Released in 2007, "The Story of Stuff" is a 20-minute documentary that reports information on the United State's rate of production, consumption, and waste. It's no secret that we Americans love to collect shit. During 9-11, our most devastating recent time-of-crisis, we were encouraged to go out and buy stuff. The title of consumer is our "primary identity," as Leonard points out, and everything everywhere is aimed towards getting us to buy more things, always. Released in 2007, “The Story of Stuff” is a 20-minute documentary that reports information on the United State’s rate of production, consumption, and waste. It’s no secret that we Americans love to collect shit. During 9-11, our most devastating recent time-of-crisis, we were encouraged to go out and buy stuff. The title of consumer is our “primary identity,” as Leonard points out, and everything everywhere is aimed towards getting us to buy more things, always.
The mere fact that companies practice planned and perceived obsolescence is disheartening. How can I stop buying shit when products are meant to break? How can I say no to those new shoes when the ones I have are out of style?Must I relinquish my media obsession? Must I choose between being trendy and environmentally conscious?
However, it does seem the majority of the public is ill-informed and at the mercy of distributors and advertisers, being hit with nearly three thousands ads a day. Ironically enough, Leonard has released a book for your consumption. The Story of Stuff has a low, low list price of $26 and contains information that Leonard just couldn’t fit in her short film. I wonder how she feels about all the pollutants being pumped into the atmosphere to produce and ship her book. I wonder how her heart will break if she finds a copy of it in a landfill.
Ninety-nine percent of the things we buy are thrown away after only six months. All in all, the general consensus is that we buy a lot of things simply to throw them away. Leonard’s book is aimed at answering the question: “Where does all the stuff we buy come from, and where does it go when we throw it out?” Well, according to web-journalist Thomas Morton a good chunk of it is ending up in a Pacific area between California and Hawaii.
“One of the furthest points from human contact in the world,” “Garbage Island” is 500 miles off the Californian coast and occupies an area that nearly doubles the size of Texas. The so called “Plastic-Vortex” contains nearly 100 million tons of debris in the form of millions of pieces of plastic. Plastic does not bio-degrade. Instead, it photo-degrades, broken down slowly by the sun. The plastic does not disappear but simply breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces. These are ultimately ingested by jelly-fish, which are eaten by fish that could end up on your kitchen table. Delish.
Morton created a documentary where he set sail to investigate “Garbage Island.” The short clip below summarizes Morton’s efforts, but you can see the full documentary on VBS.TV.
