The Story of Stuff
How did watching this video change your paradigm about “stuff?”
Why is it difficult to stop this process of “stuff?”
What can you do personally to help this situation?
How did watching this video change your paradigm about “stuff?”
Why is it difficult to stop this process of “stuff?”
What can you do personally to help this situation?
September 30th, 2010 at 6:05 pm
The story of stuff
On September 30th we watched the video The story of stuff. The whole story was about the cycle of products of corporations. Also it talked about how corporations are bigger and richer than the goverment. So the cycle goes like this the corporations take the natural resources from the world. Before there were corporations, a squiral could go to New York to Florida without touching the ground. You know how, trees.Thats how many trees there were before corporations hit. Then, all the natural resoures took they put in factories, see factories combined natural resouces and Toxics?! Toxics they put toxics in your products! Man I do not get corparations.But, back on track after that they put the products in the store. Ok this part of the cycle is the most important part of the cycle to corporations you buy the products. The corporations somehow make the products last about 2-3 years then, they brake down, then, you can’t buy the same thing because theres this thing where they change the chip every 2-3 years so you have to buy a new product. Then, that other piece that broke down you throw that away that goes to a landfill or an insinerater that sends of a toxic that is the deadiest toxic known to man.
Another cycle is that an averge person would shop then, go to work come home watch TV and then, the TV shows you a new “fad”, so then, you buy that, and contiue that cycle.
You know how I was talking about that it lasts only like 2-3 years well that happened to my DS because it was about 2 years then my DS started malfunsioning then, a month ago my DS broke.
As a conclusion I’ll recommend this video The story of stuff to other americans espeshaly because they are the ones that will cause the earth to die and if you don’t stop doing the cycle of TV,shop, work the world will die
September 30th, 2010 at 8:27 pm
On September 30, 2010 we watched a video called the story of stuff. This video changed my paradigm on things. I didn’t know that just throwing away rubbish is bad fof the earth. This video taught me about how buying and throwing away items can be so harmful to the enviorment.
This video changes the way I look at things because at firt I never really thought about what happens to my trash. I just thought it gets put in the dump. I didn’t know we burn it and all the toxic chemicals float of in the air. Most people don’t really know stuff like 99% of what we use get thrown away within six months. This video really makes me want to think twice before I do something. All the trash we throw away is polluting our Earth, and we don’t even know it. Most of the time our computers or other electronics are broken within two years. In your computer theirs a tiny chip that needs to be fixed, but we can’t because they make different shapes for each chip. We can’t fix something as simple as that because the computer companies want more money. My dad always tries to be conservative. He either buys something durable that is harder to break, or he tries to build something on his own. I think I should try and do that too! Instead of having to throw out the whole computer you should only have to throw out that one chip. With big buisnesses trying to get people to buy more of their products the world is getting polluted with the toxic chemicals such as carbon dioxide.
It is difficult to stop this stuff from happening because thy make stuff better and better. People want to buy this stuff to be cooler. If you had a long day and you came home and laid on your couch and was watching tv wouldn’t you want to go shopping if you saw this really cool commercial? I bet a lot of people would. Then the next day thy will repeat the same process over and over again. When 9/11 happened President Bush just to go shopping. They always think shopping will make you better. Well of course it will make you look better but when you throw it away then what will happen? Will you go shopping again?
To help this situation we can recycle to reduce waste. Sometimes it can be hard because you can’t really seperate those juice packets. They have metal, paper and plastic squished toghether. Recycling doesn’t always fix the core problem in this situation.
One other thing we can do to reduce trash is to not buy as much as we do now. The merchandise we buy and destroy is bad for the Earth. If we buy and throww away less we can also help decrease the chemicals.
The last way we can help decrease waste is by replanting the trees we cut down. If we do this we will have more fresh air. Right now over 2,000 trees in the Amazon are being cut down per minute.
September 30th, 2010 at 9:00 pm
The story of stuff changed my paradigm about stuff because was pretty mad at the people who make the products because what if it caught on fire while someone is sleeping they might get blame or the government not might even care.
It is difficult because people are so used to what they’re doing or its that because the people keep throwing stuff out at you.
I think that I can share this video to other people that can share to their friends and family and they can share it with theirs and so forth.
I also think that wasting that much air pollution is a bad idea because it might cause smog and peoples lungs to get weak.
In my point of view I think this is the best video about stuff that is happing in the world.
September 30th, 2010 at 9:55 pm
The story of stuff changed my paradigm about stuff because I was worried about me going to sleep and my pillow is being fried.
It is difficult to go back to the old way that the Hawaiians used their resources and did not waste or make pollution because we are so caught in to what we think is our average day things, like going to work or school, then going home and watching TV.
I think that whenever we go to buy something that is really cheap we have to ask ourselves why and how did that item become so cheap.
I really recommend this video ‘The Story of Stuff’ to other Americans and other people because it can tell them to stop making pollution by dumping less trash each day or to recycle items that specifically go into that type of recyclable place like papers, plastics, metal, and greens(tree branches, leaves, etc):D
October 1st, 2010 at 9:20 pm
The story of stuff changed my paradigm about all stuff in the world because it made me think real hard about what happened to all the natural resources that we used to have and what our world has turned into today regarding our natural resources and our conservation of the earth.
It is very difficult to stop our process of stuff because number one, the big company’s are trying to get all the money, and number two, as the coolness of the new products grow, it becomes harder to stop buying things then the demands for the item grow and soon people throw away their perfectly good things to replace it with more advanced products. As a matter of fact it becomes a cycle for US. We go to work and earn our money then when we get home we are so tired that we plop down on the couch to watch T.V. but then the commercials turn on and tell us all about what’s in style and cool, so we get up and buy it at the store even though we don’t really need it. Then it happens again, we go to work and get our money, go home and see the commercials, then we get up and by more stuff, and the cycle keeps on repeating itself, and repeating itself, giving the big company’s all the money.
Personally to help this situation I would always ask myself before buying something ‘Do I REALLY NEED this?’ and also I would go green and try to help make a stand against the U.S. for what they are doing to the Amazon Rain Forest because if that forest goes, then we go too. It is time for our voices to be heard, and it’s time for us to give our opinion on things.
I would recommend this book to anyone who can understand speech because this video The Story of STUFF teaches us where our stuff comes from and what happens to it when we throw it out. It also teaches us how dangerous our items can be, I mean like the factories actually soak our pillows in toxins to make them fire retardent. It also teaches us what is happening to the aina around the world because Annie tells us about how every minute 2,000 trees are cut down in the Amazon Rain Forest.
October 3rd, 2010 at 2:28 pm
While watching “The story of stuff” last Wednesday there were many things from a different perspective than the perspective we (in everyday life) usually look at. One thing that I never realized is that people purposely make things to last only for a short while so that people will buy another of the same item because they figure it’ll still last for a while and it will help around the house or wherever they want to put it .Then after they buy their new things and just throw out they’re old one and then the rest of the cycle happens. I think it is kind of taking advantage of people because the business people know what they’re doing and it isn’t very convenient for customers, but of course if you think about it (kind of like the in the story of the Lorax) the people who make the stuff don’t really care when/ if they get too caught up in money.
The people who make the stuff are kind of blinded. My mother told me that before I was born, the washing machines were very durable, you only had to buy one and it would last you your entire life, pretty much. I think that would be pretty convenient because then my parents wouldn’t have to buy things over and over and that would probably save our family a lot of money. That changed my paradigm because I don’t want to be like those business people who take advantage of people, and when I am older I am hoping to open up a smallish shop and make some useful stuff to sell there, and I am going to try and make my things last for as long as they possibly can. That’s the way I can help too. Oh yeah and I’ll also find natural and pure ingredients to put into my stuff.
Why can’t the business people do it like that? If they did it like that people who buy the long-lasting things will tell others who will tell others and so forth. I wonder. Why is it difficult to stop the process of stuff? I think it is because people do not realize what happens with stuff and what is happening. Especially the toxins. It’s so surprising to hear about all the toxins. It doesn’t make sense about why they put toxins in all the stuff that are sold. It really doesn’t make sense. I learned so many things from the “Story of Stuff” video and I want to put what I say into action, I want to do, not just say.
October 3rd, 2010 at 6:38 pm
Last week, I watched a video called the Story Of Stuff. It really changed my paradigm about what we do when we throw away garbage or a computer. It changed my paradigm because I never really knew what happened when you throw away a candy bar or a bottle but, after watching the video I realized that all of that stuff gets to go to a factory where it is made into some waste .But, there is a cycle that leads up to that. First, workers cut down a few trees ( about 2,000 trees a minute). Then, it goes into a factory wher they make whatever your’e going to buy. Third, it goes into a store ( especially supermarket’s) like Wal-mart. Fourth, ( this is when we come in) people buy that item like a computer or a TV. Fifth we use that item for a few years but then, it breaks down. You try to fix it and whatever you do you can’t. You can’t because even if one small little chip is fried, you get a new one but that chip that you bought didn’t fit right into where the old one was. Sixth, you throw it away and buy a new one but where does it go. It goes into another factory where it is made into some toxic waste dump.
Some backround information on the cycle is that the reason why people buy a new computer or TV even if the one you have is practicaly fine is because of advertisements. Advertisements make you want to buy something new, and exciting. Plus, it makes you think like you really need it.Like for example, people buy sillybands because it is so called cool, and new and if you don’t have one then people might think you’re lame. That was overexagerating a bit but, you get the point.It doesn’t stop there though. After you bought the item then, you have to work your but off to pay for that item. Third, you get home, sit on the couch and then you see another item you want. Then, you buy it. After that you start the whole cycle over again.Watch, buy, work.
After watching the video, It made me want to put my words into affect sometime in the future and actually tell everyone what they are doing wrong and make it right for a better and cleaner Earth.
October 3rd, 2010 at 7:33 pm
My paradigm before watching the video was all of this stuff gets recycled when you throw it away and there was no incinerator at landfills. But after I watched the video, my paradigm shifted to “wow, we just throw so many things away and we just pollute the world with the incinerator fumes.” And it also changed after I heard some companies manufacture their products to break easily.
It’s hard for us to break the cycle because the people who manufacture these items are supported by the government and the U.S. A majority of taxpayers’ money goes to the factories when they’re getting built. Also, everyone in the world is so used to getting something, it breaking, getting a new one, that breaking, and so on.
I can help the situation by lessening the amount of things I dispose of with trash and increasing the amount of items I put in the recycling bin.
October 4th, 2010 at 4:36 pm
“The Story of Stuff” is about where stuff come from and where it goes.
How did watching this video change your paradigm about “stuff?”
Watching this video changed my paradigm because I am really upset on what the goverment and politicians do with our tax money. I didn’t know that 50% of our tax money goes to the military and only 1 or 2% goes to our education. If only that much percent is going to our education, that means the minds of the future (children,kids) won’t be able to be a politician that is fair,humble and is not self centered in all this money.
Why is it difficult to stop this process of “stuff?”
It is difficult to stop the process of stuff because although we may try to save electric and recycle, it does something but not everything to the world. We need to do more than that. We may need to stop making stuff. The way that stuff is made and where it goes, it goes through a cycle from Extraction, Production,Distribution,Consuption and Disposal. All of which hurt the earth or human kind in a way.
What can you do personally to help this situation?
What I can personally do to help this situation is I can get others involved! I can show “The Story of Stuff” so far if the number keeps growing, more people would want to get involved. We would want to hope this continues and hope that people keep dialoguing about the issues and coming up with ideas and solutions! Also we can get involved with organizations that helps this solution because then we can have a big group to stop much extraction and pollution and disposal.
October 4th, 2010 at 5:46 pm
My paradigm before watching the story of stuff was when we throw away our rubbish it gets recycled and made in to other useful things like paper plates, cups etc. But actually the people that are in charge of the garbage use an incinerator to burn it and then they just dump it into the ocean, I didn’t think that was right! My paradigm also changed when I heard about the companies who’s things broke easily and some times never even last that long!!!!!!!
It was difficult to stop the process of stuff because the big companies trumpth the government which means their bigger than the government and they did nothing about it!
To personally help this problem I can start using reusable water bottles and if I want decorations around the house, classroom or even school (!)
I can use scrap things that I wasn’t going to use or plastic bottles so it doesn’t end up in the ocean or even an animals habitat.
I made a connection, in orchestra Doc, my music teacher, said that he would take his broken bows and shave them off to mini six inch bows.:)
DON’T POLLUTE!!!!!!
October 4th, 2010 at 6:42 pm
Watching this video changed my paradigm about throwing away things because it goes in a system. First extraction then production then distribution then consumption than disposal. This is called the Material Economy. Extraction means in other words crushing the planet because you have to cut down trees and blow p mountain to get the materials inside.
Production is mixing toxics with the resources and what is coming out is toxic contaminated products in other words toxic in toxic out. Our pillows are toxic contaminated products because it is fire proof and to do that it is put in chemicals and the toxic goes into your head then into your brain. 4,000,000,000 lbs of toxic goes into the air and causes cancer and asthma. From the first step since people lost their land they have to move to swamps and jobs that suck. That sounds like the Hawaiians and how they had to move because the Americans took over their land.
Then we move on to distribution that means selling all the toxic contaminated junk as fast as they can by lowering the prices so it’s like you are not paying for the object, though the people who are paying are the people who lost their land and the people who risked their life of getting cancer or asthma.
Consumption is changing the size of something so you have to waste something totally useful.
Then the last thing is disposal that is to burn garbage so it is again toxic in toxic out but it creates an even bigger toxic that is called Dioxin. Recycling will really help this. So what I learned was to always recycle and use the three R’s and don’t waste that much so it doesn’t create Dioxin.
It is difficult to stop this process because for every one garbage can you put on the curb seventy garbage cans of waste was made up stream just to make that one garbage can you put on the curb. Also you can’t recycle everything because juice boxes have metal, plastic, and paper so you cant recycle that and you have to throw it away and it will make disposal happen again.
What I will do personally is I will always recycle and don’t waste that much and I will help to save forests and trees by planting trees. I will also help to make a clean production. And that is what I learned from the story of stuff.
October 4th, 2010 at 7:29 pm
The story of stuff, a great way to change your paradigm. My paradigm at first was that the world will start getting more green but still having plastic and those other stuff. After watching the 20 min. clip it changed my paradigm. I always thought that the U.S got their resources from our land and how she said the animal where losing there homes. The thing that made me pretty angry was when she said that people will purposely make something to break in less then six month, and you will think “oh it only broke because for this reason I should just go back and get another one.
To me I think it is not really fair because when they make a computer it will have a chip in it, but every time the company makes a new one the shape of the chip is different and also the wires are different shape too. I think there just cheap scape scams just waiting for you to buy them. Oh ya and what about this government being smaller then the corporations I mean like what is that,I mean that’s not right, government being smaller. I thought the government is suppose to be bigger than anything.
The big question I have is why do they do so dumb stuff like this. Why cant they just look at the big picture which is stop using so much resources, start recycling.
October 4th, 2010 at 7:38 pm
On September 30th, we watched a video called “The Story Of Stuff.” It really changed my paradigm about what life is like today. This video taught me about how we always trash things and when we do, it is harmful to the earth as well as us.
There are five steps in the linear system that a product has to go through to become trash that is in our dumpsters today. From extraction to disposal here they are and how it works:
1) Extraction. In the process of extraction, it really means natural resource exploitation or in other words: we are trashing the planet. We do things such as chopping down trees, blowing up mountains for the resources inside, using up all the water and killing the animals. We are a 5% population of the whole human race but we are using 30% of the resources in the world. That shows that we don’t recycle enough and take living for granted. Like it just comes to us. We act like there are 10 different “earth’s ” for us to live on.
2) Production. Basically, production is the resources that we grabbed from mother nature and we are taking it into factories and are mixing that with toxins and neuro toxins to produce a product. It takes a lot of the earth’s power and materials to make products and therefore we use 1/3 of the earth’s natural resources. Woop!! Right out of the window. We don’t even use the phrase: Take a tree, plant a new one. That is really sad.
3) Distribution. All distribution is, is the selling of a product. People make it cheap, but when it is time to upgrade, they change the way the product is shaped so you need to keep on buying and buying in which they get more money.
4) Consumption. In this step, there are two obsolescences: Planned obsolescence and perceived obsolescence. In planned obsolescence, it is basically designed for the dump. When the people make upgrades, they change the shapes of it, causing the consumers to buy that upgrade and keep buying different shaped upgrades and dumping their old ones. Perceived obsolescence is when people are dumping perfectly good supplies away. It is just that the makers make it look different when it is exactly the same but has only different upgrades. The makers try to be sly and make it look different when it isn’t just for the money?! That is just wrong.
5) Disposal. This is when the product that had to go through four other steps is now being trashed and incinerated. When it is incinerated, it takes up less space but all the toxins will be released into the smoke and will mix in with the air and we will breathe it. How wasteful of us.
Well, if you haven’t noticed, us humans take big part in this linear system and we are the reason why this system isn’t a cycle. We trash so many things that are perfectly reusable and recyclable but we are just too lazy to sort out what is what. If we had stuck with the old Hawaiian ways, we wouldn’t have an earth that looked like a landfill.
Advertisements affect us too. We have a hard day at work so we plop down on the couch to watch T.V. and we see and ad that says we are out of style which makes us go to the store to buy the product, then we sit down again and see another ad and we buy it and then watch more T.V. and see another ad and go to the store and buy another product and we are just on a treadmill that never ends.
I think that the producer was straight forward and to the point and is right about what we should and shouldn’t do. The message was to save the earth. She really changed my paradigm and really made me wonder about what is happening now. Her video is so strong that it makes me want to do something.
We have been watching a lot of videos with the same message: Save the Earth.
I think that there is a reason for this. We are going to keep watching text to world things until we get it implanted in our heads and actually do something. We could start simple by just picking up trash on the ground or recycling by finding ways to make use of your things instead of throwing it away.
Peace out,
Panda
October 4th, 2010 at 8:11 pm
The story of stuff is a story that tells you the true tale about all the things we buy. I found out that almost everything we buy contains toxic chemicals that could kill you. Do you know the black gooey substance that is found in cigars? All of those poisons in that substance are also found in simple items such as pillows. Learning this really frightened me, thinking that I sleep on a giant pile of poisons. I think it is hard to stop producing “stuff” because all the big corporations depend on money to keep their business running. These big corporations depend on all the “stuff” we buy to keep this pile of money growing for themselves. The more we buy, the more plants we cut, the more animals we destroy, and the more environment we damage. Our world will be ruined if we keep buying “stuff”. Did you know that most things are built to break down? That is why we throw away so much “stuff”. While this happens, some other things are meant to be thrown away even though they are still good condition, such as women’s high heel shoes. The clothing fashion changes from month to month. For example, the heels on women’s shoes will be popular when they are skinny and then the next day they will be out of fashion. Remember when I said that all objects contain some poison? When people burn these objects they make a super poison called neurotoxin. Who knew that simple things like “stuff” can create deadly poisons like neurotoxins? As we buy and throw away, we hurt the environment. We need to protect our planet because this is all we got left!
October 5th, 2010 at 5:30 am
As I watched a video titled The Story of Stuff I stared mouth-open at this video, I had no idea how many toxins are in our every day things! I didn’t even know what planned obsolescence meant, now I am much more aware of the cheaply made world of today.
I learned many things from this video, however, I will share only my five favorite facts. Fact one, More than 50% of federal tax money goes to the military. This surprised me because I didn’t know the military got the majority of our tax money! Fact two, In the Amazon 2,000 trees are lost every minute. This shocked me so much because I truly understand the reason those trees are so important, why are we cutting them down? Fact three, Every night you lay on your pillow you lay on toxins! Pillow makers put toxins all over your pillows before you buy them. I don’t know if I want to use my pillow tonight! GROSS!! Fact four, Planned obsolescence means the manufacturers make your things cheap and purposefully so they break down. How selfish! To some it’s about helpfulness, others it’s about money and greed. Fact five, some manufacturers want you to have to buy a new product so they make every product for example, a computer has one different piece. That way instead of just replacing that one broken piece, you have to replace the whole computer! Again, how greedy!
If people know this is bad why do they still do it? Even worse allow it?! What do you think? I think if our ancestors didn’t need this stuff (toxins) to survive we don’t either. Stop using these things , we don’t need them! It’s up to you, will you make a difference?
October 5th, 2010 at 8:07 pm
I just finished watching the video of the story of stuff. It tells about how all our stuff goes through a cycle (from a text book) called the materials economy system. It starts from extraction to production to distribution to consumption to disposal.
But, a lady named Annie Leonard look into it more, which I thought was very smart instead of just accepting and ignoring it. She discovered it was a linier system which means it DOESN’T go in a circle, it DOESN’T go from the end to the beginning again. It just stops at the end. She also discovered that A LOT was missing from that system. People were missing, people were the main reason the system is able to work. People like the government and the corporations are very important to this cycle because they have more say which can completely change the system, but instead they improve.
Another thing that was missing was, in the extraction, we completely destroy the environment for its resources, no more plants, animals, and even mountains (for metal). We trash this planet so much that we used ONE THIRD of the earth’s natural resources just in the past 3 decades. We are using more then our share in America, we only make up 5% of the worlds population yet we use 30% of earths resources. Isn’t that terrible but even worse we take some one else’s land and do the same, trash it. We can fix this a little bit by joining in on forest restoration projects and similar projects.
Did you know that in the Amazon 2,00 trees are being lost/cut down? Well its true. That is how terrible we are to our earth. Then once the trees and thing move to the production stage they are mixed with chemicals/toxics. Even our Pillows are soaked in toxic chemicals, which makes it flammable. Making matters worse the things that are wasted when mixing the toxins and plants to make products, get thrown into the environment and get the environment polluted.
After making the stuff they move to the distribution stage or the stage were the stuff gets into the store. The owners hide the real price of the object you buy by making everyone else pay which are the people who’s land it was made, the people that actually made it, and the people who shipped it, which I thought was REALLY mean to those that paid for it, I mean there not even getting what they technically paid for. Then it moves to the golden arrow. We can do hardly ANYTHING about this.
The golden arrow is the process of consumption or the process of buying and taking home or work. Did you know that after 9/11 president Bush said to shop!?!? But not directly of course, but still I was thinking WHAT THE?!?!?! Our value is even judged by how much we contribute to this process. If your thinking how did we agree to this? The answer is planned obsolescence and perceived obsolescence.
Planned obsolescence basically means it is designed for the dump. It is designed to break down, so we keep buying more and more. Perceived obsolescence convinces us to throw away stuff that is fine by changing the way stuff looks and advertising the new version. These things, I thought were such cheats! I mean planning to make something useless, so mean! What upsets me is that we can do nothing about this, it’s all up to the people that do this.
After consumption the final stage is disposal either you dispose it by burning it or putting it in a landfill. This pollutes the earth either way. But, recycling really helps it reduces the needs for extraction and makes less disposal. I never really thought about how recycling REALLY helps I just knew in some way it helped.
So if we want to help save our earth we have to stop this system and create a better system that will keep our environment healthy and fill our needs with out producing so much toxins and waste. Recycling and planting would really help this system to be ‘greener’. This video truly changed my perspective on how things come and go and on who and what really pays for our stuff. We can’t stop this system by ourselves, it is up to the people who start up this system and make sure it follows through, but we can definitely help in making the change. After all we are the most important part of the most important part in this system.
October 6th, 2010 at 3:09 pm
The movie “story of stuff” changed the way I think about “stuff” because now I am cutting down on things that go through the cycle and cutting off the end of the cycle and putting in recycling to make the world abetter place. It also made me want to help out like when I go to my football games, I stay until after wards when I can go and pick up anything that is recyclable and able to through away and take it home and take the recyclables to our public recycle bin and throw away anything that I am able to throw away and take it to the dump. It would be very difficult to stop the process of stuff because it has already made tons of things that people are use to and it would stop millions of jobs for families and the people who make the stuff is too greedy with power and they would not give up their profit so easily because of his power that he has over his consumers of his creation.
It would also be hard because he has control over his workers and because of money, his workers will defend it for money, not because he said so. I can help this situation more by telling more people to recycle everywhere I go, recycle more on my own, and most importantly of all, never forget the reason of recycling, to save the world of being striped of its resources.
October 6th, 2010 at 10:46 pm
This video (Story of Stuff) really changed my paradigm on how the earth is now. On Disney Channel they have so many commercials about going green so I thought everyone would be helping the earth. Terns out we are still polluting the earth a lot because our industry admits to releasing 4,000,000,000 lbs
Of pollution a year and there is probably more because that’s only what they admit.
Did you know…
1) We throw away about 99% of the stuff we use in 6 months.
2) Globally 200,000 people are moving into cities a day.
3) Stories externalize cost to keep you buying.
4) It turns out that the piece that changes every year is just a little piece in the corner and you can’t change it because each new version is a different shape so you have to throw it away and buy a whole new one.
5) The designers actually discuss how fast they can make stuff brake to leave the consumer having enough faith in the product to go out and buy another one.
6) They use perceived obsolescence to convinces us throwaway stuff that is perfectly useful.
7) They switch women’s heals form skinny, to fat, to skinny so you keep buying.
8) We see over 3,000 ads a day, we see more ads in one year then people 50 years ago would see in a life time.
9) The polls show that our happiness is actually declining.
10) After 9/11 President Bush told everyone shop to get over the sadness
11) Everyone in America makes an average of 4.5 lbs a day.
12) We should all recycle but recycling is not enough.
Don’t pollute, go green, reduce waste, recycle, and plant a plant, HELP THE EARTH!
If we all work together we can restore the planet. Anything is possible if you set your mind to it. We can make a different. Lets start now!
If you want more information check it out your self at Story of Stuff.com and watch the video.
Bye, bye
October 7th, 2010 at 1:55 pm
As I was watching ” Story of Stuff ” I realized how greedy I am. Whenever I saw a cool ad on the TV, I would want it not even knowing how much it would hurt our world and myself. But, when I watched ” The Story of Stuff,” it helped open my eyes to the real world. It changed my paradigm a lot especially when I saw that George Bush said to SHOP during 9/11. He could have told us to hold on to our loved ones in our heart and be strong or something like that. What a horrible nation we have become. Did you know that we (U.S.A.) take up only 5% of the world but, we use 30% of the world’s resources. We’re also cutting down 7 football fields worth of trees in the Amazon per MINUTE!!!!! Mr. Chung says that the Amazon is the heart of the oxyegen source we have and need. All we do is shop and watch TV during our freetime while our world is in crisis. I can’t believe that the goverment can brainwash us so easily!!! They use planned obsolescence which means ” designed for the dump “. Can you believe that the goverment doesn’t care about the enviroment and if we pollute the enviroment, we’re all gonna die and it’s gonna be the goverments fault for brainwashing us and killing us and their families. Does the goverment only care about polishing the corparations shoes and getting money into their greedy hands? Hello? What about us? The people which 50% of our tax money goes to you? Did you wonder why compurters always break after 2-3 years? That’s planned obsolescence at work. Usually, it’s only one little chip in the corner that breaks. Can you fix it? Of course you could, only if the goverment didn’t keep switching the shape of the chip each year!!! But, planned obsolescence isn’t enough to keep the cash rolling in. So, there’s percived obsolencence. Percieved obsolescence is when the goverment convices you to throw away stuff that is still in perfectly good use. The goverment uses ads to tell you that your hair is wrong, your clothes are wrong, your shoes are wrong, YOU are wrong but, all can be made right if you go shopping. This makes me angry because I am NOT wrong. I mean why should I go shopping instead of spending quality time with my family. Some more things the goverment does are that they trash the planet, cause pollution everywhere causing more ashsma and cancer problems, oh and they put toxin in all the things we use. I think I forgot to mention that they dowse our pillows in a toxin poisonous to our BRAINS!!!!!!! Also, breast milk is one of the most poisonous food because of all our toxic stuff. I mean breast milk?! What kind of goverment just sits back and watches our babies literaly being fed poison?! I think our goverment needs to improve A LOT!!!!!!!!
I feel that it is hard to stop the whole “stuff” problem because not many people know what the corparations and the goverment are doing and they go along with the flow. But, I feel that if more people watched “The Story of Stuff” they would understand how brainwashed each and every one of us are. Before watching “The Story of Stuff” I was still a brainwashed kid just going to school, watching TV, and shopping. But, watching this helped me understand and realize many different things. I also think this would be hard to stop the “stuff” process because the goverment might try to stop us from knowing how they brainwash us. Maybe when someone sees a new fashion they’ll think they will look so cool they won’t care about the enviroment and/or what the goverment is doing. Rich people might not care about anyone or anything but themselves and they might just buy all the new fashions and expensive stuff without any regret at all. That to me is just sad. I think if they would care more, they would be more helpful to the enviroment.
Fortunatlly, more people are helping clean up the enviroment, reduce trash, stop pollution, and helping take down the corperations that the goverment is obsessed with. I’m helping by showing my parents what happens when they listen to the goverment, shop, watch TV, and how that affects us and the enviroment. Every year I participate in a beach clean up day. It feels good to be helping the enviroment.
I think more people should watch this because I that it is time to open everybodies eyes and help ourselves and our precious world.
UA MAU KE EA O KA `AINA I KA PONO. The life of the land is perpetuated in rightousness.
October 7th, 2010 at 3:05 pm
Today I watched a video about the Story and the system of where our Stuff goes. This video really changed my paradigm because it makes me reflect about the system that greed sets up about us using way to much resources and desposing of it without any thought about how it could hurt the environment. The first stage of this system is, Extraction. This is the action of cutting trees down from our country for products of the economy also the blowing up of mountains that we get metals. From using way to much resources that when we finally realize that our resources are going short. ( America are the ones I’m talking about )So the big solution is that, take more resources from third world countries that the Americans took over with imperialism. Now using resources that they used for generations. Now a lot Europeans ( including USA and France) use different countries resources. Why would they do this? They are desperate. The next stage is production, production is the stage when products are made. When products are made a lot toxic chemicals are made with it. In these factories toxic chemicals are its home because the process made the chemicals go with the products we use. People around the world in third world countries are forced to work in these chemical invested factories. Even kids have to work there just to bring little money home. Europeans keep their economies running with cheap global labor and factory work. People have to live with these chemicals and then later get health problems from the pollution the factories release in the air. The next stage is the consumption stage. Wen we buy thing we don’t realize that we are not paying for it. The people that took their time to make it are paying for it. Now another sly thing that America does is that they make the products not last so buyers need to buy more every time. Another one is that when the workers change the looks of products, most people follow the change but the people who don’t did not contribute to the system in a long time. So to make themselves feel better they go buy whats new than go to work to pay it off then go home to watch T.V having a commercial that says buy this so you go to buy it then go to work continuing the cycle of Global Economics. Now for the last stage, Disposal. We Americans use 4.5 lbs of trash every day. This is the amount everyone disposes of daily wasting all the resources that we have. We release 4,000,000,000 lbs of pollution to the earth. We can make a difference by being involved in community services and clean-ups. We still need to recycle so we can reuse our products. We can remake the world into a better greener place for future generations to come.
October 7th, 2010 at 4:16 pm
On September 30th in class we watched “The Story of Stuff”. This clip was kind of scary to watch because when I saw what trash does to the earth my mouth dropped. It was sad to see what is happening in the country and other places on earth.
This clip changed my paradigm by making me think that throwing things away is harmful to the environment. At first I didn’t really think about where my trash went to. But after this clip I learned a lot of where it goes and what it does. First of all when we throw are trash away it goes into the dump, then it goes into a machine that makes it burn. When the trash gets burned it lets out toxins which makes a stronger toxin. The lady who was in the clip said hat there’s a cycle. First there is an advertisement on TV and it says that if you don’t buy the item they’re selling then you’re a loser. You go to the store to buy it. So you go to work to show everybody. When you go home you are usually tired so you turn the TV on and then you see another advertisement which makes you wants to purchase another product. The cycle keeps going on and on and on.
It is difficult to stop this process because the people who own businesses keep on making better and new products. People always want to buy new and improved products so that they can be cool. But once you’re done using the gizmo and you don’t want it anymore then it all goes into the dump and does it’s process all over again. When 9/11 happen President Bush told everybody to go shopping! I was really surprised about that, because if I were at 9/11 and then our President told us to shop I would feel anger because I would think at least he would say “pray” or “hope” or something peaceful. Not Shop!!!!
To help our world we can recycle but that doesn’t really work because somethings you can’t recycle. Like for an example Capri Sun packets. Just be smart and think about what you buy.
Thanks to the “Story of Stuff” I learned so much more new things that I didn’t know.
GO GREEN!!!!!!!
October 7th, 2010 at 9:09 pm
When I watched the story of stuff I was so astonished about how greedy and wasteful I really am. Whenever there is a commercial on T.V where it features a really cool toy I want to get it. Then when I spend money on it I don’t even realize that it is probably going in the trash can in a month. This video has really changed the way I look at things because I thought that when I throw something away it’s no big deal but I now realize it really is a big deal. Most people don’t actually know that the things that we buy usually ends up in the trash in 6 months which I think is really sad. I now realize that I actually throw away things everyday and don’t really think about what one little thing is doing to pollute our earth. One fact that really changed me was that in the Amazon we are cutting down 2000 trees a minute and that really scared me. I could not believe that the people who design computers and other electronics actually program things to break in 2 or 3 years and you can’t fix it because you can’t buy the one little computer chip because the designers make different shapes for each chip. That made me really mad and changed the way of how I look at computer designers. What really made me think is that on the day of 9-11 President Bush told everyone to shop! He didn’t say protect your love ones and keep calm he said to shop. That really made me realize how the government can brainwash us so easily.
It is really hard to stop the whole “stuff” problem because many people don’t actually know how wasteful we are and what one little piece of trash can affect our earth. Everyone is all brainwashed in the process of working then watching T.V seeing a cool advertisement at home then coming to the mall to shop. People don’t relive that companies just brainwashed you to go buy the thing which will probably end up in the trash in less than 6 months. The process then goes on and on. This “stuff’ problem is also really hard to break because when something comes in fashion like sillybands are now everyone starts to want them then when these things become out of fashion all the kids will throw them away and want the next thing in fashion. That process will just go on and on because kids change what they like all the time.
To personally help this situation I will encourage more people to watch the story of stuff. I will not buy unnecessary items that I see on the T.V because now I know that they will probably end up in the trash in less than 6 months. I will encourage my family to not waste everything like our food and to bring our own bags to the grocery stores so we don’t waste the plastic bags they give you which is going to pollute our earth more and end up in the trash at home. I will also recycle at home and try to be green.
October 7th, 2010 at 9:14 pm
Watching the video about stuff changed my paridigm of liking to shop when it told me that if you shop more, more, more it would ruin the environment. The factory has to make more things and the pollution increases for every thing that they make.
It is hard to stop the process of stuff because everyone loves to shop!!! It would be very hard to stop that. I wish there was a way that it would be very easy to say to the whole world, “Please stop shopping too much. It is not making the envirorment better to the other people. So please, stop now!”
If I could help this situation get better I would put up posters around the world, “Stop shopping a lot! Or keep the things you got and be thankful!” For my own life, I would want to cut down the amount that I love to shop so I could make a better world. I would ignore mostly the non-important things that I don’t need to have, so I would not buy those things.
Malama the ‘aina. GO GREEN!!!
October 7th, 2010 at 9:19 pm
One day in class we watched a video called “the story of stuff.” This video really changed my paradigm because at first I just thought that we get our resources, make it, sell it and make money, use it then throw or give it away. When i saw that we use only 1% of the resources my jaw dropped. We shouldn’t be cutting down all these trees and plants if we are only going to use 1% of it. The other 99% ends up at the dump in 6 months. I also was shocked when I found out that we fill about 4 trashcans a day and all that trash that is in those trashcans end up in the dump. After it goes to the dump it gets burned which produce toxins and then it produces stronger toxins. Have you ever noticed when you buy a computer it breaks down in a certain time period? Thats becuase the company wants you to buy another computer that way the company can get more money. It’s because of this one little piece in the computer. It’s this little chip. Now you may be thinking why don’t you just change the chip. Well you can’t. Each time they make the chip a different size or shape so you can spend you money on a new computer. Is this shocking to you? A squirrel could fly from New York to Flordia. No squirrels can’t fly but if you’re wondering how is this possible it’s because of trees. Before a squirrel could hop from tree to tree into each state. Squirrels can no longer do this because most trees have been cut down. It adds up to about 7 football fields. This is all happening per minute. Do you remember the event that happened on 9/11? George Bush was president at the time and instead of helping everyone get through this rough situation he told everyone to shop!!! Why would you be shopping at a time like this?
Have you ever felt like your a loser just because you don’t have this one little thing? I kno I have. This is the reason why it is difficult to stop the process of “stuff” There will be add saying you need this product so you go to the store and buy it and then you go to work to show everyone then you go back home and then there is an add that says you suck because you don’t have this product and then you go back to the store and buy that and it becomes a cycle. When I was in 4th grade i had a flip phone and I couldn’t text and my phone wasn’t touch screen. Almost everyone in my grade had texting and a touch screen phone. I begged my parents for a touch screen phone that has texting and i ended up getting what I wanted.
Alot of people say that a way to save the enviorment is to recycle but if you think about it a lot of things can’t be recycled like metal. Metal is one of the materials to make capri sun packets. It will just go to the dump then get burned then produce more toxins so a smarter thing to do is help the enviorment by picking up litter, planting plants that aren’t invasive and being careful about what your doing to the enviorment.
October 7th, 2010 at 9:37 pm
We watched “The Story of Stuff”. It taught me about how much we are polluting this world and how much of the natural recourses we are losing. In the video it was mentioned that for every minute, 7 football fields worth of trees are cut down in the Amazon. The Amazon is the earth’s main place to get oxygen from all the trees and plants, but if we cut down all of the trees where would we get air to live?
The video made me realize that TV ads make us buy things that we don’t need. When we see the ad we see a whole new thing that you want. This is bad because when we do this we waste money that we could use for other things. Another thing that the video made me realize is that companies plan things to break down in a couple years like computers so you can go get a new one, but all they change is a little piece in a different shape. That’s their way of just to keep our money while we get the next big thing. The fact that surprised me was that 99% of the things we use go in the trash.
I think it is very hard to stop the process of Stuff because many people don’t know about what is happening. The video made me realize what we are doing to the environment. Lots of people don’t even realize that in order to make “stuff”, natural recourses are being depleted. People may also think that when you throw something away the trash man takes it away and it disappears magically. POOF, it’s gone. No, that’s not how it works. It either goes into a machine that burns it while spreading harmful gases into the air or sits in a landfill forever. The only way we can stop it is if everyone figures out what’s happening and lets his or her voice be heard and take action.
I can fix this situation recycling what I use and consuming less. Now today lots of people are taking notice and are starting to help the environment. They are recycling, cleaning up trash on beaches and going green. If we all do our part in the environment, we can fix this problem. I think this is a good video, it taught me a lot about the world and what we are doing to it.
October 7th, 2010 at 10:07 pm
On September 30th we watched The Story of Stuff. The video was about the cycle things or “stuff” goes through after you throw them out.
The Story of stuff did change my paradigm about stuff. I used to think that throwing stuff out was really no big deal, but after watching The story of stuff I realize that I need to spend my money more wisely and watch what I’m buying because we learned that things are made to last a certain time and then after a few years that thing breaks down, you throw it out and buy a new one. For example, a computer system all runs on one little chip and when your system breaks down, you realize that all you really need to do is buy a new chip am I right?… WRONG. The company makes the chips all different shapes and sizes o that you can’t replace your old one. So what do you do now? You have to buy a whole new computer system. Thats how these companies are making money, the y make their stuff only last for a certain amount of time so that you can go and buy another one which means more money or them! $$$!!!
But how do we stop this cycle of stuff? Something like that will be very difficult because most people don’t even know about the story of stuff! They don’t realize what they are wasting because once something certain comes out and becomes popular, everybody starts to want it, so they go to the mall and get whatever is most popular and then comes home all exhausted so they sit down and watches TV, when suddenly this ad. comes up telling you that the hot and popular thing sucks and that the next best thing has come out and is in stalk. After seeing this, man do you want it! So this same thing continues every single day of our lives and we don’t even know it. We are so brainwashed that we don’t even notice that what we are doing is not helping us in any way but helping somebody else, The store we got it from for example.
I know that if I want this problem of stuff to be solved, I need to do something about it, like showing other people the Story of stuff video. When I show other people this it’ll be like waking them up from being brainwashed their whole life. another thing that I can do is STOP WASTING!! Everyday we waste a lot without even noticing. We need to be more responsible for our actions and choices because if we do, we can do our part in resolving this problem.
See ya!
October 7th, 2010 at 11:05 pm
The Story of Stuff amazed me. I was kind of disgusted when Annie Leonard told about how many toxins were in our everyday things. I was also paranoid when she also said they put toxins on our pillows which makes them flammable. PILLOWS! I mean what if my head catches on fire?! And I’m putting my head in toxins every time I lay down!
In fact all of these toxins put into our everyday things are the main reason that most people have severe allergies and asthma. Long ago people brought peanut butter jelly to school and we can’t even bring a nutter butter candy!
This video really opened my mind and changed my paradigm.
Did you know that we have already used up one third of the earths resources? When companies kill one part of a state or forest by cutting forests for wood and mountains for metal they go to another part and cut down THEIR forests. To me that selfish because if they keep on doing that there won’t be any trees for air. And we need AIR more then cheap toys that break easily.
Speaking of breaking easily, do you know that some companies actually build their products to break after a certain period of time? That’s just wrong! And when things like computers break and you have to buy a new model, all of the inserts are different! So you have to buy all kinds of different chords! It’s just an excuse to make more money which is kind of cheesy. Did you know that we throw away 99% of the things we use in six months. 6 MONTHS!
What also surprised me is that we release 4,000,000,000 pounds of pollution into the earth. We might as well call ourselves murders of our own people!
What shocked me is that after 9/11 President Bush told people to shop to get over their sadness. SHOP! I mean I like to shop but after two important office buildings collapsed killing millions of people?! Was he bribed to say that or something? What kind of President will tell people to shop after terrorists attacked the twin towers?
The Story of Stuff made me feel like a bad person which is a good thing because it makes my will to make the world a better place even stronger. I was also kind of mad about how many toxins companies put into our everyday things. What do they want to kill us or something? They do know killing us means less people to buy their products right?
Recycling is good but compared to the fast rate the earths resources are declining it’s not good enough.
So really think about every wrapper you throw on the floor or every plug you leave plugged because we could all be that much closer to loosing our planet.
October 8th, 2010 at 9:09 am
The Story of STUFF
The first time I heard the story of stuff I thought Mr. Chung was loosing it but when I saw the whole thing I was ready to thank Mr. Chung, I never would of realized this. Somewhere in the story of stuff it said 99% of the stuff we buy is trashed in 6 months, but people still have still have a large amount of stuff in fact knowing how much stuff is trashed, people still have too much stuff.
Really? How does this happen? Well its how much people contribute to the golden arrow or buy stuff that is of no use or things that are of use but eventually are thrown away because they are made to break.
I don’t think you will remember this but at the very beginning of the year Mr. Chung had to replace a projector because he had it for a few years and that is saying that computers are meant to break.
If we just made every thing recyclable we just chop down maybe 6% of the worlds trees and it will stay that way and even better if we really make everything recyclable the trees will eventually grow back. If this could happen the stores\companies will be happy people will reduce buying thing that we really don’t need and we will be happy
And it is overall a better system.
-clark
October 8th, 2010 at 2:45 pm
In the story of STUFF, I learned that we don’t pay full price for the things we buy. The people who really pay for it are the people who’s land was destroyed to build factory’s and so many things were taken that now there gone. Doesn’t it remind you of someone…US! Yes, we are the people who pay full price for our things and some of all the other peoples stuff on the mainland. This is because of the process of stuff. They come and mess up or land for there own needs. That leaves are natural resources out of the picture.
Now that I learned about stuff, I realized what’s happening to us. We are not treated the way that people on the mainland. Well why aren’t we? Why do we pay? Maybe we are only here to pay for there cost. Maybe that’s the main target for Hawai’i in the U.S. Un till we find out we should fight the bigger, unfair, dishonest country.
It’s very difficult to stop this process because it’s become so strong overtime and it has become of our everyday things. We are so attached that we don’t even know that it is happening. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Maybe on the mainland there okay with it, but we are not. It only takes a whole state to change a country.
To change this step by step, I am going to buy less and encourage people to do the same. And also to complain about this to the government. We can all try to save the earth and stop the process. In conclusion I say that now you know what is going on and you have the power to change it.
October 8th, 2010 at 2:55 pm
The Story of Stuff
By Nicholas Wong #24
Did you ever wonder where your toys, electronics, common household items and even this computer came from? Well Annie Leonard did and she found out that everything (products) is based on a cycle (material economy) produced after WWII by a man named Victor Lebow who was an economist and a retail analyst. He said “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 we need things consumed, burned up, replaced and discarded at an ever-accelerating rate.” Thus said, that was the start of the material economy cycle, which has five steps:
1. Extraction/Natural Resource Exploitation/Trashing the Planet
We cut down trees blow up mountains for metals and wipe out animals. We are pushing it to the limit by using up too much of our precious resources 1/3 of our planets natural resources GONE! Used up. In the US there’s less than 4% of our original forests that were probably cut down and turned into houses or tables. Just like how the waterways near Pu’uloa are contaminated and undrinkable, 40% of the water in the mainland is just the same, polluted. Now where does US go when they run out of resource you say? Well they go somewhere in the world with alot of resources like Hawaii and say that it’s our resources but somehow ended up on your land. Guess how that later looks, trashed tress cut down, water and air polluted and the indigenous people or Hawaiians are still there with nothing to live off of and are forced to move into cities and become factory workers because they don’t own any companies and are not rich so that brings me to my next subject, production.
2. Production
We now add all of the natural resources using energy with chemicals to then make toxic contaminated products. There are over 100,000 synthetic chemicals in household commons and listen to this, only a handful of them were tested to see if they had any health impacts and none of them were tested to see what the effects are when they interact with the other chemicals we face everyday. So as long as we put toxics into our factories we will get toxic contaminated products out. Toxics in toxics out.
3. Distribution/Selling The Toxic Contaminated Products as Quickly as Possible
The keys for these companies is to keep the prices low and the inventory moving they can do this because they really don’t pay the workers much and skip on giving healthcare benefits as often as they can. Another big factor is Externalized Cost what that means is that we aren’t really paying for the stuff we buy what do mean we don’t pay for the stuff we buy you say. Well say you have a pack of baseball cards how much do you think it cost to ship it, produce it and assemble it? Don’t you think it is much more than the $3.49 you pay for it? If I don’t pay for it you say than who does? Well the people in the Third world pay for it because they lost their homes, the people in the factories lose it with increasing risks of asthma and cancer and the worker who help pick it out has to pay for their own healthcare and that’s what I mean of Externalizing cost.
4. Consumption/The Heart of The System/What Drives The System
Consumption is the motor or the backbone of the whole process without it the whole process is dead that’s why after 9/11 and President Bush could of said to pray, hope, grieve but he said to SHOP! That’s how important this step is. Did you know that 99% of products that flow through this cycle is thrown out in 6 months after bought. There are two things that companies do one is planned obsolescence what planned obsolescence means is that their product is “Designed for the dump” Or in other words made so that it can break down in a fast time so consumers just have to by a new one, but hey can’t I just fix it you say? The answer is actually no because at rapid speeds these companies are making new models and turns out the piece that breaks down and that you want to change is a small little chip that each new model has a different size so you got to chuck it or throw the whole thing out. Then you see advertisements. Did you know that the average human sees about 3,000 advertisements a day and guess what those advertisements say they say that you are in style right now and tell you to go buy it, then you buy it and go to work to get the money that you spent back, then once you are home you watch more TV and your back on this cycle when you could just stop and say enough is enough.
5. Disposal
Do you want to know a fact that we have to change? Well did you know that the average Joe (you and me) produce 4.5 Lbs a day! That’s a lot or actually too much that we are throwing out and guess where are trash goes right to our landfills and if you unlucky it gets burned and that creates super toxics that are released into our air and that is what is hurting our ozone layer and causing global warming so we actually stop the most harmful gas known to science if we just stop burning our rubbish.
Finally in closing I hope for the sake of our magnificent world that we live on I ask the public to contribute to the cause of going green by recycling, picking opala, planting native trees such as koa and iliili and by helping in any way will help Mother earth. Malama Ike ‘aina (care for the land) Nana I ke kumu (look t the source)
October 8th, 2010 at 3:48 pm
How did watching this video change your paradigm about “stuff?”
Why is it difficult to stop this process of “stuff?”
What can you do personally to help this situation?
The stuff video changed my paradigm a lot. It made me see are world and how we are over using and destroying our land and its resources. It also made me think about how much toxins go into our everyday stuff. Business people take other people’s resources that have been living there for generations and make them work for them because they have nothing else to lose.
It is difficult because everyone is so used to it they can’t stop. When we buy a computer and one small thing is not working right, then you got to go buy a whole new computer because the next piece is different from the old piece. If you see a commercial that says star shirts are in then you go to the store and buy that expensive star shirt, then you have to go and pay it off by going to work, then you come home and then the commercial says stars are out then you just keep going in that same process. This is why business people have so much money because they have so much things that can persuade you into buying junk you don’t need.
I can recycle things I don’t need or donate it to somebody else who is less fortunate than I am. Another thing I can do is stop wasting and try and use that item until it can’t be used any more. The thing I think that would do a lot of help is to save, reduce reuse, and recycle. That would be awesome if we could all do that.
October 8th, 2010 at 3:51 pm
We watched The Story of Stuff. this is the process extraction, production, distribution, consumption and disposal. This is called the material economy.
1) Extraction is a fancy word for natural resources exportation which is a fancy word for trashing the planet.
2) Production means to use energy to mix toxic chemicals in with natural resources to make toxic contaminated products.
3) Distribution means to sell all the toxic contaminated products as soon as possible.
4) Consumption
• The golden arrow is the heart of the cycle
• Planned obsolescence means that the products that are designed for the dump
• Perceived obsolescence means to get us to throw something out that is perfectly fine
5) Disposal means to throw away our trash.
Did you know this about what you do with your stuff?
• More than 50% of our tax money goes to military
• 1/3 of the earth’s natural resources space has been consumed
• U.S has less than 4 % of our natural resources left
• 40% of water has become undrinkable
• We have 5% of the world’s population but we are using 30% of the stuff
• 80% of planets original forests are gone
• 2,000 trees a minute are being cut down in the Amazon alone
• 200,000 people a day move to the city
• 4,000,000,000 lbs. of POLLUTION gets released a year
• After 9/11 President Bush told us go out and shop
• We are on a work, watch and spend treadmill
It is so hard to stop the process of stuff because whenever people see something new on TV they always want the new thing so they won’t stand out. They want the new thing because they think that if you don’t have what’s in style people will think you’re weird.
October 8th, 2010 at 9:55 pm
After viewing the video, it made me realize the effects of all the stuff I have, even my small lego pieces. I was surprised that only 1% of things brought after 6 months is still being used, and more than half of our taxes goes to pay for our military. I’m thinking I have too much stuff and will rethink my Christmas wishes.
Its hard to stop the process of stuff because there are good people on t.v. and in the stores that make you want to buy more things. For example, I was happy with my gameboy until the DS came out. Also you see and want your friends have. People get addicted and they are on cycle of working, watching and buying.
I can help the process by giving more worthy gifts from the heart, like my time or drawings, not bought gifts. I can also ask for these things in return. I can make better use of things I have and not buy more stuff.
October 10th, 2010 at 7:26 pm
We watched a video, “The Story of Stuff.” It changed my paradigm in a big way and made me think twice when I wanted to buy something. Turns out, in only six months all of our household items that were “cool” gets thrown out. Every time me and my dad have a yearly house clean-up I noticed that I donʻt use most of the stuff I have bought recently. That pops up in my mind a lot now that I have watched “The Story of Stuff.” I mean, we have a room in our house just to store junk that we do not use anymore. We donʻt think of it that way but if you have watched “The Story of Stuff,” then you will start thinking about how much you waste every day. Practically every month I seem to stop playing with the things I have or someone else has bought me. I start wondering,”How much money is all this worth?” If you add it all up it comes to an extremely large amount that just seems to be growing and growing even bigger as a new advertisement comes out. Now I watch out for the things I buy and the amount of times I keep asking my parents,”Can I please have that? All of my friends have it, it will make me cool.” Friends, they can make and awfully big impact on what you buy. Peer pressure, of course, thatʻs what I need to look out for. Itʻs so hard to stop this because people keep getting influenced by advertisements and friends. Factories will not stop making things because they make a lot of money from it. If people stop making cigarettes then someone else will and they will make a fortune, not the original people. I can help by spreading the word to others by telling people who are high in authority, like the president or a politician. They should know what is going on in the world and since they are so high in authority people will listen to them.
When we develop things in factories and use our cars that run on gas, we are trashing the planet. We release toxics into the air that we can prevent by using electric cars and stopping big factories that destroy the planet. In the movie “Wall-e,” earth is so polluted that they need to live in a separate world where all that happens is that people just get fatter and fatter from being lazy. If we donʻt stop and look around to see the beauty of the earth then our world will be a dump where no one wants to live. The whole reason that there is so much trash is because we keep buying things on a daily basis. Itʻs like we are always on a treadmill, watch television, shop, watch television, shop. I donʻt want to live in hat kind of world. We can partially blame big companies like “Apple.” They donʻt make computers to last forever. One little piece might not work after two years. So you go buy a new piece, but it does not fit. Why, might you ask. Well they do that so you will have to buy a whole other computer. One time me and my sister were playing on the computer together. All of a sudden the screen turned black and we did not know what to do. My dad tried to fix the computer and his co-worker tried to fix it, but they could not. So we had to buy a whole other computer.
In December I always tell myself,”Ooohh, Christmas is coming soon. I want this, and that, and this, and that…” It just goes on forever, like I have had no toys all my life. I watch out for that now, leaving a good eye on my spendings. Barely anyone can control that though. Advertisements are everywhere, on billboards, on websites, and even on your ipod and ipad apps. My dad has an ipad, and he got this game called, “Nin-Jump.” So right when he started playing it they asked him if he wanted no advertisements. Of course he said no because you had to pay a dollar a month for no advertisements. I would not pay for no advertisements either because I donʻt really pay attention to them especially because I donʻt want to be lured into buying more stuff.
I like the earth just the way it is, but it could use more clean up. There is so much pollution and the only way to fix is to stop polluting. Itʻs not very hard, all you need is some self discipline. I do not pollute because all you need to do is throw stuff in the trash can. I hope everyoneʻs paradigm will change because then they will finally think about their stuff.
October 12th, 2010 at 6:09 am
The story of stuff changed my paradigm about stuff because I never knew there was so many toxics in the world.And I was sacared to sleep on my pillow that night because our pillows are made out of toxics.It also changed my paradigm about shopping because when I watch TV it says to buy this and and you’ll be cooler.But it ends up going right into the trash in about a month.Shopping especially changed my paradigm when 9-11 happened because when everyone was sad and hurt President Bush said “Go Shopping”.He didnt say everything is okay and to protect one another he said to shop.
It is hard to stop the process of stuff because people dont know how wastful they are.Like me, I had to move and I had a bunch of toys that i ended up giving away or throwing away.Now i know better.The whole cycle is work, watch tv, go shopping, pay your taxes and it goes on and on and on.Everyone wants the new fashion, the fashion goes into trash in a month then its the new fashion.
I can help by doing my part in the world by recycling and buying what really, really, really want from the store.I can also tell others about this vidio and hope that they realize at how much this vidio can change us.
October 12th, 2010 at 8:15 am
When I watched the video, Story of Stuff,I learned alot, and made connections to text, and to myself.
My connection to text is to the Lorax because in the S.O.S, (Story of Stuff) the lady explained that when the big industries took resources from the land, they were greedy, and thats why there are so little trees and resources left. I also believe that the onceler from the Lorax is like the big industries because they both only care about the enviorment, and look where it got the onceler. I think that if the big industries don’t stop and look around, our world will be like the onecler’s.
The connection that I made from S.O.S to myself is that like in S.O.S., the lady said that most of us care only about the newest item , and just throw away the other perfectly good item. This kind of relates to me because sometimes I have a perfectly good toy that I am happy with, untill I see a toy that is brand new and I imedietely want it. Luckily, my mom does not let me buy these things, and now I understand why.
October 12th, 2010 at 8:26 am
The story of stuff changed my paradigm of stuff because now I know why stuff breaks so easily and what happens during the making of stuff. Things like cutting down trees and letting out toxic fumes into the air and many more horrible things. I think we shouldn’t buy extra “Stuff”. It is hard to stop the making of stuff because the producers are making lots of money because people like us keep buying and buying more and more stuff. The producers keep making so much money so they will not want to stop because that will make them lose money. I think we can each help by not buying extra stuff so that the producers will get less money and try to find a better way to make things and when they’re doing that maybe the will see what is going on in the world around them.
October 12th, 2010 at 8:49 am
The story of stuff was an inspiring story that changed my paradigm because it taught me to use my things to it’s full extent. I learned that companies use planned obsolence. That means that companies design objects to break within 5 years or less. I learned not to waste and that 99% of the things that we use are trashed within the next six months. We are running this earth into the and the big corporations don’t even care. They are greedy and only want two things: money and power. We are running out of trees, resources and air. Right now 2,000 trees are being cut down per minute. Less then 4% of original forests still remain. Companies such as apple change ONE chip in the whole computer After the tragedy of 9-11 President Bush told people to shop. He didn’t even care about the lives lost. He wanted people to shop.
Another thing that the story of stuff taught me was about the toxins that pollute the air every single day. We create 4,000,000 pounds of toxins every year, and that’s only what the government permits. An average family of 4 creates 4 pounds of garbage each day. Dioxion is the worst toxin and it is a man made substance. I just wanted to say that this video was very educational and I am going to go green
October 12th, 2010 at 12:32 pm
I think the story of stuff is very honest in what there trying to tell us. This is because of the things we are doing to the world like polluting, releasing gasses, and littering that now 2000 trees are dying every single minute.
This is not helping us since the amazon is the worlds lungs. We would never be able to recover from oxygen without it. One question Would you rather live or die?
October 12th, 2010 at 6:37 pm
The Story of Stuff changed my paradigm about “stuff” in other words I am more aware of what goes around. When people make pillows, they put poisons in the pillow…and we SLEEP ON THE PILLOW!! They showed us the whole system about how poisons get in the air, and how people make us buy things: you go to work all day, go home and you watch T.V. and they say:”Go get this!!”, so you have to go to the store buy whatever that is new, then go to work, then go home then watchT.V., then go to the store to buy something, ect. It is like we are living on one big tredmel! So now that I watched The Story of Stuff, I am more aware what goes around
October 12th, 2010 at 6:52 pm
The Story of Stuff changed my paradigm about”stuff”, in other words, I am more aware of what goes around because all we basically do is go on a life tredmel, because all we do is go to work, come home, watch T.V., then they say “You Suck!!”, so you have to go to the store, buy whatevers, then go to work, ect. We are living on a big tredmel! Then all the waist turns into poisons gets into the air, and that is problly why we have asthma now!
October 12th, 2010 at 7:08 pm
the story of stuff is a well a story of stuff.But not any kind of stuff important stuff.Some important stuff I learned from the story of stuff are that first of all that the US goverment only lets electronics work for 2 to 3 years.To me that is unfair because it is a waste of money. Another important thing that I learned is that there are toxins in our pillow.WHO IN THIS WORLD WOULD WANT THEIR HAIR CATCHING ON FIRE WHILE SLEEPING????Thats what it looks like they are doing trying to kill us.What I am trying to say is that they could make a better system where they do not damage the land and most importantly not to make our hair catch on fire while we are sleeping.
October 12th, 2010 at 7:51 pm
The video of “stuff” is very facsinating yet sorrowful because of this economy. Did you know that there is toxin in our pillows. Isn’t that scary?! There is toxin in our pillows which makes it flamable. If it’s flamable and anyday our hair can catch on fire. Isn’t that cool but frightening to know that anyday our hair can catch on fire. If my hair caght on fire I would go running around screaming and going crazy.
Did you know that when we cut our trees down and there is no more left we go to a different land and start cutting? Worst of all is that over 1,000 trees that are being cut down at the Amazon everyday sometimes every second. This information is amazing right but you haven’t heard it all.!
When we go shopping only 1% of what we bought after 6months is only used. After 9/11 President Bush told everyone to go shopping. Our lives is based on a circle. We shop,work,and watch t.v. Our world does not fit in a puzzle piece anymore.
October 12th, 2010 at 8:00 pm
The amazing video of the Lorax is very cool but sad at the same time. This is like the Hawaiians because the Lorax and his friends were kicked out of their homes and they were there first. It is simalar to the Hawaiians because we were kicked off our lands my foreigners from England and other places in the world. When we were kicked off of our land we became the workers of these foreigners that came. The most terrible thing that happened to Hawai’i was the overthrow of Queen Lili’uokalani and our Hawaiian kingdom was lost by foreigners who forced her to sign eventhough those people were telling the fellow people of the land that she decided to sign it but the people who were saying that was useing propaganda.
October 13th, 2010 at 7:24 am
The Story of Stuff
If we continue to abuse our aina, we might end up losing everything we own. Our beautiful land will become a waste land. In the Amazon, 2000 trees are being cut down every minute. This is critical for clean oxygen. There is garbage in the ocean that is polluting our water. 40% of the U.S water is undrinkable. Most of our trash is put in the ocean. Our air is filled with toxins and the climate is changing.
We need to manage our resources. We take more than our share. For example the U.S has about 5% of the world’s population, but we use 30% of the land resources. Just in one decade, we lost one third of our resources. It seems like we have a third world to put all our trash and we just destroy that place too. If we keep on living like this we will have nothing left. But if we all work together we can try to stop this.
Our government and leaders are an important factor in leading the way to manage our resources. They should be more responsible in using our resources wisely and be careful in using other countries resources. I feel really bad for all the countries that the U.S took from and now they lost some of their land like how the Hawaiians lost their land and their resources. We need to think more globally because we all connected. Our leaders must make more laws to stop the polluting of our land, air and water. They need to encourage alternative energy such as wind farms and solar panels.
Corporations also must be more responsible in helping us manage our resources. They must not just think about the money. One way they make money is to manufacture cheap products which are meant to last for a short while so that you have to buy more. For instance, the computer chips always need to be changed, but because of the way the manufacture designs the computer, the whole computer needs to be replaced. They should try to make products that last longer and use less resource.
It is also important for individuals to help in managing our resources. Watching this video changed my thinking by making me more aware of everything. For example, I never realized there were three main things we do. We work, but when we get home we are so tired. Then we watch TV and all the ads make you feel as though you have to buy something like a shirt. Then you go shopping and then you have to go back to work to pay of the shirt you just bought. You go home and watch TV because you are so tired from work and then the same cycle starts all over again.
One way I can help with this situation is I can buy less and only buy what I need. Another way I can help is to try and reduce my litter and help clean the beaches. I can help people become aware of what they are doing like how they say we just do the three basic things in our life: work, watch TV, shop and repeat this cycle. When I found out about this, I thought that it was so true and I bet many others can relate to that too. In the future, when I am able to drive and buy a car I will buy an electric car or hopefully an air car. I can tell my family what I learned and make them more aware of what is going on. This is something we all must work together to make our world better.
October 13th, 2010 at 10:29 am
Watching the movie “Story About Stuff” changed my paradigm because before I watched this movie my paradigm about the cycle to make “stuff” was simple: Workers in factories had machines and tools to make things, then they delivered them to stores and the stores sold them to us. Yet, I never truly looked deeper in the story to find out how many people were in the process of that one thing that I consider “stuff”. Now, my paradigm has shifted to being thankful and grateful for everything I have because now I realize the process of my “stuff” and I do not agree with the cycle because it is very hurtful to people and places, on our land.
It is difficult for us Hawaiians to stop this process of “stuff” because we have no control over where our money goes and why our land is getting destroyed because we are forced to do these things, we have no choice, it is not an option. Even thought Hawaiians don’t have a choice I will try and help by, buying less and being more thankful and appreciative for what I have because knowing that so many people paid for my “wants”.
A strong quote that I connect to this topic is “want is a different word than need”. I connect this quote to the Story Of Stuff because if we don’t want as much then the cycle wouldn’t need to circulate, because the cycle was made because of peoples wants.
October 17th, 2010 at 3:03 pm
Hi Mr. Chung, Mrs. Burgess, and Wailele a me Wailana,
Mr. Chung don’t delete this. I miss elementary a lot!! But middle school is pretty good I guess. I came to visit you guys but you had already left and only Mrs. Burgess was there. I was looking forward to seeing both of you. I tried out for KDC and I made it, it’s fun! I love dancing and have decided that cheerleading is NOT my area that I belong in and I would do much better in performing arts… except singing… Definitely not that, how have you guys been? miss both of you guys and I have something to say to BOTH Wailele and Wailani.
Dear Wailele and Wailani,
You guys are really lucky to have Mr. Chung and Mrs. Burgess! Don’t ever think different about that. Always pay attention. You guys probably think that Mr. Chung doesn’t see you talking… but he does. And make sue that you get a head start on being used to turning in your work on time that way you won’t have to worry about it next year or all through middle school. Make sure you guys REACH HIGH FOR THE STARS. Well hopefully I will see you guys around sometime.
October 20th, 2010 at 9:44 pm
Hi Mr. Chung and Mrs. Burgess I loved this video last year and I wanted to share some things about this video and tie the facts to real life.
In The Story of Stuff you can learn so much about the ways people want to trick you into buying things you don’t need and then dumping them. That’s why you have to think before you purchase something. Three great questions that get the job done is
1.Do I NEED this?
2.How long will this last?
3.Are the products in this harmful to the environment in anyway?
In sixth grade we are learning about the land and nature. We’ve been focusing so much on trying to save the planet. I had nothing to do and decided to check out the old fifth grade class blog. I was happy to see that more people were getting to watch The Story of Stuff. I thought how all of the things we are learning in sixth grade ties into this video.
I know that fifth grade is focused on caring for the water or the wai. I figured I would give you an interesting fact to tell the students of Wailele a me Wailani. It takes twice as much water to make a pastic water bottle than the amount of water in it. So if you really want to help preserve the water don’t use plastic water bottles.
I hope your classes strive to be a true kanaka maoli. Also to love the land and care for the land.
Bye Mr. Chung and Mrs. Burgess
October 21st, 2010 at 7:16 pm
Hi Mr.Chung and Mrs.Burgess! I loved this video too in 5th grade! I just wanted to share some facts and a little about what I learned.
Ok so this is some of the stuff that I’ve learned from this video plus 6th grade. First of all over consumption is a major part in killing our Earth. Advertisers and product sellers are always getting you to buy stuff that you don’t need. They get you to buy things such as the i-touch, i-pod, etc. and we end up throwing it out. And do we really know how much resources are wasted and destroyed making those things? A lot of carbon is emitted from the machines into the air and they destroy habitats in the process of getting materials from the land. This affects us too because if there’s no plants there’s no oxygen and no us. If there’s no animals there’s no food and there is no us. If you didn’t realize it, nothing is really about us, it’s about our planet! We need to change and take responsibility! Our planet needs us to fix the problems we created!
Trust me I really have a lot to say. If I were actually including all that I know now this thing would be very long. But I don’t want to totally bore you so I made it short.
In 6th grade we are learning a lot about going eco-friendly and healing the Earth. We did a huge Malama Aina project and it really taught me a lot. Some things I learned is that many polar bears are drowning because of global warming melts the ice caps.I learned a lot of interesting things from you, Mr.Chung and I hope your class listens in class like we did…(yea right!!) Just kidding we listened! Mr.Chung you really did know what you were talking about.
I hope that your class gets a lot of information out of that video and that by the end of the year they learn the true meaning of being a kanaka maoli and staying in touch with the land.
P.S. If your class reads this, I learned a lot in 5th from Mr.Chung so always listen good in class and if you ever make him mad just give him some coke. It always makes him feel a little better! Oh and Tai’s really do prepare you for 6th grade so do them! I loved 5th grade and enjoy it guys cause 6th grade is very different!
Ok.. bye Mr.Chung! I miss you!!! Oh and you better not be showing them our video’s and making fun! Ok, bye!!