Sufficiency, Sustainability, and Innovation Media Moonshot

Abstract

This article introduces the role of innovation and exponential technologies to eliminate shortfalls in access to basic needs at a global level while achieving sustainability in four dimensions: economic, social, political and ecological. Next the article reviews the literature concerning the role of films and TV programs on influencing public opinion and producing changes in economic, social, and political outcomes. Several films and TV programs that have achieved this are presented, with documentation of their successes. Then a “media moonshot” is proposed to help develop support for public policies to accelerate progress toward sufficiency and sustainability through innovation. This would be achieved by helping finance a tenfold increase in production of films and TV programs in this field. Various fiction and non-fiction formats would be used. The goal proposed is to reach an audience of at least one billion people with measurable impacts on public opinion and government policies. Several examples of possible films and TV programs are presented.