The Story of Stuff
-- By Annie Leonard
(Score - 8.5/10)
(Score - 8.5/10)
The below excerpt (appearing on page 50 and 51) pretty much captures the essence of the message of this book:
"In fact, all of us on the planet collectively are consuming more resources than the planet produces each year; we're consuming about 1.4 planets' worth of bio-capacity resources annually ... ... ... Now the extra is running out. ... ... ... If all countries used resources at the rate that the United States does, we would need about 5 planets to sustain us. That's clearly a problem, since we have only one ... ... ... to reduce overall resource use, sustain ecological and community health, and ensure that the resources used are shared equitably. In order to achieve these goals, One Planet Living promotes a vastly reduced materials economy alongside new cultural norms that are proportionate to the resources we have."
The book focuses on each stop of the "Stuff" journey, i.e. Extraction, Production, Distribution, Consumption and Disposal, with issues at each stage of the journey, and a way forward for sustainable living. The biggest leverage is available at the Production stage, because it is this stage that drives what gets extracted and what gets distributed. The plethora of choices that we see on the shelves of the Supermarket are in fact no choices at all. For example, you can only choose from the set of brands that are available on the shelves, but you cannot, for example, choose a T-shirt that guarantees that everything from the cotton growth to production of t-shirt has been done in a way that is just to the community involved at each stage. Those kind of choices are simply not available at this point.
The book also talks about how toxic the environment in which we live is. Everything from sleep mattresses that are treated with flame retardants (i.e. dipped in bromide - PBDE - PolyBrominated Diphenyl Ethers) to our playstations that have Coltan (a conflict metal from Congo) to PVC shower curtains that de-gas (creating the 'new car smell') adds to this toxicity. Some toxins are carcinogens, i.e., these cause cancer - and PVC is one of those.
Finally, it paints a picture of what a changed and sustainable world could look like in 2030 - which includes composting culture, working lesser hours, sharing in a community rather than buying new stuff and disposing and producer responsibility for disposing items at the end of their life-cycle.
The book lists resources such as cosmetics-database (that rates most FMCG brands by their level of toxicity) and Good Guide (which also has an app, and rates electronics, personal items, etc.), which attempts to break beyond the advertisement clutter and rates goods and products on environment, health and societal impact.
"In fact, all of us on the planet collectively are consuming more resources than the planet produces each year; we're consuming about 1.4 planets' worth of bio-capacity resources annually ... ... ... Now the extra is running out. ... ... ... If all countries used resources at the rate that the United States does, we would need about 5 planets to sustain us. That's clearly a problem, since we have only one ... ... ... to reduce overall resource use, sustain ecological and community health, and ensure that the resources used are shared equitably. In order to achieve these goals, One Planet Living promotes a vastly reduced materials economy alongside new cultural norms that are proportionate to the resources we have."
The book focuses on each stop of the "Stuff" journey, i.e. Extraction, Production, Distribution, Consumption and Disposal, with issues at each stage of the journey, and a way forward for sustainable living. The biggest leverage is available at the Production stage, because it is this stage that drives what gets extracted and what gets distributed. The plethora of choices that we see on the shelves of the Supermarket are in fact no choices at all. For example, you can only choose from the set of brands that are available on the shelves, but you cannot, for example, choose a T-shirt that guarantees that everything from the cotton growth to production of t-shirt has been done in a way that is just to the community involved at each stage. Those kind of choices are simply not available at this point.
The book also talks about how toxic the environment in which we live is. Everything from sleep mattresses that are treated with flame retardants (i.e. dipped in bromide - PBDE - PolyBrominated Diphenyl Ethers) to our playstations that have Coltan (a conflict metal from Congo) to PVC shower curtains that de-gas (creating the 'new car smell') adds to this toxicity. Some toxins are carcinogens, i.e., these cause cancer - and PVC is one of those.
Finally, it paints a picture of what a changed and sustainable world could look like in 2030 - which includes composting culture, working lesser hours, sharing in a community rather than buying new stuff and disposing and producer responsibility for disposing items at the end of their life-cycle.
The book lists resources such as cosmetics-database (that rates most FMCG brands by their level of toxicity) and Good Guide (which also has an app, and rates electronics, personal items, etc.), which attempts to break beyond the advertisement clutter and rates goods and products on environment, health and societal impact.
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