Too much STUFF.

Watch this, because it'll open your eyes: http://www.storyofstuff.com/

And then read my take:


Ever listen to the song “Penny Lane” by The Beatles? It sounds SUPER happy, but when you listen to the actual lyrics, it takes a turn and becomes ominous REALLY fast.

“The Story of Stuff” reminded me of a cartoon version of this. It looks and sounds happy and fun, but when you really LISTEN to the message, it’s scary and sad.

This animation is something I think everybody should see. It’s important enough that I’m even going to post this into my fun, non-school related blog. It’s educational and enlightening, and it freaks me out.

I took notes throughout the animation of the facts that really stood out for me. How about knowing that of the 100 largest economies, 51 are corporations!? I bet the conspiracy theorists LOVE this one. Really makes you think about the whole BP situation in the Gulf. Sometimes you gotta wonder who really is running everything…

And America, come on! We really do think we own the world, don’t we? The fact that we would need 3-5 Earths if everyone consumed the way we do really caught my attention. We also consume twice as much as we did 50 years ago, and release at least 4 billion pounds of pollution a year!

Oh, and how about the fact that we have more stuff than ever, but we’re also unhappier than ever. There’s GOTTA be a correlation here. We have more stuff, but less time to use it. Apparently we have less leisure time NOW than we did during feudal society, and when we do have free time, we waste it on television and retail. The fun and real things in life, like family and friends and love, are overlooked, and we keep trucking forward and piling up the money so we can pile up the toys we’ll put down after a week.

All of this is ridiculous, but I can’t say that I’m any better than everyone who falls into this equation. This weekend alone, I went through a pile of my old “stuff” to find things to give to Goodwill. I rummaged through stacks of old t-shirts and analyzed which ones I could stand to part with. A lot of them were stupid graphic tees with cool logos or catchy messages, and even though I hadn’t worn them in a while, I thought, “man, I might want to wear this again one day.” I managed to overcome this for the most part, and ended up giving away about 30 shirts. Thirty shirts! I certainly don’t NEED 30 shirts, but it’s not my fault, right? Nope. It’s not my fault that I’m exposed to 3,000 ads a day, and told to buy new things because we’re groomed with perceived obsolescence to believe that the newest trend is the only way and that anything else is shit.

So no, it’s not my fault.

But yeah, it is. I don’t NEED to fall into this. And this little presentation certainly encourages me to avoid all of this to the best of my ability. I want to be a representation of this and go out like a soldier for sustainability. I’ve gotten better in the last few years because I’ve learned more about the situation and everything that’s going on in the world. Half the time that’s what it’s all about. We NEED to be educated on this stuff, because knowledge of the problem is the first step in the direction of fixing it.

Once we gain the knowledge, it’s up to us to act. You guys think we can do it?