The Story of Stuff 13-09-14

The Story Of Stuff

September 9, 2014

• A very short summary: The documentary told you about how things were produced and how our consumerist society works. Basically: 

1) The government needs to keep the economy running.
2) It makes sure that we, being the people, keep BUYING and CONSUMING. 

3) Unfortunately, production is carried out in an extremely unsustainable, inhumane, and unsafe (for workers especially) way.

A few other points- The stuff we by is designed to break (see the diagram below of a quote next to a man)! That way we keep BUYING! Production of goods goes through a "cycle" that doesn't connect the beginning and ends: Basically we take as much as we can from the Earth and return it as toxic waste. Most of what we buy ends up being thrown away within only six months.

• Before watching the video I had thought that our society was very material and "stuff" oriented, but was absolutely blown away by both the extent of it and the U.S. government's role (I'm assuming that many other countries are like this, but perhaps not be to the same extent) in making it this way. I'd never really thought about the government's direct interference with our consumption of products or that they interfered with it to such any large extent. I was aware that the rate we consume things and how they are produced is very unsustainable, but I was alarmed by how MUCH we consume and the impact this will have on the future. I was also extremely unsettled by corporations ability to turn a blind eye on the way they treated people at all points in the production model and the way they could completely disregard the necessity of our planet's upkeep.

Yikes... This part was quite astounding and perturbing.

• My reaction to the video can basically be summed up as: How can people be so STUPID? Our entire structure of life -extreme consumerism- is flawed. We take more from people and the earth than we can give, yet ignore the implications and obvious debacle and disastrous future we are setting up for ourselves and future generations. Why aren't we doing more to change our way of living? Some people are doing things to help, but unless everyone tries to change things, nothing will happen... And the government having less power than corporations? That's extremely disturbing. How can that actually be changed if the one thing that should be able to make a difference easily -the government- cannot do so? People could try to change this, but how would we go about doing that? What can be done to make a major positive impact on the world? What would need to be done? How would you get enough people involved? And finally: How much can we actually change? Some things we can't fix -loss of natural recourses- and some things we can only prevent. If we do everything we can to protect our future, our people, and our planet, will we actually have enough natural resources to survive in the future? 

The video:

And finally:

Images:

http://thesociallyconsciousblog.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/StoryofStuff_poster1.png 

http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/quote1.png

 http://www.priceofzero.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/The-Story-of-Stuff-Act-Now.png

http://rootsinquicksand.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/sochange_equation1.png

http://divergentmba.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/screen-shot-2011-04-11-at-10-08-24-am1.png

Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GorqroigqM