Story of Stuff

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I came across this video more than a year back, and it immediately caught my attention. I felt that it talks about some very relevant issues, and we all should so our bit so that mroe and more people watch this, and hopefully, take something away from it.

One of our Professors even screened this during one of his classes, and I know for a fact that it change the outlook of atleast one (other than me) of his students. To quote him, 'I was earlier a believer of consumerism, but having seen this video, I'm now a believer of anti-consumerism.'

Everywhere around me, I see ourselves slowly and steadily heading towards crisis. This summer, temperature everywhere has been off the charts. Almost everyone I know has been complaining about excessive heat, and global warming has been quite a buzz word. But I dont notice anyone doing their bit to reduce global warming. As I have mentioned in one of my earlier posts, one does not need to take some major steps to contribute, small changes in daily habits are enough. This post can be found here.

Its high time we all took the matter seriously and starting contributing in whatever ways we can.

This video tells us how, from its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. It is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. It exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together 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.

I sincerely hope that it does :) So, here goes:


Those who view the video, please do leave comments and share your views on the matter at hand.

Comments

nish said…
an amazing post indeed!!! i dont think many of us do give a thought before buying on where exactly are the products coming from and going to...or probably it's just lack of realization. posts like this will certainly make the readers reflect on these issues...(it did make me reflect!) however, 'reflection' and 'action' are two different aspects. the question here is - what do we do or what should we do about it??? are we actually going to stop buying the products??? i don't think so. time and again we bring out issues of global warming, natural resources exploitation, enviornment degradation etc, etc. the irony of the fact is, people who are bringing up these issues still remain the major contributors, and i don't think i am anything different from the majority!!!
1:43 PM
Gagan said…
@ nish: thanks for dropping by (finally :)) and for your longish comment. Thankfully, in India consumerism hasnt reached the heights that it has achieved in developed nations. Habitually we Indians tend to re-use and recycle everything that we buy, though that is slowly changing. I do hope such articles and posts makes people pause and think about repercussions of their actions.
12:23 PM
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