Duane Elgin, author, educator, and media activist, delivered this inspired introduction to his work in a seminar, recorded live at the Foxhollow Forum in Lenox, Massachusetts. Elgin’s presentation centers around the contents of his acclaimed book, Promise Ahead: A Vision of Hope and Action for Humanity’s Future, and presents a comprehensive exposition of his concerns about the state of the world and the future of humanity. As an overarching structure for the talk, Elgin outlines three kinds of core influences that will effect our future: opportunity trends, as in the latent potential of expanding global communications to up-level our worldview, adversity trends, like overpopulation or climate change, and transformative elements, such as an unexpected scientific breakthroughs. Between each exposition, Elgin engages directly with the audience, posing questions such as, “What stage of development do you think humanity is in?” and “If we are still in a formative stage of development, how long do you think it will take us to reach maturity?” As the entire audience breaks into small groups, the hall erupts with animated discussion and debate. The result is an engaging, informative, and thought-provoking presentation that illuminates a few essential opinions and attitudes many of us surprisingly seem to share about who we are, where we are, and how to best navigate the complexities of modern life in order to create a sane and sustainable future for all.
BIO
Duane Elgin is an author, speaker, educator, consultant, and media activist. For more than three decades, he has defined the cutting edge in consciousness research, in the ecology movement, and in future studies. He pioneered the “Voluntary Simplicity” movement with his now classic first book, titled by the same name, published in the 1980s. The book provided an exploration of the practical and philosophical meaning of simplicity, as well as a comprehensive overview of the precarious ecological predicament of our planet. His current activist agenda is to transform the media, particularly television, which he sees as our greatest environmental risk factor because violent and materialistic programming has a devastating effect on human consciousness and behavior. Elgin has cofounded three nonprofit organizations concerned with media accountability.
In addition to his famous Voluntary Simplicity: Toward a Way of Life That Is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich (1981), Elgin is the author of several other books, including Awakening Earth: Exploring the Evolution of Human Culture and Consciousness (1993), Promise Ahead: A Vision of Hope and Action for Humanity’s Future (2000), Living Legacies: How to Write, Illustrate, and Share Your Life Stories (with Colleen LeDrew, 2001), and The Living Universe: Where Are We? Who Are We? Where Are We Going? (2009).
Elgin has worked as a senior social scientist with the think tank SRI International, where he coauthored numerous studies on the long-range future for government agencies such as the National Science Foundation. He has also worked as a senior staff member of the joint Presidential-Congressional Commission on the American Future. He has an M.B.A. from the Wharton School, an M.A. in economic history from the University of Pennsylvania, and an honorary Ph.D. for work in "ecological and spiritual transformation" from the California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, CA.
