Story of Stuff

• Using up resources occurs in a linear fashion, however, this linear fashion cannot continue indefinitely because of the fact that we only have a limited amount of resources on this planet
• Stuff moves through a system that starts with extraction, then production, distribution, consumption, and finally, disposal
• However, this doesn't tell the complete story as many different phenomena happen along the way
• Many people live under crazily bad conditions, like for example, when their own environments can no longer sustain them, they take jobs even for crazy low pay and harmful working conditions such as toxins in the air, etc
• The government is almost as if it's under the big corporations
• The system is set up in a way that encourages people subliminally that consuming is the most important thing that somebody can do.
• However, truth to be told, many of our natural resources are running out because of the reckless rate at which we are consuming.
• The U.S., which only accounts for about 5% of the world's population, actually consumes 30% of the resources. If everybody consumed as we did, we would need an additional 5 Earths.
• Many of the chemicals used in production haven't been tested
• 99% of consumed goods are thrown into the trash and disposed of within six months of use
• Many people are influenced to keep on buying new things because items are designed to lose effectiveness in a short period of time, or people are pressured by those around them to shop for things to "stay in trend"
• Interestingly enough, the national happiness factor is still not quite as high as the 1950s because this constant cycle of shopping, feeling depressed, working etc. leaves barely any time for people to spend time on things that actually matter, such as friends, family etc.
• Incinerating trash creates really bad toxins
• Although recycling helps, it is for sure not enough to get to the core of the problem
• However, since this heavily flawed system was created by people, it means that it is definitely possible to stop it, since we are people as well. If we can come up with a large-scale solution, this problem (at least in my opinion) can definitely be solved, we just need to raise awareness and educate the others out there