The Story Of Stuff

This was forwarded to me today by a fellow COOP America Green Business Network member.

Everyone should see this for many enlightening yet entertaining video.
Well worth the 20 minutes.

THE STORY OF STUFF

An excerpt from the website, where you can also find many resources and ways to help:
The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns, with a special focus on the United States. All the stuff in our lives, beginning from the extraction of the resources to make it, through its production, sale, use and disposal, affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues and calls for all of us to create a more sustainable and just world. It’ll teach you something. It’ll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.

After watching this, you may wonder why someone like me who produces material goods (ocean inspired accessories) is spreading this message. But this is how I’ve felt for a long time, even before I started my company five years ago.

In my design and manufacturing I focus on:
-Sustainability of manufacturing and materials
-Social responsibility for the people who work for me
-Sustainability in style and design (not trendy, but always unique)

I can’t say for sure, but I doubt much, if any of my product ends up in the trash.
Even if, say, a belt starts to unravel, I assume that my customers are savvy enough to save the pretty beads and shells and create something new with them at some point or pass it along to someone who will. I personally donate all of our scrap materials to a local crafting center for developmentally disabled and the amount of happiness that provides is a really cool thing.