The Mush Frontier
A city can be defined as a big mush of human development. I spend a good deal of time grumbling about things unfortunate in that mush. But the truth is that humans are super cool and super smart and super fascinating and big mushes of human development produce some great things.
Take Free Range Studios, for example.
Free Range makes movies, art, and other productions dealing with social consciousness and making the world better. They package content that is novel and thought-provoking in a friendly, digestible fashion. “Creativity with a conscience,” they call themselves.
I chanced upon Free Range by watching their most popular short movie of last year, Story of Stuff. They’ve made movies critiquing the meat industry, artistic campaigns for freeing Tibet, and scores of other good-for-the-world projects.
My favorite thing about Free Range is that despite doing good, they are not a non-profit. The founders, Jonah Sachs and Louis Fox, are out to make money, in addition to fixing the world.
Jonah and Louis were young professionals that discovered, like many of us youngsters new to the workplace, that in the professional world success often comes at the expense of social conscience. Most of us, upon discovering this truth, respond with a “To hell with conscience,” work to make money, and use charity as an outlet for goodwill. Jonah and Louis did not submit, though, and created Free Range.
Not to take anything from individuals behind non-profits, but I think there is a flaw in the system in which they thrive: businesses often consume people and resources irresponsibly. They then donate money to non-profits to solve the problems they are responsible for creating. So non-profits basically exist in order to solve that which was caused by many of their sponsors. And they can’t really ask their sponsors to change, or else they would have no sponsors.
Take the shirt I’m wearing, for example. My shirt was probably made by an eleven year-old halfway across the world. Now how many non-profits are there that facilitate education? I bet that the company that made my shirt supports at least one such education-providing organization. But they also support child-labor, ensuring that some kids don’t get an education. Go figure.
Enter companies like Free Range, that transcend the separation between business and conscience. Free Range does not ask anyone for help. They offer a marketable service that earns its profits.
A business publication called FastCompany Magazine recently named Free Range to its Fast 50 list of companies that are improving the world. As people get more and more educated, these companies are going to thrive and grow and that is so exciting.
I’d like to offer a suggestion to people coming home or waking up to headlines full of bad news: Tomorrow morning, while enjoying your cup of coffee, watch Story of Stuff, instead of reading the news. Or go through Free Range’s website. Or read the Fast 50.
There are real problems in this mush of a reality, and we can’t pretend they don’t exist. But just take one morning off, if only to realize the potential that we have. You might not agree philosophically with everything Free Range says, or that Story of Stuff claims. What I want you to look for, though, is a group of people that are trying to change the world in a responsible and creative manner.
The city is a mush of human development, and I believe that Free Range and friends are the frontier of that mush. And if that’s the case, I proudly declare myself a mush-member, and commit to mushing along with Free Range as best I can.
That being said, I’d like to hear your reactions to Story of Stuff. The creator of the film asks important and controversial questions, and I’m curious what you think about her answers. I hope you enjoy!
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Tags: Free Range, Story of Stuff, Stuff