I have always felt that being environmentally responsible should be part of my life, but often found that environmental responsibility conflicted with some of my other values. For example, I have heard about Buy Nothing Day, but was always conflicted about this day of protest against consumerism. On the one hand, I could see how buying less means less garbage that needs to be disposed of. However, on the other hand, our economy depends on consumerism and many businesses, employees and stockholders would be adversely affected by a decline in consumption. So in this case, its hard to know what to do.

However, The Story of Stuff, an animation that depicts the lifecycle of “stuff”, cleared up a lot of questions I had about what environmental responsibility and sustainability really means. Sustainability, not only means taking care of our planet, but taking care of the people on our planet too! (This includes fair trade, living wages, sound business practices and no war for control of oil.) And although it is true that consumerism drives our economy, perhaps our materials economy is not our best idea yet. Maybe we can think of something better.

This simple and concise animation explains how stuff travels through a linear system from EXTRACTION to PRODUCTION to DISTRIBUTION to CONSUMPTION to DISPOSAL and the problems inherent in this system at every step of the way. It makes suggestions on how to protest this materials economy and calls for the adoption of a new, sustainable and just way of living. I highly recommend watching this engaging, enlightening and easy to understand 20 minute animation. The Story of Stuff is great for kids too! You can view it at