I am sure that at some point this website has been posted here before, but with the current economic crisis there has never been a more important time to watch and pass along this video:
www.storyofstuff.com
Please watch this video and pass it along to everyone on your e-mail list. The main point of this video shows how conservative economics have taken over our societal mindset and if we do not change soon, drastic problems will emerge. Follow below the fold for some information from the video and website.
Here are some basic points / statistics from this video as to why it is very important to pass along, especially now:
1. Extraction:
* 51 out of the top 100 economies in the world are Corporations (not governments)
* In the past three decades alone 1/3 of the world's natural resources are Gone!
* The US has less than 4 percent of our original forests left
* 40 percent of US waterways are now undrinkable because of pollution
* We have 5 percent of the world's population, but we are using 30 percent of the world's resources and creating 30 percent of the world's waste
* 75 percent of global fisheries are fished at or beyond capacity
* 80 percent of the planets forests are now GONE!
* The amazon is losing 2,000 trees a minute!
2. Production:
* There are approximately 100,00 synthetic chemicals used in production and only a handful have been tested and none have been tested for synergistic impact (how they interact with other chemicals)
* Neurotoxins are currently in our computers, appliances, couches, mattresses, pillows, etc.
* 200,000 people a day are moving from environments that have sustained them for generations to industrialized centers
* Our industries admit to emitting 4 billion tons of toxic chemicals a year
3. Distribution:
* Skimp on health insurance, pay low wages (externalizing the cost)
* Increasing asthma and cancer rates
4. Consumption:
* Top priority for government and corporations - Bush's 9-11 response: "Shop!"
* Our primary identity is as consumers
* 6 months after buying consumer goods in America only 1 percent is not thrown away (99 percent trashed!)
* The average US person consumes twice as much as they did 50 years ago
* "Our enormously productive economy, demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction in consumption" - Examples: Christmas and other holidays surround consumption, First question we ask each other "what do you do?" and many, many more
* Planned obsolescence and perceived obsolescence:
Planned: Designed for the dump - coffee cups, mops, throw away cameras, computers, etc.
Perceived: trends, styles, fashion, etc.
* We see more ads in one year than those a generation ago did in a lifetime
* Modes of production are hidden
* National happiness keeps decreasing
* Less leisure time than any time since feudal society
* spend 3-4 times as much shopping as Europeans
5. Disposal:
* House size has doubled since last generation (to buy more stuff!)
* We make 4.5 pounds of garbage per person / per day on average (twice what we made 30 years ago)
--- So as you can see: We need to change our MINDSET along with our lifestyle! Please pass this video along to everyone you can think of to show why the conservative economic mindset is dangerous!