The Story of Stuff

Sounds like simple story right, just a story about stuff? Think again, this is one of the most interesting videos out there about consumerism and its effect on the environment. This 20 minute documentary took 10 years to make; it is jam packed with so much information every time I watch it I learn something else. This story covers all the items we own- where it comes from, who makes it, who sells it, why we buy it, and where it goes when we're done with it. This story criticizes our current system of capitalism and greed; it stressed we cannot continue to consumer the way we in order to sustain our planet. Our consumerism drives production in turn more and more products are created using our natural resources, polluting out lands, and destroying third world nations.

The main argument here is the linear system we currently live by is all wrong! Below are each of the steps of the linear equation and the issues with each.

Extraction- Deforestation, dynamiting mountains, mining all metals, using all water, and thus killing the animals. We are running out of natural resources in the United States so we turn to Third World countries and use their natural resources. In the past decade alone we have used 1/3 of the natural resources in the world.

Production- Energy is put into the raw materials along with harmful toxins called "synthetic chemicals". Most of them are not even tested for human safety let alone environmentally tested. One these chemicals is BFRs or brominated flame retardants which make things less flammable but is aneurotoxin meaning harmful to the human brain.

Distribution- After products are made they are shipped to stores, stores that want to keep cost low and keep the consumer coming back for me. Think Walmart. The company externalizes the cost of a product by making the environment pay with resources and workers pay with their health.

Consumption- This is the most important part of the equation because with out it there would be no distribution or production. Capitalism, pop culture, and the pursuit of the American dream drive consumerism. Many products made are considered disposable- use a couple times, throw away, and buy a new one. 99% of the consumer products made end up in the trash within 6 months, meaning only 1% of consumer products are recycled.

Disposal- All the items are then thrown away and then dumped into a landfill. Some trashed is burned in an incinerator before dumped in the landfills, which means it polluted the air in addition the land. We could stop production of dioxin by stopping trash burning because incinerators are the number one source of the chemical.

The answer is multifaceted but recycling is a big start. The Story of Stuff claims forest preservation, clean production, labor rights, fair trade, conscious consuming, and eliminating incinerators will also slow the problem before our natural resources are depleted, our ecosystems are polluted, workers are exploited, and dangerous toxins takeover our ozone.

Posted using ShareThis. All information was interpreted from the Story of Stuff video from their website which you can visit here. Image and video is credited to its original source.