The Story of the Story of Stuff

There is no debate that Annie Leonard's The Story of Stuff is a provocative, controversial, and a seed for squabbling. The subsequent discussions of the assigned blogs, however, perhaps better demonstrated how support for the environmental movement can be successfully garnered, and how that advocacy can turn into action.

The conservative thought from the Heritage Foundation was at first terribly frightening, until I realized that it was a reactionary piece, based on gut instincts and subjective values. We may wonder at how intelligent people can preach so adamantly against the environmental "agenda," but what we perceive as an extremism of thought is really just a retort to what they see as our extremism. I roll my eyes at their disdain for anything perceived as "anti-capitalist;" as a environmentalist/feminist/socialist/vegetarian/every other obnoxious left-wing -ism, however, my liberalness is probably just as scary and scoff-worthy. If schools started showing films about the absolute dangers of same-sex marriage to our society, a view held by the Heritage Foundation, I would surely be equally defensive of my dearly-held values that were being attacked. While they get no empathy, I suppose I can sympathize with the Heritage Foundation's response.

The article by Earth Institute is much more crucial to our understanding of the future of the environmentalism and the impending reality of climate change. Although Steve Cohen supports the message of sustainability, and recognizes the current system as inherently wasteful and something that needs to be at least moderately overhauled, he still views Leonard's complete rejection of capitalism and consumerism as much too extreme. The film did provoke in him, however, a renewed recognition of an immediate need to make improvements to the current waste management system, concentrating on renewable resources and responsible consumption. This reaction, from a moderate, though environmentally-conscious, school of thought, shows that The Story of Stuff's extremism may not inspire such radical action in the every day consumer, it is enough to get the ball rolling, which is all one can ask for.