’t have McConaughey’s impressive ‘pulling power’, these are pretty well attended and appreciated.
But the whole Art of Livin’ thing just had me thinking throughout, what’s the one single unifying thing all these 2.5 million people share – regardless of age, location, lifestyle and life experiences? The answer, of course, is our planet – or, if you prefer, Earth Home.
So my question is this: why haven’t we or anyone else concerned with taking care of our planet managed to stage an event that attracts 2.5 million of the 8 billion souls we live with, alongside or at least on the same planet with? What do we need to do? (And don’t say, “Sign up McConaughey”, because I’ve already thought about that!)
I do feel the rumblings of something that I often hear referred to as ‘the Movement’, and in a very deliberate way, everything we offer on the pages of this magazine – including in this issue, where the invitation is to find new ways to identify and prioritise ‘kinship’ – feeds into and supports that idea of growing this ‘Movement’ together. But what’s also crystal clear is that we need an injection of something special to really galvanise more people to care and to openly express that care and then act on it.
There must be people out there with the same ‘convening’ power as McConaughey. If you’re one of them, let’s do it. Let’s offer something that everyone who lives here will not only want to be part of, but really enjoy being (as McConaughey would say) along for the ride.
We are – as ever – open to suggestions.
