The Story of Stuff

Now to take a few steps back to a resource that I found when I first started my sustainability education.  In my very first sustainability class, I was introduced to Annie Leonard's "The Story of Stuff"

It's a fairly short video created by Annie to find a way to reach her audience more easily, through cartoons.  I went back and read recently that Annie Leonard began her work to make her teachings approachable when, years ago, she was at a seminar for activists, speaking about "Materials Economy" and other lingo, when she was interrupted by an organizer saying "I have no idea what you're talking about".  She found at this seminar that when she drew pictures and cartoons on a white board, she could reach the audience more successfully, and has been teaching through cartoons ever since.

Looking back at the website again recently, I found that since "The Story of Stuff", Annie has also created other videos such as:
"The Story of Electronics"
"The Story of Cosmetics"
"The Story of Bottled Water"
and "The Story of Cap and Trade"
With many more videos projected to be released in 2011!

Please, if you have a few minutes, check out at least the first video.  It is a great (simplified) resource to see where each product that you buy is coming from, and what happens to it when you are finished with it.  Imagine how much you throw away a day, not included what you recycle, but just what you put in the trash can.  Then multiply that by the number of people living in the United States today.  All of this stuff going straight to a landfill or to an incinerator.

So, if you're up for it...spend one day actually paying attention to everything you throw away.  It's incredible and such an opportunity to reduce even a little waste on this planet. It is also something that I struggle with every day.  It has become part of our nature to waste.  Take-out containers and paper/plastic coffee cups, even paper towels that we use mindlessly to clean up a mess or to make a sandwich on and then toss in the trash.  So much of it can be at least lessened. This is one of my projects for this year, reduce my personal waste significantly.  If I can reduce my own waste, I will be in a position to help others to do the same.