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.

Land O' Plenty

I just read about photographer Chris Jordan today, his stuff isn't the most amazing photography I have ever seen in my life, but it is pretty cool.

Although the message may come off a bit preachy at times, his new series: Running the Numbers: An American Self-Portrait is a really interesting idea: to read that 2 million plastic bottles are used every 5 minutes in the US and then photograph it (above). Well, it makes me feel good about using the same water bottle for the past four months- germs be damned at least I'm not wasteful.

Enough Already: Crocs

This is long overdue and even a bit outdated, but it needs to be said none-the-less: These hideous shoes need to be banned.

Now, I’m no America’s Next Top Plus Sized Model or anything, and I’m not on the cutting edge of fashion, but I know how to dress myself, and I have the good sense not to leave the house, or even stay in the house in something so disgustingly offensive as these shoes.

It may sound a bit like a conspiracy theory, but I think that crocs are a dangerous world-wide epidemic on par with the trend of combining celebrity names, or caring what Britney Spears does. They must be stopped.

No one seems safe–people who seem otherwise perfectly sane are voluntary seen by the whole world in shoes that can best be described as clown shoe/clog/bedroom slipper hybrid. I don’t care if they are comfortable or not, my bathrobe is comfortable, but I don’t leave the house in it, because I have something that the croc wearing world could use a healthy dose of: Shame.

The is a lot wrong in the world, some things give you hope in humankind and others, like the popularity of such deplorable footwear, and spas for napping make one think that maybe Devo really was right after all.

Paper or plastic

Oh Brooklyn politicians! Sometimes you can be so misguided, and sometimes you seem to get the idea.

It may seem like an odd issue to get enthusiastically behind, but it is the political issue that I've been must active and interested in, in the last few months. Sure, it's not the most important or pressing issue, but I think why I am so behind it is that it's something that is practical and beneficial and easy for people of any city or social standing to do. It's activism that doesn't feel like activism, so people might actually do it. It's putting something in your shoulder bag or old lady cart instead of the 20 plastic bags per item C-town seems to think you need. And the impact on the environment, animals, and oil dependency can be immediate and tangible.

I guess what it comes down to is that I used to be really idealistic, but more and more I am a grumpy old lady and don't have much faith in people to do the right thing. This is something I can actually see happening. Baby steps and all that.

Side note: When I searched for a picture of a plastic bag, and I got the above as a result. The photo was linked (perhaps unsurprisingly) to a California Green party website with a story about how last month San Francisco was the first city in the US to ban plastic bags. See those hippies have good ideas sometimes.