The Choice is Ours (Video)

The Choice is Ours

2015 

Throughout our history, humanity has set its sights on seemingly impossible goals, and found a way to realize those goals against all obstacles. This awe-inspiring potential is on full display in the opening moments of the new documentary The Choice is Ours, as retired NASA astronaut and professional astronomer Jeff Hoffman testifies to the glories of space travel.

With unparalleled willpower and ingenuity, we crafted the tools and technologies to explore what was once limited to the fabrications of Hollywood myth makers. But even from atmospheres beyond our own, the earthbound challenges we have yet to conquer remain in full view. Having manned multiple space flights over the course of many years, this reality became apparent to Professor Hoffman as he gazed upon the surfaces of our planet from his capsule. "There's a view of the impact that humans have had on our planet, and that can be pretty scary," he reflects.

The most pressing issues facing humankind today - from climate change to widespread crime to financial calamity to the rapidly depleting natural resources of our planet - take center stage in The Choice is Ours, but they're approached from a refreshingly unique perspective. This elegantly produced film promotes our capacity to invoke positive change in the world, and considers the behavioral and cultural shifts which must take place to make this possible.

The Choice is Ours is a production of The Venus Project, an organization devoted to uncovering innovative new approaches to problem solving. The organization's founder, 97-year old futurist Jacques Fresco, serves as the principal guide throughout the film's narrative. With convincing and articulate insight, Fresco argues for a reconsideration of what is possible in each of us, and by extension, the world at large. In examining whether our behaviors are determined by human nature, or by absorbing the environment which surrounds us, the film offers clues as to how we can begin to rebuild the reality of our planet from the ground up.

If defeating self-doubt and apathy were the rules which governed our species decades ago, would we have ever invented the technology to venture into outer space? By applying the same intensity of positive focus to global pursuits, we can improve the view of our planet, even from the stars.