The Story of Stuff - the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues

[groovedaddy]

From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.

http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?id=2324

[NMDemDist2]

1. excellent video, highly recommended n/t

[Warpy]

3. A funny thing happened to me when I inherited

I bought a Sunday paper, useful only for the Sunday glossy adverts, and realized there wasn't a single thing in them that I wanted to bring into this house, that I already had too much stuff stuffed into it, and that I needed to get rid of more than I would ever want to get. There was no shopping spree.

I only buy stuff when something conks out. My clothing was in rags, so I started to replace it and recycle a lot of the usable stuff that no longer fit to the thrift shop. One TV died, so I replaced that with a small LCD set that gulps far less energy. I'm recycling most of my stuff to the thrift shops that sustained me when I was poor, secure in the knowledge that a lot more people out there are as poor as I was and still need to shop there because there is no alternative.

I would be thrilled to be a minimalist, but I've got a long way to go before I get there. I'm working on it, though. I'm sick of being weighed down by so much STUFF.

I guess I'm just reverting to my old hippie days when everything I owned in the world fit into a 1954 Chevy and I could live out of a shoulder bag for a couple of weeks. I knew then how little it took to keep me going. I don't know why I forgot it during my working years.

[NMDemDist2]

5. i'm with ya, my house here is 200 SF more but lacks a garage

I am still dumping stuff like mad

if the item doesn't bring me JOY it's gone these days....

[Warpy]

6. Hard to believe a doublewide is bigger than your old house

but some doublewides are beautiful and yours certainly is one of them.

I know what you mean about the joy. The jewelry I inherited from my mother which got stolen might have been worth a bundle but it wasn't anywhere near my taste and certainly brought me no joy.

I got the insurance check, though, and although I'm generally not a jewelry person, I've bought a few pieces from local artists that do give me a little joy. I am certainly not approaching anything near the sheer tonnage I inherited from my mother and I'm not replacing a bit of the Woolworth's costume junk she favored, but it's still nice to have.

I mentioned to the insurance company that I'd have paid the guy to steal the costume jewelry, that I hated it but couldn't bear to part with it, but they still gave me $300 for it!

[NMDemDist2]

8. lol mine isn't even a double wide, it's a single and a half (18 foot wide)

I know what you mean about things from your folks, I have a full set of bone handled HEAVY flatware from Thailand. It's too heavy and fancy for daily use but I just can't throw it away......

[Vilis Veritas]

2. Great Teaching Tool.

Direct link to the site and great resources.

http://www.storyofstuff.org/

K & R...peace.

[Angela Shelley]

4. Thanks for the link!

[nam78_two]

7. K&R.nt

[A HERETIC I AM]

9. Fascinating. This needs more than 105 views.

Groovedaddy, nice find.

This should be posted in GD and an appeal should be made to the Admins to paste it to the top of the page for a week or so. The concepts embody "progressive thought" and it deserves a wider audience on this board.

Thanks for posting this. I thoroughly enjoy being made to think differently, and this did that.

[CrispyQ]

10. Three years ago I de-cluttered my house & got rid of a storage locker full of STUFF!

It was incredibly gratifying! I took 9 pickup truck loads of boxes of stuff to local thrift shops & 2 loads of outdoor animal accessories to the local wildlife rehabilitation center. I got rid of the storage locker that I had been paying for for over 3 years & cleared out my basement to the point I could actually set up really nice workout areas. Half our basement is now a spacious workout area, including a nice 6' x 6' area for me to do step aerobics. (And thanks to that, I've lost 30 pounds!)

Then my mother died & again my basement has filled up with stuff -- now her stuff. When my sister & I were cleaning out Mom's place it was very difficult to give her stuff away. However, now that some time has passed & her stuff is in my basement, I find it much easier to give away. Like Warpy said, much of it isn't even my taste - it was sentimentality that made me keep it. Why not let some charity make some money off of it & give someone an opportunity to purchase something used instead of new & at a good price, too. I have 5 boxes of stuff ready for the thrift shop right now.

Thanks for this link. I like that they've done the movie in chapters. I've watched the first two & will return to watch the rest. I'm gonig to send this to everyone on my list.

[flashl]

11. Great find. nt

[CrispyQ]

12. I finished watching this this morning.

This is such an excellent vid! Everyone should see it! If I had children, I'd try to get this shown in schools. Hell, maybe I should try to do that anyway.

Chapter 5 was so good. The Golden Arrow that we must all contribute to if we want to be considered valuable to our society. The stat about only 1% of stuff bought is still in use after 6 months was staggering! We are consuming our planet like a plague of locusts.

Thanks so much for this great link. I just wonder how many people I send it to will actually take 20 minutes to watch it.