This is the time of the year when we prepare to celebrate Christmas and the New Year. This is the time of the year when we start sorting and clearing our old stuff, and start buying new stuff. We start our mass consumption in this annual ritual. Ever wonder about the stuff that we buy, use and dispose?

A new short film, The Story of Stuff, by Annie Leonard gives an overview of the cycle of stuff. The 20-minute film explores our materials economy and looks at the social and environmental costs of extraction, production, distribution, consumption and disposal. Watch the film at the website or download it. The film trailer is shown below:

Source: The Story of Stuff. Image attribution: The Story of Stuff.

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We would recommend everyone to watch The 11th Hour, not for Leonardo DiCaprio or the images and graphs, but for the ideas and thoughts expressed by the film’s experts, scientists and visionaries. They correctly pointed out the causes of the environmental problem - the disconnect between humans and nature, and the human population which is consuming too much. The film synopsis and some quotes that we like are shown below. You can also watch the trailer and related videos at The 11th Hour Youtube site.

Film Synopsis (from the 11th Hour Action)

Leonardo DiCaprio’s “The 11th Hour” is a feature length documentary concerning the environmental crises caused by human actions and their impact on the planet. “The 11th Hour” documents the cumulative impact of these actions upon the planet’s life systems and calls for restorative action through a reshaping of human activity. With the help of over fifty of the world’s most prominent thinkers and activists, including reformer Mikhail Gorbachev, physicist Stephen Hawking, and Nobel Prize winner Wangari Maathai, “The 11th Hour” documents the grave problems facing the planet’s life systems. Global warming, deforestation, mass species extinction, and depletion of the oceans’ habitats are all addressed, and their causes rooted in human activity. The combination of these crises call into question the very future not of the planet, but of humanity.

However, the most powerful element of “The 11th Hour” is not a portrait of a planet in crisis, but the offering of hope and solutions. Scientists and environmental advocates such as Paul Hawken and David Suzuki paint a portrait for a radically new and exciting future in which humanity seeks not to dominate the earth’s life systems, but to mimic them and coexist. “The 11th Hour” calls for a future now within our grasp that is both sustainable and healthier.

Quotes from The 11th Hour

Wes Jackson, President of The Land Institute:

The deterioration of the environment of our planet is an outward mirror of an inner condition.

Kenny Ausubel,  Founder of Bioneers:

… at the end of the day when we talk about saving the environment, in a way it’s mis-stated because the environment is going to survive. We’re the ones who may not survive or we may survive in a world that we don’t particularly want to live in.

Thom Hartmann, Author and Radio Host: 

The problem is not a problem of technology. The problem is not a problem of too much carbon dioxide. The problem is not a problem of global warming. The problem is not a problem of waste. All of those things are symptoms of the problem. The problem is the way that we are thinking. The problem is fundamentally a culture problem.

Gloria Flora, Director of Sustainable Obtainable Solutions:

Vote. And I don’t mean voting at a voting booth. Anybody of any age can vote because you vote every day that you pay for something. Every time you lay money down on the counter to buy something, you are saying that I approve of this object. I approve of how it was made, the materials that are in it, and what’s going to happen to it when I no longer need it and throw away.

Paul Hawken, Environmentalist, Author, Entrepreneur:

What a great time to be born, what a great time to be alive because this generation gets to essentially completely change this world.

Source: 11th Hour Action. Image attribution: 11th Hour Action.

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