The Story of Stuff
In the video above, Annie talks about a variety of information regarding the intricacies of an economic system (more specifically the US’s economic system). She starts off explaining how the economic systems we have are broken and doomed for failure. As if it isn’t failing already. But what is failing? After all, the economic system is flourishing. In the US they have established their collective identity as consumers. Buyers. Shoppers. However, this isn’t the main case in the video. The main case is why the economic system isn’t being successful, not on what the consumers are. She explains how we get the goods. Supply, refine, sell, buy and trash. From the natural resources (supplies) we extract, we refine them to make them something the consumers want! Then the market tries to sell it through a variety of advertising techniques ranging from the band wagon effect (everyone gets it; you should get it too!), to scientific appeal and to much more. But what the video emphasizes on most is that you, as a consumer, reads advertisements which tell you, you suck. From this, people are put into a cycle of working, being told they suck and lastly buying their product. And eventually, you have too much stuff, so you throw out all of it wasting the money you just earned. This makes me curious; how is the supply affected? Wouldn’t we run out eventually? Thankfully, this question is answered at the start of the video. We will run out eventually. This economic system is a line, not a cycle. Lines aren’t infinite, they are finite. This simple consumerism line is lacking 3.14159265358979323 (or in other words a circle, better yet a cycle.). All in all, she explains how the economic system is flawed, but it sadly is the way we get our stuff.
Sadly, this is the only economic system we get our stuff from; there is no other choice. But there is hope. The Story of Stuff website (http://storyofstuff.org) allows normal, average people like you, to become part of a movement to end this economic system with a new cycle (not a line!). However, this makes me think about the other possible economic systems. For example, in Canada we have taxes and what not. Canada is a mixed economy with some government intervention as opposed to the US’s market economy. But even here in Canada, isn’t the way how we get our stuff the same? We buy random stuff that came from a supply, then it was refined, then markets sell it and you trash it. But the key difference is, is Canada’s taxes are used to intervene with issues. For example, there are lots of policies concerning health and safety. These concerning issues are often solved when they become a serious issue, via putting new policies and stuff like that in place. But is that really enough? More not then so. This reminds me of my age old boycott post (read that if you want). If you want change, the change it. Don't wait for something to happen, be part of an awesome movement where you may change the world for the public good. And the more change you make, the brighter the future will seem