The Story of Stuff - a look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns

[groovedaddy]

From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.

http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?id=2324

[IndyOp]

1. I've pledged to K&R this everytime it is posted. It is essential viewing.

I am planning on showing it in one of my classes this week! The topic is a bit distant from the class material -- but so is saving the lives of billions of people a bit distant from the class topic -- and more important by a power function.

:hi:

[BridgeTheGap]

2. This is definately worth a watch! n/t

[pamela]

3. I watched this a few weeks ago.

It changed the way I view every trip to the store. I was never big on shopping and "stuff" anyway, but when I did have to go to a store, I would always come home with a bit more than I went shopping for. Now, I don't even run into the drugstore without a list and if I see something I "think" I need, I write it down for the next trip. It's rare that I actually go back to get whatever it is I thought I needed.

Have you heard Eddie Vedder's new song, Society?

"It's a mystery to me
we have a greed
with which we have agreed

You think you have to want
more than you need
until you have it all you won't be free

society, you're a crazy breed
I hope you're not lonely without me"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cy6iwP9Ux3A

[bulloney]

4. We're a disposable society. It artificially maintains our economy.

I live in an area where school buildings that are less than 25 years old are being razed so that a brand new facility can be built. That's how we do a lot of stuff. Make products that have a short shelf life so that we have to buy a replacement.

Problem is, with middle class incomes either in decline or stagnating, more and more people cannot afford to live in this throw-away society. Many resort to borrowing against the value of their home or max out the credit cards they carry.

Some day this will all come full circle and we'll have another great depression that will make the one of 80 years ago look like a picnic. Back then, you weren't at the mercy of high energy costs. We were more agrarian, so more households grew their own food. Not today. And it's gonna be ugly when this depression takes hold.