Ever heard of the Story of Stuff Project?

I just found this. Seemed like a good discussion piece.

The purpose behind this project is to open eyes as to the truth of how commercialism really works, why and why it could never work.

I posted this in Fragile Earth because there are several Environmental implications behind what is said. However, the narrator Annie Leonard touches upon the linear progression of our stuff, from start to finish. She also implies why she thinks commercialism (in its current state) could never work without destroying ourselves as a result. She will also talk about several ideas as to how we may fix things.

I hope you enjoy.

Story of Stuff Project

I felt we should all see this as we touch upon many of these varying issues here every single day. I thought you all would appreciate what she has to say.

Edit: I found the videos on you tube. So I'll just embed them.







[edit on 14-6-2010 by DaMod]

Never heard of this, but its actually pretty interesting. Its in a similar vein to Adbusters. Cool find, I've bookmarked it. The videos are a good resource, I can't watch much of them till tomz - I just watched a bit of the one on bottled water, this is awesome.

~PeAcE!!

reply to post by ghostsoldier


Yeah, it's a pretty educational set. She says in the first video that she traveled the world just to find out what happened to all of our stuff.

I think these videos are more than eye opening.

Alright, I can't believe no one is commenting!!!! Here we have a woman who went about traveling the world just to find out what happens to our stuff and comes back with some disturbing findings.

Here we have all the hot issues. Cap and Trade, Pollution, Deforestation, the Fleecing of America and Environmental Hypocrisy all in one!

What gives?

People are more concerned with:

"OmG!!1! teh Nw0 iz cuming 2 getz m3!1!!1!!!"

Rather than tangible issues they can actually affect change through.

reply to post by ghostsoldier


I suppose so. Such are conspiracy theories. Really though it isn't far off. From start to finish our whole system is designed to screw itself over.

reply to post by DaMod


'Tis only a matter of time my friend...

In the mean time, you can contribute to the acceleration of this process by becoming a Culture-Jammer amongst other things.

I watched the first video, about to watch the bottled water one.

I mean its all common knowledge really, what happens when you pick all the apples off the tree? You move on to the oranges.

We used up our resources, so we need to move on to something else.
Just hopefully when we do, we wont repeat the way we did it before.

This is a huge topic, and will make for good discussion.

s-f

These videos are produced by the Tides foundation and spew progressive propaganda. They are anti-capitalism bunk.

The videos promote a false representation of governments job..."to take care of us" ahhh NO the government does not exist to take care of us, we can do that ourselves thank you very much...

This video states..."Poor Workers have to pay for their own healthcare"...like that is not reasonable. It is very reasonable each person be responsible for his or her own healthcare.

Things are bad and people who make things are very bad...no we in the western world call it civilization. It is good and modern industry helps the human condition...it improves communication, sanitation, health care, travel and infrastructure...I like bridges, skyscrapers, ipods, glasses, cereal, kayaks, books and refrigerators, xrays, band aids...stuff helps people.

No stuff...no jobs... no jobs... no stuff...no food no schools no health care...this video is insane propaganda dn should not be taken seriously.

Oh and I will bet a million rupees she did not TRAVEL the world...the farest she traveled was to the production studio to read the slick script written for her by TIDES foundation marxist progressives.

reply to post by Missing Blue Sky


I don't think they ever said "no stuff". I think the moral of the story is the system needs to be revamped and there needs to be alternative ways of getting our stuff.

For example: Plastic is petroleum based yet there are alternative plastics available that are created from microbiological byproducts.

Another good example would be the Plastic bottles. She states (correctly methinks) that you would think these plastic bottles would be melted down to make plastic bottles again, but instead they are used to make other products that end up in the dump.

We all know incinerators release toxins into the atmosphere, why do you think you aren't supposed to burn plastic.

You can't really say there is no truth to any of this.

We're in the 21st century, all our disposable items should be biodegradable and/or recyclable and/or reusable.

And some things should not exist at all.

I would like you guys to check out the post I made in my signature. It goes along the same lines as this short film and was even placed in a comment I made to someone else. Check out the films I linked in my post.

reply to post by Missing Blue Sky


Well although I can agree that we use the system and therefore there are many necessary evils, there is a lot of truth into what is said. I mean we have so many different ways of doing things now that are never put into practice. In fact our reliance on fossil fuels is a bit ludicrous. I understand we use oil to make pretty well everything, but there are corners that can be cut and there are alternative materials for making different things such as plastics (bio plastics). How about an increase in nuclear power plants? Some people say nuclear power is more dangerous, but really it has a much better track record and if done safely is much better for the environment even with the waste factor taken to account. How about a significant decrease in the use of petrol? That's not only an environmental benefit, it's a public weening off the teet so to speak. Perhaps safer means of disposal of silicon electronics, or maybe research on a way to recycle old boards. Although they won't be able to replace everything there are areas we can plug these things in that could really make a difference.

It also hits me kind of hard that plastic bottles are not turned back into plastic bottles. Why is that I wonder?

All I'm saying is we have come so far technologically that really we have the means to change things more than ever.