Alex Steffan on Happiness

In the first session of PopTech's Day 2 on Happiness, Alex Steffan thinks we have a lot to be happy about. Steffan, who is a huge green advocate and not only wants to “save the earth,” and “unite the world,” but is a major optimist and thinks its already happening. Amazed by what’s happening in the developing and developed world, he guides us through numerous ways people are improving the world and using alternative energy.

His work has taken him around the world as an environmental journalist on four continents, where he has written about everything from Japan's fast breeder reactor program to the UN "Earth Summit" in Rio de Janeiro.

So he says, “We’re adding a city the size of Seattle every day.” Is he kidding? Clearly, we’re not prepared to handle that, or are we?

Given that he’s such an optimist and the session is on happiness, I figured he would offer a solution. But he jumps around a lot in his talk and I realize he’s going to give us a host of things that are changing the world for the better. Ah yes, happiness.

Data Point Number One. He claims that Howard Dean is the Second Superpower. This Second Superpower is “the collective power.” That’d be ‘all of us.’ He thinks the Internet got Howard Dean to ‘do it for him’ rather than the other way around. The Internet said “you get it, let’s go make it happen.” He thinks this is becoming true all over the planet. We’re seeing groups of people rise up and do amazing things collectively.

True perhaps, but Dean is now a history lesson, perhaps a watershed moment in time. But with protests, underground films being shown in America’s backyards, national media support and possibly the most substantial grassroots effort in my lifetime, Bush is still driving the country into the ground and many are not optimistic there’s a “way out.”

David Weinberger told me to check out Black Box Voting last night after dinner. So I did. Are we doomed?

Okay, back to happiness. Not only are things coming together in the environment he claims, but in every sector. He refers to the “open source” technology explosion. There are also collaborative efforts like the Wikipedia and Creative Comics. We are in fact starting to see a whole new approach of sharing ideas and creative energy. Ah yes, the Creative Commons. Let’s raise the bar, but can we? And how long will it take? More importantly, what kind of resources and intellectual energy will it take?

He asks the audience anyone knew who Lula was? Two people raised their hands. Among the collective intelligence in this audience, only two people recognized Brazil’s President. Goes to show you how insular we really are – Hawley’s talk on Bhutan also reminds us of this.

Steffan thinks all of us in the First World should know about what Lula’s doing to transform Brazil. He’s renegotiating the contract between what’s happening in the developing world and our world. He’s changing the standards by which the people in the north and the people in the south interact. There’s a cultural ‘southern identity’ explosion happening in the south of Brazil right now and Lula is trying to push technology and education into the hands of the poorest individuals.

More things to be happy about. Solar systems are taking off in the developing world. Apparently, India has started a whole program for barefoot solar engineers.

He shows us a flower that detects landmines. It turns from white to red if a landmine is nearby. Can you imagine?

We then see funky teapots in Europe that are biomorphic and photos of all kinds of objects where solar power is being embedded. Someone from the audience yells – “I have solar power on the bottom of my shoes.” Ah yes, things to be happy about.

In the future, we will see more and more products designed to be ultra high end and really green at the same time. We need to create a vision of life that allows us to stay within a One Planet Lifestyle. I love it. He recommends we visit the Transmaterial website, which is a source book of new materials, listing new combinations of materials and approaches that are sustainable. He also suggests we visit the World Changing website, which he is driving, for even more amazing examples of what’s currently being done in the world.

I am left with a feeling of hope and optimism after his talk. He ends with an H.G. Wells quote: “All of the past is but the beginning of a beginning all that the human mind has accomplished is but the dream before the awakening.”