Kelsey Kaufman

In a new video, “The Story of Stuff,” Annie Leonard simply and brilliantly demystifies our current consumer culture and the “green” revolution with hard facts and good cartoons. How can you get better than that?

How We Got Here

In “The Story of Stuff,” the production cycle is explained using a system of arrows. This process starts with raw materials, going to production, to stores, to us, to the landfills. The interesting “arrow,” and the one that we directly control is the arrow going from the store to our homes, the process of buying something. All the other arrows either support this before it happens, or are a by-product of it afterwards. Annie points out something I’d never quite internalized before.

“The primary way that our value is measured is by how much we contribute to this arrow.”

Yikes, this is so true!!!! In this time of financial reflection, we are all being encouraged to “stimulate the economy,” like we’re saviors of the less fortunate if we can just spread our money around a little bit. While I do believe in being reflective when you are going to buy something, why not consider if you really need to buy anything at all!

If this type of “reflection” takes hold, we could seriously change our destructive patterns, along with the way we’ve been following the “carrot” of consumerism that has been so tantalizingly dangled since the 1950’s.

How It Started

After WWII, the solution to our economic problems was devised. This should sound familiar:

“Our enormously productive economy… demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption… We need things consumed, burned up, replaced and discarded at an ever-accelerating rate.”

Oh dear me… We created this snowball… on purpose? Well yes, purposefully and publicly! President Eisenhower’s Council of Economic Advisors Chairman said that “the American economy’s ultimate purpose is to produce more consumer goods.”

This post is not about government, so I’ll just mentally flag it and tackle that one later! But oy vey….

The way to keep us consuming is well-thought-out and carefully researched. At Proctor & Gamble in Cincinnati, they actually have entire grocery stores set up as “research centers” that are set up specifically to watch people shop! Lighting, music, store lay-out, scents… All these factors are based on careful testing and millions of dollars of proven research. They know us, the consumer, and they know how to keep us coming back. This is not “evil capitalism,” they are a business after all, ad their primary goal is to sell us something and make us happy about buying it. But we could afford to be a bit more conscious in this process. With businesses being specific and purposeful in how they target us, we need to be equally reflective and mindful in how we allow ourselves to be targeted. The hook is the advertisement. According to Annie, “We see more advertisements in one year than people 50 years ago saw in a lifetime!.. and the main purpose of the ads? To make us unhappy with what we have, who we are, how we look, etc…. But it can all be made right if we just go shopping!”

They Have Us Right Where They Want Us…

We have more stuff than ever, but our national happiness has been going down since the 1950’s (when this consumerism exploded.) More stuff, but less leisure time for things that really matter– friends, family, hobbies, etc. According to Annie, some analysts say we have less leisure time than since feudal society!

AND…. the two main activities we do with the “scant” leisure time that we have is watch TV and shop!!!!

The cycle continues!!!!!!

“In the US, we spend 3-4 times more hours shopping than our counterparts in Europe do.”

Hmmmm….. Maybe it’s not just olive oil that is the Mediterranean fountain of health and happiness.

And what do we do with all that stuff? Stick it in the closet! In the basement! Forgot you had it? Oh, get rid of it!

In order to boast of our economic status (and hold all our stuff!) the average house size doubled in this country since the 1970’s. Meanwhile, the average family size has been steadily decreasing since the 1890’s. Our smaller households don’t mean we’re making smaller economic impact, however.

A Story of One Thai Lunch

“We each make 4.5 lbs of garbage per day, twice what we made 30 years ago.”

The throw-away mentality that has invaded our culture is so tough to escape! I may carry around my re-usable bags, buy in bulk at the local organic market, recycle at home, usually bring my own lunch, walk to work, use a metal water bottle… But when I get my favorite thai take-out for lunch, I pick it up and it comes in a bag that makes it look like I’m returning home from a small grocery trip. There’s one plastic take-out container just for my green papaya salad, and another, larger plastic container for my eggplant thai basil, with the obligatory piece of cardboard in between so my salad doesn’t get too warm in the 6 blocks it takes me to walk back to work. The rice comes in a separate little classic “chinese take-out” container. And they generously supply me with a plastic fork and knife, a set of chopsticks, 5 napkins, a new take-out menu, and a brown paper bag with handles EVERY SINGLE TIME. The only small difference between my order and the normal one is that I don’t get the free soda, which means there’s not a new aluminum can floating around after my lunch! Now I love this restaurant, and their packaging looks slick and is the epitome of service. But my building at work doesn’t recycle, and if I just chuck it all, it fills the entire desk-size trash can by my desk. The guilt feeling in the pit of the stomach does not aid in digestion…

Reduce, Re-use, Re… Oh, it’s on SALE!

And on with trash….Recycling is important, but it will never be enough! The trash coming out of our houses is just the “tip of the iceberg.” The amount of consumer trash doesn’t even TOUCH the amount of trash it takes to make our stuff! For every one can of garbage we haul to the curb, 70 cans worth of garbage were made to create that stuff!!!

Waking Up

The “green revolution” may be part of the solution, but for me, the first step is turning off the TV! Start to un-plug yourself from those constant messages of unworthiness, and do something creative with your time. Even if you take a quick media-fast for one week, you come back with an entirely fresh perspective on what is being served to you during those TV breaks. If you choose to continue watching as much as you used to, at least you’re a bit more conscious of the system. And remember, it is a choice! Also remember, being unconscious is the way to be a slave to the system. If you don’t catch yourself, it feels right and good and patriotic to “contribute,” “spruce-up,” and then “spring-clean.”

Please take a moment to watch the entire video. It is incredibly well-done and deserves to be spread. Awareness is step #1.