The Story of Stuff

This video really was worth my time watching. It is called the Story of Stuff and I saw it on the website, The Story of Stuff. It is about the idea of Sustainability, which I found out recently that everyone is not aware of what sustainability is (I almost fainted), but basically it deals with the interactions among the Economy, Environment and Society. In short, how people have abused the earth's resources (and each other) in order to keep producing more and more things, therefore creating the crazy consumerism that we all know and have experienced today.

I pretty much became familiar with most of these things when I went out on a limb sophomore year at Emory and took an Economic Anthropology class, which might have easily been one of my top 3 classes at Emory. Basically we discussed everything having to do with consumerism. That is first when I learned about the Grameen Bank (before it won a noble prize), Kiva microloans, and what Fairtrade really means.

Anyways... my final project in my Econ Anthro class was a consumption project. We had to track our consumption for 3 days straight and then write an analysis of it. Of course when I initially read this on the syllabus I thought it would have been extremely easy, but as the time approached and we received more information on the project I realized that it was going to be more involved than I thought. We had to record not just what we ate/drank, but how long we were in a room with the lights on (how many lights were on), how far did we drive (amount of miles/gas consumed), room with the A/C and approximate temp in the room, how many sheets of paper did we write on, how long did we write with an ink pen, amount of toilet tissue used, beauty products, etc. the list goes on and on. Basically those three days was a nightmare. I honestly did not realize how much I consumed on a daily basis. The things that seem to be so essential for life, are so numerous.

That is why I really appreciate this video with Annie Leonard. I look forward to reading her book and also seeing her video on the "Evolution of the Water Bottle," basically how have these water companies gotten us to buy bottled water even though we (Americans) have free flowing water coming out of our taps. I am guilty to having been a slave to water bottles, but buying my Brita filter has made me feel much better and now i just refill my stainless steel bottle. Anyways...I am really interested in all of these issues, because I did write my Ethnography project (every anthro major has to do one) on Sustainability at Emory, more specifically Recycling. So that was long winded. Enjoy the video, I hope it makes you more aware of the NASTY linear cycle that has been created and continues everyday. Wish me luck on my first test of the semester tomorrow. Until Next Time...