The Story of Stuff

The guest on the Colbert Report last night was Annie Leonard who created the awesome video “The Story of Stuff” (which you can and SHOULD watch here: http://www.storyofstuff.com/) and wrote a book of the same name. Both detail the production, consumption and disposal of the vast amount of crap Americans have and shop for.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Annie Leonard
www.colbertnation.com
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Some of the things she highlights are kind of no brainers (but need stating none the less), like advertisements make us feel like we aren’t good enough and need to buy more stuff, or that the government doesn’t take care of making sure products are safe for us because they are tied up in corporate interests, or that all the plastic crap we buy is kept cheap at the expense of the enviorment it destroys, the factory workers health, and the store employee’s wages and benefits. (She also points to how all the chemicals in everything we consume is making so sick that even breast milk is full of chemicals).

The 20 minute video also talks about how much (4.5 pounds per person per day) and how fast (99% of what is bought is trashed in six months) all the crap we buy is thrown out. And that after WWII our economy has been specifically designed to be one of disposable consumerism. One idea that I found really interesting was that of “planned obsolescence,” that most products are in fact “designed for the dump” that since the 1950’s manufactures have figured out how fast the products that they make can break and have to be replaced while still maintaining customer confidence (she points to that fact that happiness has been on the decline since the 50s as well and suggests the corrletion is the replacement of family time with “stuff.” The other piece is of course what she refers to as “perceived oblencence,” the “need” to keep up with trends or have the newest, flattest, shiniest update of something you just bought (I’m looking at you Apple).

The whole idea of her video and book is that this cycle is totally unhealthy for everyone at every step of the way and suggests ways to make changes (follow this link).

For me personally, this resonates on a variety of levels. Since losing my job, I’ve of course had to cut back my spending which has caused me to fist re-discover stuff I already had that I forgot about like clothes I had bought and never wore or books I own and never read. I’ve also looked at the potential of things differently (I recently turned an old scarf of Mark’s into a throw pillow). But I’ve always been thrifty (also known to some a cheap), which has caused me to make things last longer than they were meant to—like the jeans I patch up instead of toss and the goodwill boots that I redid the heel with a marker. Still, I come from a family of bargain hunters and yard salers, while we may not have to (or can afford to) have the newest and best of things, we did and do always have to have stuff and shop.

And while the new things I lacked growing up have led me to desire a life with a home with “nice” things, I have realized by way of the necessity of living a semi-transient life in small apartments, that I don’t NEED a bunch of stuff. I know that (especially in a place like New York where space is at such a premium) I am not willing to give up quality of life in order to have a bunch of things. In essence the old adage is true. I want to own my stuff, I don’t want my stuff to own me.