The Story of Stuff

Yo blog dogs, it's me again. I'm back and thank you to my friend Max in England for giving me some encouragement. You're making one kid very happy!

Caution - don't blame me if this is a bit of a downer, that's what it did for me, watching this video. This is a serious talk ... about the environment and the system which involves our shopping and how this is destroying our planet.

Yesterday in class I saw this movie and until now I thought this planet was fine but now I see that this planet is heading, like the Mayans said, towards a possible end (they said in 2012, I hope not).




The Story of Stuff was created by Annie Leonard - a woman who was obsessed with finding out about 'stuff'' - where it comes from and what happens when it's disposed. She researched it for ten years and found out that the system is not exactly what it seems. Like if you've seen advertising on TV telling you to keep buying new stuff. The honest fact is that it is making you feel like other people are going to laugh you... so to make you feel good you have to go to the mall (shopping centre here) to buy stuff. But honestly it is based on the destroying of natural resources so that we can live a life of comfort. The real deal is that they have to cut down trees and mine mountains to get the resources from other countries who are poor. The next problem is the way things like computers don't work after a year. It's because since WWII businesses have made things not last as long so that you have throw out the old one and buy a new one - that's consumption. It's not just small things, it's fridges, washing machines, gaming consoles, all the way to the grand-daddy of everything, the TV. With things like TVs they encourage you to throw out stuff that's perfectly good to be fashionable.

At the end of all this 'stuff' gets thrown out into dumps. Some of it gets buried but here's the worst part - some of the stuff has to be incinerated before they bury it. The problem is this is that the toxic gas is released into the air, and it is turned into super toxins such as dioxines. Dioxins are poisonous to man and nature, causing cancer, embryo damage and other serious harm.

But there is another school of thought and another way. We can all try to help contribute and I encourage you to try and produce ZERO waste! I have a few other suggestions. You could use reusable packages to carry your food around. I'd also suggest recycling. There's also people trying to stop incineration of waste and trying to change governments and labour laws. As for a rating, I give it 4 out of 5. It gives you good information but it scares you a bit. I think the woman who made it, is a very brave person and I think she deserves the reward of your support, she's got mine!

Next time I'll do my review on something less serious - on one of the best recent Pokemon games - Heart Gold & Soul Silver - and I think you'll enjoy it too. Until then blog dogs, this is JDL signing off!