I've not preached for awhile, and fortunately for you, dear readers (all three of you), I won't have time to do so again here. So I'll let somebody else do the preaching on my behalf. Annie Leonard's got an extensive background in global and eco-related efforts. This 20 min. video is very well done. Without being condescending, it's as dumbed down as I think anything of this magnitude can possibly be without being insulting and easily discarded as trite.
There's plenty of numbers, metrics and data points thrown about during this presentation. I'm partial to fact checking and I've not done so, but numbers aside, there's simply no denying that the commercially driven world we live in is completely out of control, with little or no mindfulness into the end result. And we're feeling the impacts. It can't go on.
Posting this and 'pushing' a great consciousness on your part of the commercialism we're all a part of is a bit tough, given that i work for a product manufacturer depicted in the video, and in the hand of the presenter in the opening of the movie. But they've been working aggressively to be as green as possible and made great strides in doing so. But we're still a part of the 'bigger, better, faster, cooler' cycle that needs to be re-examined. I'm hopeful that it'll happen soon. After all, just because your iPod is not the coolest, newest, slickest one on the market, it doesn't mean you can't use it for what it's intended for, right?
. I do love my "Stuff". But I also don't have THAT much that I'm attached to. I like to think of myself as a minimalist. I've long rallied against the marketing machines that attempt to convince us that our 2 year old car is an eyesore, that clothes really do make the man, or that using a specific brand of breath-mints will result in your being laid by a set of swedish twins. It's just bullshit. Believe me. I spent lots of money on breath mints learning that lesson. ;-)
Ultimately, though, i'm becoming more and more conscious of what goes into my trash, and what get's recycled or reused. I'm trying to trim down our power consumption if not for the cost alone, but for the bigger picture as well. I'm taking only one napkin at the cafe. I'm using a coffee mug instead of the paper cups. We're using green products in our home cleaning. But there's more things we can do still.
I really liked the part of this where she mentions the 'happiness' measurements. I have to say that one of the greatest joys of the new neighborhood is that there's been lots of socializing involved. Like 'the old days', before people came to a point where they just work their butts off, come home, watch TV, buy into believing they need more stuff, go out to spend money on stuff, then go back to work in order to pay for it all.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P56-zWupDcI&rel=1]
We've bought into the dream, but we're creating a nightmare. It's time to wake up and take back control. Visit the Story Of Stuff website to watch this video and perhaps you'll get motivated as well.
