The Story of Stuff

The Story of Stuff (2008) by Annie Leonard is a short, mostly animated, documentary highlighting the root issues in our economy. With growing "greedy" corporations and extraction ("trashing the planet") taking place, it is no wonder we are running ourselves into the ground. Along with this video came some pretty shocking and eye-opening facts. For example, the USA population is approximately 5% of the entire world's population, however, shockingly, they use 30% of the world's resources. But it begs the question, is this just simply put down to greed? Or are products being "designed for the dumps"?

With media having a massive affect on our lives, advertisement is being pushed at us left, right and centre. We can't walk down the street, watch television, or sit on a train or bus without being told what we need to buy in order to lead a more fulfilling and "happier" lifestyle. As Annie Leonard talks about, it's a " Work, watch, spend" treadmill - we work to earn money, come home tired and watch television where we're told to buy things, so we go and buy them, go back to work so we can pay of debts and afford more things, then come back tired so we watch television again, where we are told to by more things..." it's a vicious - perceived obsolescence - cycle.

But it is just this? Or are these items we are buying designed for the dump? As 99% of items going through the production system are being thrown away as rubbish within only 6 months - a shockingly short amount of time. Poor quality items, for a low currency cost with only a short lifespan. These items may not be costing us, but they are costing others. These are externalised costs. The charge is going to those working in the production or near the manufacturing of these items. They lose out on their share of the pay (going to big corporations) and even on their environment, as our rubbish is being dumped on their land and their natural resources are being extracted. For example, 2000 trees in the Amazon are lost every minute due to this.

Although Annie states that even if we all were to recycle 100% of our household rubbish it would work towards stopping this out-of-control downward spiral, there is something we can do. We must work to stop consuming. Instead of buying and recycling - stop buying. Make suitable choices in what we purchase and if we don't need it, make do or decide on an eco-friendly alternative. For example, in this video (also by Annie Leonard) instead of purchasing bottled water, fill a bottle of our own and reuse it instead of throwing away empty plastic bottle after plastic bottle of water. This wouldn't make a difference to us, as, according to this video, some specific brands of water are filtered tap water anyway, regardless of their "make them scared to drink tap water" marketing techniques.

So, in conclusion, instead of buying into these big corporations, we must stop and evaluate. Do we really need this product in our lives? Would finding an alternative work just as well, if not, better? Can we reuse it instead of throwing it out? If we make these positive changes in our own lives, maybe then might we see a difference.