Wild and unpredictable. Really?

Watching Living Planet, the magnificently filmed programme about our wonderful home, narrated by the veteran David Attenborough, it occurs to me that much of his narration is no more than a mass market soma, that by design or ignorance, portrays nature very much as 'red in tooth and claw'.

Too many of his tales are of danger, fear or risk, and pay little respect the the cultural history of the peoples who have survived there for thousands of years.

Attenborough talks about the 'Extreme lengths that people will go to, to catch fish'. It's what people do when they go fishing, and sure, it may enhance the salacious spectacle of 'angry water' (wtf?) for armchair viewers, yet bears little connection to their reality.

David, it's time to step back and give a more balanced view that stops portraying nature as a monste, out to get us: "even he (a kayaker) succumbs to the force of the Mekong's surge. His kayak is sucked under by the powerful current and sucked downstream. After a few worrying minutes, Mick reappears, safe but shaken."

Melodrama of the worst kind.

Living Planet

getting started

The article from Seth Godin has a lot of excellent 'bootstrap' start points for folk looking for different ways to get their ideas listened to by more people. My own experience is that it works.

It takes time to build followers on a blog, and it works providing your content is wanted; 600 more people read 3000 more pages last month than would have done without a blog.

The Do Lectures - a platform for change, like TED, were watched over 500,000 times in their first year.

We're building our library of pod casts and MP3s as we go, for free to share LifeCraft skills.

Read and enjoy

When you have a big idea, the question is, how to spread it?

You can go through a traditional publisher and have it printed in the tried and true way, like Clay Shirky. I had a chance to read Clay's new book a few months ago. No surprise: it's pure gold, unalloyed insight about the state of media and the world.

If you're looking for big ideas and are prepared to lose a little sleep, there's no better book to buy right now.

You can have someone take a short speech based on your book and have them turn it into a animated video. Dan Pink's video has been seen about 20 times as often as his book has been purchased. Video spreads.

You can turn your idea (like a focus on entrepreneurs) into cool trading cards, like Evan did.

You can skip the printing altogether and start your own video university, like Kahn Academy.

Perhaps write a short manifesto and watch it spread as a free ebook. Like Changethis, a free service that has reached millions with the work of top authors from around the world.

Don't forget podcasts or mp3s, which can be very funny or motivational.

Consider starting a conference with a unique platform and worldwide reach, like TED.

Or you can blog your idea for several years in a row, slowly building up trust and making an impact over time.

Of course, there's no right answer. But there's probably a best answer that matches your time frame, budget, audience and idea.