Although this blog focuses mainly on how we as consumers can make the world a better place through spending our money more wisely, it goes without saying (I hope) that I don’t believe we can buy our way to a revitalized planet.
In fact, consuming is a large part of the problem. That, plus the fact that the global systems underlying all the things we purchase and use are not designed for sustainability.
The ins and outs of those systems are broken down articulately in a gem of a short movie called “The Story of Stuff.” The simplicity of its endearing stick-figure animation mirrors the succinctness with which narrator Annie Leonard lays out the hidden costs behind the extraction, production, distribution, consumption, and disposal of all the stuff we buy.
Highly recommended viewing. Also make sure to check out the resources and other links on the website.
(Thanks to my Crank Ensemble bandmate Lena, who works for the Tides Foundation—one of film’s the funders—for alerting me to this.)
