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unplug
unplug magazine asks you to unplug from your current modes of thought and look at life in a new way, whether this means unplugging from our toxic consumer culture, mainstream society, the tv, or a limiting mindset. author megan prusynski explores life's alternatives and discusses activism, progressive thinking, and moving towards a "green" & sustainable life.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
The Story of Stuff
In our consumer culture, stuff happens. It's hard to help it, but we buy, use, and throw away a lot of stuff. Mountains of stuff. And it's not just out of sight, out of mind - this stuff has to go somewhere, whether it's the ocean or the landfill. Even when trying to live as consciously as possible, it's hard to avoid stuff.
Today it seems we are defined not by what we do, or what we say, but by what we own. Our stuff. We accumulate and show off our stuff, play with it, lose it, break it, replace it. What did we ever do without it? Without a doubt, we are a materialist culture. We've become more consumers than citizens (much to the delight of the companies selling us all this stuff). This is just incredibly sad.
Since it's no fun to focus on the sad state of affairs that is society today, I turn your attention to The Story of Stuff. It's an informative, illustrated, and even entertaining look at stuff. Where it comes from, how it's produced, what it's made of, and where it goes after we're done with it. It shows quite nicely why our consumption based system just doesn't work in a world of finite resources. The site is made by the fine folks at Free Range Studios, a design/multimedia company fighting the good fight wile becoming mildly famous for Flash animated movies likeThe Meatrix and Store Wars. It's an eye-opening and empowering video, so make sure you watch the whole thing (it's only 20 minutes).
After watching The Story of Stuff, you'll probably be inspired to think a lot more about the things you buy, make, and throw away. You may want to start buying locally made products, boycotting big box stores, and re-using/recycling/composting every piece of waste that you can. Great, do it! The thought of a strip mall may make you ill once you learn about all the hidden, true costs of all the products that fill it. If not, watch it again. And then share it. Because we all use stuff, so we might as well know where it came from.
Consumerism and our own consumption are at the core of a lot of the problems we're faced with today: overpopulation, pollution, habitat destruction, worker exploitation, global warming, etc. We seriously need to get our consumption habits in check. Watching The Story of Stuff is a good way to start. There is more information on "another way" of doing things on the web site as well.
Labels: activism, corpo-consumerism, environment/sustainability, lifestyle
Stuff wants to be removed by easy way. persons can get a mountain of stuffs day to day life.
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Ganeshan
www.marijuanaaddictiontreatment.com