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The Story of Stuff

This is a great reminder to everyone post the Christmas buying craze and as we head into the new year. Let 2010 be the year we reimagine and reinvent the way we live. Consumerism and the materials economy is so post-WWII. The Story of Stuff illustrates this beautifully.

big-business-and-government
Governments pander to the needs of big corporations – businesses have more say in the well being of our world than we do. Governments should be for the people, and should act as a counter balance to the “profit first” mentality of so many conventional business practice.

materials-economy
Linear system on a finite planet – thee materials economy is a linear system operating in a world with finite resources. It assumes an endless raw materials and endless consumption, as well as endless waste disposal.

1-percent-in-use
The trashy side of consumerism – 99% of material that is produced is discard within 6 months after purchase. Planned obsolescence. Designed deliberately to be unrecycleable. Does this mean we really only need 1% of the stuff we buy?

The work, watch, spend treadmill – living to work too hard, to pay for stuff we need to feel adequate; stuff television tells us we need. We actually have less leisure time now than we did way back when.

sustainable-cycle
The upside is that much (if not all) of what we take for immutable – our economic, production, consumption mechanisms – were invented not that long ago. And if it can be invented, it can also be reinvented and re-imagined. And that is the critical task facing us right now. “We need to take back our governments” so they are once again for the people and not for big business.