Story of Stuff

This is brilliant. Simple. Understandable. Makes sense.

Your stuff, my stuff, their stuff, our stuff - everyone has 'stuff'. Where we get it from, why we have it and how we dispose of 'stuff' has a big bearing on our future. Read and hear more about it http://www.storyofstuff.com/

Note: It takes a while for the 50mb movie to load. It does this in sections so there are pauses in the movie. Please be patient. It's a message we must all 'get' if we are to know how to create a sustainable future for ourselves and our children.

You will also find on the Story of Stuff website an extensive list of "Recommended Reading". Click http://www.storyofstuff.com/recommended.html to go to the Stuff website or check it out below

* We would add "The Myth Of Progress - Toward a Sustainable Future" by Tom Wessels as highly recommended reading.

"STUFF" Recommended Reading

has numerous publications and great concise "WorldWatch Papers" on most of the issues covered in The Story of Stuff. Please check their website, Worldwatch.org.

produces free weekly e-newsletters on most of the issues covered in The Story of Stuff. Search back issues at: http://www.rachel.org/bulletin/index.cfm?St=2 and search ERF's library at: http://www.rachel.org/library/index.cfm?St=1.

Forests/Biodiversity

Biodiversity: Social and Ecological Perspectives
by Vandana Shiva, Patrick Anderson, Heffa Schucking, Andrew Gray, Larry Lohman, David Cooper (1992)

In the Rainforest: Report from a Strange, Beautiful, Imperiled World
by Catherine Caufield (1991)

Lost Mountain: A Year in the Vanishing Wilderness Radical Strip Mining and the Devastation of Appalachia
by Erik Reece (2007)

Dirty Metals: Mining, Communities and the Environment
by Earthworks and Oxfam, No Forty Gold Campaign (2004)

To Save the Land and People: A History of Opposition to Surface Coal Mining in Appalachia
by Chad Montrie (2002)

Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water
by Maude Barlow (2008)

Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World's Water
by Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke (2003)

Silenced Rivers: The Ecology and Politics of Large Dams
by Patrick McCully (2001)

Indigenous People

Paradigm Wars: Indigenous Peoples' Resistance to Globalization
by Jerry Mander, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz (2006)

Struggle for the Land: Native North American Resistance to Genocide, Ecocide, and Colonization
by Ward Churchill (2002)

All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life
by Winona LaDuke (1999)

Impacts on the Global South/International Impacts

Flat World, Big Gaps: Economic Liberalization, Globalization, Poverty & Inequality
Ed. by Jomo K.S. with Jacques Baudot (2007)

Big Business, Poor Peoples: The Impact of Transnational Corporations on the World's Poor
by John Madeley (1999)

Corporate Planet: Ecology and Politics in the Age of Globalization
by Josh Karliner (1997)

Production

Toxics, Environmental Health

Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What's at Stake for American Power
by Mark Schapiro (2007)

Not Just a Pretty Face: The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry
by Stacy Malkan (2007)

Having Faith: An Ecologist's Journey to Motherhood
by Sandra Steingraber (2001)

Generations at Risk: Reproductive Health and the Environment
by Ted Schettler, Gina Solomon, Maria Valenti, Annette Huddle (2000)

Toxic Deception: How the Chemical Industry Manipulates Science, Bends the Law, and Endangers Your Health
y Dan Fagin and Marianne Lavelle (1999)

Living Downstream: A Scientist's Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment
by Sandra Steingraber (1998)

***** Our Stolen Future: Are We Threatening our Fertility, Intelligence, and Survival?
by Dianne Dumanoski, John P. Myers, Theo P. Colborn (1997)

Labor/Occupational Health and Safety

Global Unions: Challenging Transnational Capital Through Cross-border Campaigns
(Frank W. Pierce Memorial Lectureship and Conference Series) Ed. by Kate Bronfenbrenner (2007)

A 21ST Century Approach to Occupational Health and Safety for Trade Unions
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, Eighteenth World Congress Final Resolution (5 – 10 December 2004)

Basic Environmental Health
by Annalee Yassi, Tord Kjellstrom, Theo de Kok, Tee Guidotti (2001)

Electronics

Challenging the Chip: Labor Rights and Environmental Justice in the Global Electronics Industry
Edited by Ted Smith, David Naguib Pellow and David A. Sonnenfeld (2006)

System error: A resource for student activism on environmental, labor and human rights problems associated with the high tech industry
by Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (2005)

The Silicon Valley of Dreams: Environmental Injustice, Immigrant Workers, and the High-Tech Global Economy
by David Pellow and Lisa Park (2002)

Pollution/Environmental Justice

Resisting Global Toxics: Transnational Movements for Environmental Justice (Urban and Industrial Environments)
by David Naguib Pellow (2007)

Noxious New York: The Racial Politics of Urban Health and Environmental Justice (Urban and Industrial Environments)
by Julie Sze (2006)

Sustainable Communities and the Challenge of Environmental Justice
by Julian Agyman (2005)

Quest For Environmental Justice: Human Rights and the Politics of Pollution
by Robert Bullard (2005)

The Silicon Valley of Dreams: Environmental Injustice, Immigrant Workers, and the High-Tech Global Economy (Critical America)
by David Pellow and Lisa Park (2002)

Dumping In Dixie: Race, Class and Environmental Quality
by Robert D Bullard (2000)

***** Toxic Wastes and Race in the United States: A National Report on the Racial and Socio-Economic Characteristics of Communities with Hazardous Waste Sites
by the Commission for Racial Justice, United Church of Christ (1987)

Race, Poverty & the Environment: a journal for social and environmental justice,
published by Urban Habitat (ongoing).

Energy

Apollo's Fire : Igniting America's Clean Energy Economy
by Jay Inslee, Bracken Hendricks (2007)

Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America's Energy Future
by Jeff Goodell (2006)

The Weather Makers: How Man is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth
by Tim Flannery (2006)

Insurmountable Risks: The Dangers of Using Nuclear Power to Combat Global Climate Change,
by Brice Smith (2006)

The Party's Over: Oil, War And The Fate Of Industrial Societies
by Richard Heinberg (2005)

Securing the Energy Future of the United States: Oil, Nuclear, and Electricity Vulnerabilities and a post-September 11, 2001 Roadmap for Action,
by Dr. Arjun Makhijani (2001)

Brittle Power: Energy Strategy for National Security
by Amory B. Lovins, Hunter Lovins (1983)

Distribution

Big Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America's Independent Businesses
by Stacy Mitchell (2007)

CHEAP? The Real Cost of Living in a Low Price, Low Wage World
by David Bosshart (2006)

Consumption

Consumerism/Commercialization

Consumed : How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole
by Benjamin R. Barber (2007)

Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder
by Richard Louv (2006)

Good Stuff? A Behind-the-Scenes Guide to the Things We Buy
by Worldwatch Institute (2004)

**** Confronting Consumption,
Ed.By Thomas Princen, Michael Maniates, Ken Cocoa (2002)

Giving Kids the Business: The Commercialization of America's Schools
by Alex Molnar (2001)

**** The Overspent American: Why We Want What we Don’t Need
by Juliet Schor (1999)

Work-watch-spend treadmill

Take Back Your Time: Fighting Overwork and Time Poverty in America
By John De Graaf (2003)

Slowing Down to the Speed of Life
by Richard Carlson and Joseph Bailey (1997)

The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure
by Juliet Schor (1992)

Planned Obsolescence

The Role of Media/Marketing/Advertising:

Born to Buy: A Groundbreaking Expose of a Marketing Culture That Makes Children Believe They Are What They Own
by Juliet Schor (2005)

The Consumer Trap: Big Business Marketing in American Life
by Michael Dawson (2004)

Disposal

Garbage

Incineration and Landfills

Greenpeace Report on Incineration and Human Health: State of Knowledge of the Impacts of Waste Incinerators on Human Health
by Michelle Allsopp, Pat Costner, and Paul Johnston (2001)

Hazardous Waste Incineration: Playing with Fire
by Pat Costner and Joe Thornton (1990)

Recycling

Urban Recycling and the Search for Sustainable Community Development
by Adam Weinberg, David Pellow and Allan Schnaiberg (2000)

Another Way, Taking Action, Solutions

Civil Society/Governance/Democracy

**** Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw it Coming
by Paul Hawken (2007)

Getting a Grip: Clarity, Creativity, and Courage in a World Gone Mad
by Frances Moore Lappe (2007)

Democracy's Edge: Choosing to Save Our Country by Bringing Democracy to Life
by Frances Moore Lappe (2005)

The People's Business: Controlling Corporations and Restoring Democracy
by Lee Drutman and Charlie Cray (2004)

Manifesto for Global Democracy: Two Essays on Imperialism and the Struggle for Freedom
by Arjun Makhijani (2004)

Materials Economy

Materials Matter: Toward a Sustainable Materials Policy
by Ken Geiser (2001)

The Next Efficiency Revolution: Creating a Sustainable Materials Economy
by John Young and Aaron Sachs, Worldwatch Institute (1994)

Production

Healthy Business Strategies for Transforming the Toxic Chemical Economy
by Clean Production Action (2006)

Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things
by William McDonough, Michael Braungart, (2002)

Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice
by Paul Anastas and John Warner (1998),

**** Natural Capitalism
by Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins and L. Hunter Lovins (1999)

American Energy - The Renewable Path to Energy Security
by Worldwatch Institute (2006)

Small is Profitable
by E. Kyle Datta, Thomas Feiler, Andre Lehmann, Amory Lovins, Karl Rabago, Joel Swisher, Ken Wicker (2002)

**** Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future
by Bill McKibben (2007)

Building the Green Economy: Success Stories from the Grassroots
by Kevin Danaher, Shannon Biggs, and Jason Mark (2007)

Small-Mart Revolution: How Local Businesses are Beating the Global Competition
by Michael H. Shuman,(2006)

*** Alternatives to Economic Globalization: A Better World is Possible,
Ed by John Cavanagh and Jerry Mander (2004)

Ecological Economics: Principles and Applications
by Herman E. Daly and Joshua Farley (2003)

Beyond Growth: The Economics of Sustainable Development
by Herman E. Daly (1997)

Local First Campaign: A How To Kit
by BALLE (undated, www.livingeconomies.org)

Transitioning to Zero Waste: What Can Local Governments Do Now?
by Helen Spiegelman (2006)

Extended Producer Responsibility Toolkit: A Waste Management Strategy that Cuts Waste, Creates a Cleaner Environment and Saves Taxpayer Money
by Beverly Thorpe

Resources up in Flames: The Economic Pitfalls of Waste Incineration
versus a Zero Waste Approach in the Global South by Brenda Platt (2004)

Wasting and Recycling in the United States 2000
by Brenda Platt and Neil Seldman (2000)

Cutting the Waste Stream in Half: Community Record-Setters Show How
by Brenda Platt and Kelly Lease (1999)

Don't Throw Away That Food: Strategies for Record-Setting Waste Reduction
by Brenda Platt and Joanne Goodwin (1998)

Why do we recycle? Markets, Values and Public Policy
by Frank Ackerman (1997)

Waste Prevention, Recycling, and Composting Options: Lessons from 30 U.S. Communities
by Brenda Platt, Naomi Friedman, Carolyn Grodinsky, Pia MacDonald, and Margaret Suozzo (1994)

The Monthly UnEconomist
a newsletter containing information and analyses of recycling's market and non-market economic and environmental impacts. By Jeffrey Morris, zerowaste.com.