The story of stuff
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Transcript of The story of stuff
- 1. The Story of Stuff Narrated by Annie Leonard http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GorqroigqM
2. Materials Economy
- Extraction
- Production
- Distribution
- Consumption
- Disposal
3. Materials Economy
- Portrayed as a linear system
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- Cannot run a linear system on a finite planet indefinitely.
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- What is the definition of finite?
4. Materials Economy
- A system in crisis
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- Runs up against limits at every stage
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- Not linear
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- The system interacts with the world at every stage.
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- People
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- Governments
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- Corporations
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Materials Economy 6. People
- The system bumps up against societies, cultures, and environments.
- Who is important?
People who dont own land, dont buy stuff, dont have value 7. Government
- Supposed to take care of people, thats the governments job!
- Beholden to giant corporations.
8. Corporations
- Now the largest economies on the planet-not governments.
- Corporations areBIGGERthan governments.
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- Massive growth last 60 years.
9. Extraction
- Removal of trees
- Removal of mountains for metals/coal
- Depletion or pollution of water
- Destruction of animals/wildlife
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- Running out
- 4% of USA original forest left
- 40% of water polluted USA
- World 80% of original forest GONE
- 75% of fisheries in serious peril
Resources are FINITE and we are running out! 10. Extraction
- Look at the USA:
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- 5% of world population
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- Uses 30% of resources
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- Creates 30% of waste
- When we run out of our own resources, we take them from the third world.
11. Production
- Over 100,000 chemicals in use and only a handful have ever been tested for their effects on human health individually, never mind synergistically.
- So we mix toxic chemicals with natural resources to get TOXIC PRODUCTS.
12. Production
- BFR example:
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- Used in appliances, couches, computers, pillows:
- SUPER TOXIC flame retardant!
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- As brilliant a nation as we are, can we not find a better way to keep our heads from catching on fire while we sleep?
13. Production
- Toxics in, Toxics out
- Food Chain: where do the toxics go?
- Human Breast Milk example: one of the most toxic substances : (
Rocket Fuel in Breast Milk 14. Production
- Hey isnt the government supposed to protect us from this?
Toxic fire retardants found in breast milk 15. Production
- Factory Workers WORLDWIDE!!
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- Bear the biggest brunt, often women of reproductive age.
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- Why would they do that??
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- No other option
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- Erosion of local environments ensures a steady supply of people with NO OPTION.
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- Some 200,000 people leave rural areas EVERY DAY to move to cities.
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16. Production
- People are wasted all along the system, just as resources are wasted.
17. Production
- Pollution
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- US industry ADMITS to releasing 4 billion pounds per year.
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- They release more
18. Production
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- Export the pollution to other countries, like China
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- It comes back to us, especially on the Pacific Coast and in California
19. Production
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- Export the pollution to other countries, like China
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- It comes back to us, especially on the Pacific Coast and in California
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- Acid Rain and THE most polluted river in the USA: the New River (draining from the Maquiladoras into the Salton Sea)
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20. Distribution
- Goals:
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- Keep prices down
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- Keep inventory moving as fast as possible
21.
- How can they do this??
- By EXTERNALIZING COSTS
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- The real cost of producing the products is NOT captured in the price.
Distribution 22.
- Externalized Costs:
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- Dont pay workers fair wages or provide healthcare
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- So the workers pay part of the externalized costs
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Distribution 23.
- Externalized Costs:
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- They dont pay the real costs for extraction of resources
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- People pay for that with the loss of their resources: mountains, forests, clean water, clean air.
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- People pay for it with the loss of good health due to cancers, asthma, and other diseases caused by environmental exposure.
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Distribution 24.
- Externalized Costs:
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- People pay with the loss of their futures:
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- Coltan mining in the Congo, kids drop out of school to mine it.
Distribution 25.
- Externalized costs:
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- Workers in the USA pay for it with the loss of healthcare and low wages.
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- Who REALLY ends up paying for those short comings??
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- Think about it for a minute, we all do.
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Distribution The ONLY way more than 40 million Americans get to see a doctor 26. Consumption
- USA: Consumer Nation!!
- Bush after 9/11: SHOP
- We measure value by how much we consume.
Go Shopping!! 27.
- Our ULTIMATE GOAL is to produce more consumer goods.
- What??
- How did this happen?
Consumption 28. Consumption
- It was deliberate, it was done in the 1950s to ramp up the US economy.
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- Make consumerism a way of life, seek satisfaction in consumption
- Interesting correlation with happiness: Happiness peaked in 1950 in the USA and has declined ever since we adopted this goal.
29. Consumption
- After 6 months of use, 99% of the stuff we buy is trashed.
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- Levels of Throughput are TOO high.
- What happened to stewardship, thrift, and resourcefulness?Old fashioned values
30. Consumption
- Obsolescence planned and perceived
- Designed to break so you have to buy a new one
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- Cars, computers
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- Design journals!!
- Designed to look different so you look outdated using a product that may still be perfectly useful
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- Fashion
31. Consumption
- Ads
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- To make you unhappy with what you have to you will buy new stuff.
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- We see more in one year today that people 50 years ago did in a lifetime.
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- Show you consumption and distribution, NOT the extraction or production process
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Americas Number One and Two Past Times: Shopping and Watching TV We have less leisure time now than all the past societies until the feudal era. 32. Disposal
- For every one trash can you throw out as a household, 70 we thrown out in the industrial process.
33. Disposal
- Recycling
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- Its good, but not good enough because it does not address the root of the problem.
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- Industrial waste is ENORMOUS
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- Some product are designed not to be recycled like juice boxes.
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- Some products are too toxic to recycle.
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34. Disposal
- How we dispose:
- Landfills, Incinerators
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- Incinerator toxic
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- DIOXIN the most toxic substance know to man, all from burning trash, could be stopped right now.
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35. Disposal
- Unfortunately we have a Throw Away Mindset
- That needs to change.
36. Many Points of Intervention
- One good thing about this type of system are the MANY places that intervention canand are occurring:
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- Saving forests
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- Labor rights
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- Fair trade
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- Blocking incinerators/landfills
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- Clean production
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- Conscious consumerism
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- Taking back our government
37. Many Points of Intervention
- The BIG PICTURE
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- People created the system and people can change it.
38. Change the System
- Change it from linear to circular:
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- Change to a system that does not waste resources or people.
to 39. A New System
- Based on:
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- Sustainability
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- Equity
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- Green Chemistry
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- Zero Waste
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- Closed Loop
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- Renewable Energy
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- Local Living Economies
- Some say its fantasy to think we can do this.
- It is a fantasy to think we can continue using the current system.
People created the system we use today and people CAN change it!