The Story of Stuff

by Evita Ochel

This past weekend, upon doing some routine research I had the pleasure of coming across the Story of Stuff web site.

It contains the video called “The Story of Stuff” and a blog with related articles.

Now what is “The Story of Stuff” you may wonder and how does it relate to Evolving Beings? It is a great website and small documentary put together by Annie Leonard and devoted to consumerism, trash, our health and the environment in general.

I was especially impressed by the video she put together as it truly represents what it means to be an Evolving Being. The video is about 20 minutes long, very simple, yet creative, catchy and smart with just the right dose of humour!

It is one of those life changing documentary films that will have an impact on everyone, unless you live under a rock. I truly wish for everyone to see it, as it is something that needs to be brought to the attention of more people in our society. It will be eye-opening for many and may even bring you back to a conscious state when thinking about your own role as a consumer.

In summary, the video goes through the 5 steps of how our “stuff” is made from extraction and production to how it is distributed, ends up in our homes and then how it is disposed of.

It is a video for our era and it could not have come at a better time with all the environmental and health damage and injustice we have subjected our planet and our beings to. It represents evolving beings like us for 3 main reasons:

1) It addresses the need for action when it comes to the environment, our health, our chemical lifestyles and our ever growing problems of disappearing natural resources and inadequate waste disposal, as well as taking being stewards of the Earth seriously

2) It addresses how our empty human nature is driven to happiness by blind consumerism and the pseudo-happiness we get from acquiring more and more stuff

3) It is about waking up and bringing about change, not about sitting back passively or being naïve or ignorant of what is going on when it comes to human dignity, decreased health and why our environment is in the state its in. We may have been doing things the same way for the past 50 or 100 years or more, but it does not mean it is serving us today!

So check it out, pass it along to as many people as you can and by all means don’t just watch it once! Watch it over and over again as a reminder of never again becoming a slave to corporations and consumerism at the cost of your health, true happiness, our fellow human beings and the environment. It would be such a shame though if you watch it unconsciously and agree with the concepts, like the ideas but don’t relate it to yourself. Challenge yourself and put it into action next time you are walking around your favourite department store. Think about and consider the question at all times, ‘is this stuff really all necessary?’

Also this is just one example of real people making a real big difference. If you know of similar initiatives of evolving beings just like this one, pass it along to us as we would love to learn about it and share it with others to inspire more evolving beings in action!

To conclude, I leave you with the Story of Stuff video:

[Source]

Philosophers stone – selected views from the boat http://philosophers-stone.co.uk