Video Teaching Children To Respect The Planet Called “Anti-Capitalist”
A 20-minute video about human consumption, The Story of Stuff, is a big hit in classrooms, and causing controversy.
The video was created by Annie Leonard (r), a former Greenpeace employee and an independent lecturer who paints a picture of how American habits result in forests being felled, mountaintops being destroyed, water being polluted and people and animals being poisoned. Ms. Leonard, who describes herself as an “unapologetic activist,” is also critical of corporations and the federal government, which she says spends too much on the military.
It’s been online since the end of 2007, but it’s now gathering steam, as children are becoming more aware of how simple acts like buying cellphones or jeans contribute to hurting the planet. The video fills the gap between what textbooks say about the environment and what we now know scientifically, information that’s become available since most current textbooks were written. And Ms. Leonard explains things in a way that is easily understandable, which is why it’s gaining traction, especially in classrooms.
“We’ll start with extraction, which is a fancy word for natural resource exploitation, which is a fancy word for trashing the planet,” she says at one point. “What this looks like is we chop down the trees, we blow up mountains to get the metals inside, we use up all the water and we wipe out the animals.”
Along with its success, “The Story of Stuff” brings controversy. Mark Zuber, a parent in Missoula, MT, complained to his child’s school that the presentation is anti-capitalist. He got the school board on the case, and they voted the video down, 4-3. And as it gets more popular, expect “The Story of Stuff” to become even more of a lightening rod, as environmentalists embrace its message and regressives whine that it’s an attempt by “liberals” to spread green propaganda.
So is what is put forth in “the story of stuff” untrue ?
Is american materialism/consumerism an off-limits area that should not be addressed ?
May 11th, 2009 at 1:06 am
Sounds like the story of greedy lying unprincipled capitalists enlisting the aid of radical rightwing evangelical fundamentalists in raping the earth and driving the human race ever-faster toward extinction.
average james Reply:
May 11th, 2009 at 1:54 am
Pretty much Rocky,
Did you check out the video ? I liked it.
Bernie-in-Michigan Reply:
May 11th, 2009 at 9:25 am
Sorry to bust your bubble, Liberal, but the manufacturing of a product isn’t the problem but rather the consumption or buying of the product that is the problem, to which we are all to blame. To make it simple in a capitalist economy the market dictates what is manufactured.
If there was NO market for a product it WOULD NOT be manufactured every long if at all.
Rocky the Liberal Rottweiler Reply:
May 11th, 2009 at 9:49 am
“…the manufacturing of a product isn’t the problem…”
Manufacturing IS almost always the problem, because people want tee shirts, but they don’t know how many cents a week you’re paying the kids in your sweatshop to make them.
This medieval concept that supply & demand capitalism cures everything is totally discredited. It’s bull. But if you want to advocate for the Hooker Chemicals and the Union Carbides and the Exxons and the credit card companies and the banks of the world go on shouting into the abyss for as long as you want.
Just remember: when you look into the abyss, the abyss looks into you.
EricG Reply:
May 11th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
Rocky is right. Manufacturing is the problem. If we could just make products out of (more exprensive) bio-degradable materials and do more research on the long term effects of chemicals in the environment … we might not have all the health issues we have today.
RDM Reply:
May 11th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Since the U.S doesn’t manufacturer anything, how can manufacturing be a problem?
Maybe if there was no demand, China would be hurt’in.
Bernie-in-Michigan Reply:
May 11th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
Rocky, your argue lacks gas, if manufacturing is the problem simply don’t buy any manufactured products.
Also, you have confirmed my notion that liberals have a tough time understanding written English. Which part of “to which we are all to blame” don’t you understand. I’ll try to explain it for you slowly.
average james Reply:
May 11th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
I see manufacturing as one of the problems. Consumption though, is the driving force. Consumption creates demand and then the manufacturers bend rules, exploit labor, ravage resources etc.. Not all manufacturers, but a large number to be sure.
If we could conserve more, consume less and be more thrifty and self controlled the market would simply have to change/adapt. It’s kinda happening right now because of this recession. I hope as we get to the other side of this economy we will be smarter for it.
I’d love to see the thriftiness that I see all around me now, continue even after economic recovery.
May 11th, 2009 at 1:33 am
This part is precious: “Mark Zuber, a parent in Missoula, MT, complained to his child’s school that the presentation is anti-capitalist.”
As if capitalism is our form of government. And any sort of criticism amounts to treason.
Ridiculous.
average james Reply:
May 11th, 2009 at 11:12 am
Exactly Sarah,
Consumerism is our form of goverment ? Capitalism ?
Sarah Reply:
May 11th, 2009 at 11:23 am
It sure seems to be, doesn’t it AJ?
I’m glad kids are hearing an alternative viewpoint to “see it, like it, buy it.”
Parents can teach their kids to recycle, not litter, etc., but as long as they’re buying their kids so much junk they have to have a yard sale every year, it’s not going to do much good.
Even more interesting is how dependent on The Grid these kids are. They need their computers, video games, cell phones, iPods, iPhones, digital cameras, etc. I sort of wonder if kids are beginning to become more limited in their imaginations, but maybe not.
May 11th, 2009 at 10:58 am
This is why nobody can have a complete argument on the environmental policies of today. Every time someone intelligent seeks to voice their knowledge and opinion the right wing or some person influenced by them shouts the person down and quickly calls them a communist or a socialist to make sure nobody hears the truth.
JaredfromTexas Reply:
May 11th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
ERIC,
You’re right…if this lady was remotely interested in pushing this agenda…she shouldn’t have gone wacko on it.
Sometimes a more diplomatic approach does a bit more good than screaming in someone’s face…yes?
average james Reply:
May 11th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
I don’t remember any screaming in her production.
I don’t remember any wacko either.
I guess our perceptions are different.
JaredfromTexas Reply:
May 11th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
AVERAGE JAMES,
“Screaming” is a metaphor – you can look that up later.
Instead of saying things like “trashing the planet” and the like…I’m saying that her message might be better received if she used more diplomatic language and tone.
I noticed she was wearing clothes…I wonder what corporation that “trashes the planet” she got those from…
JaredfromTexas Reply:
May 11th, 2009 at 9:44 pm
“wacko” is inherent in her presentation…or is it only anti-liberal agenda people who are labled as wackos?
May 11th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
The original website was slow at buffering, but the YouTube version is full length and was faster.
May 11th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Also follow the ‘check your answers (FAQ)’ link on the original page, and find a link to the ‘annotated script’.
May 11th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Hmmm…I noticed this unapologetic activist only pointed her tree-hugging finger at the US. I’m a bit confused by this because the US is the leader in environmentally safe manufacturing requirements (US-based).
Show me one country who can stand toe-to-toe with the US on this issue.
Of course, it is the responsibility of companies to police their processes based on foreign soil…NIKE is a good example.
Sarah Reply:
May 11th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
“I’m a bit confused by this because the US is the leader in environmentally safe manufacturing requirements (US-based).”
According to who? US manufacturers?
Daddio Reply:
May 12th, 2009 at 9:02 am
Why don’t we all just go back to living in caves. Just knowing that this person is or was a greenpeace activist tells me all I need to know about her. They are a far left wing radical group which uses destructive means many times to get attention.
And how much did she pollute and destroy making her film/video in order to condemn America for polluting and destroying the environment? How much oil did she use to make and mass produce her film/video? She probably used more energy and oil producing and making this film/video than I do in an entire year. Or more.
So don’t preach to me or my children Miss Annie Leonard.
average james Reply:
May 11th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Jared,
I saw this as pointed mainly at the US because that’s who she wants to reach. Of course she aimed at us. Change begins at home, with me. We consume alot. We need to change, even if others do not. Shall we impose on other nations how we think they ought to behave ?
Wouldn’t you say it was out of line for a european to point their tree-hugging finger at us ? Would you feel better if she was pointing at other nations ?
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, the modern conservative mindset wants to ignore our failings(WMD intelligence, torture, habeaus corpus, etc.), while actually imposing our way of life on other sovereign nations(Iraq, Afghanistan).
JaredfromTexas Reply:
May 11th, 2009 at 9:52 pm
AVERAGE JAMES,
First of all, she implied that it was the US “trashing the planet”…at no point was there an implication of any other consumer nation on the planet.
Secondly, pull your head outta your arse…the republicans HAVE, over and over and over again acknowledged the intelligence they received from the Democrat George Tenet was wrong with regards to WMDs in Iraq…habeaus coprus??? Do you really want non-US citizens to have the same rights as US-citizens?? Are you that deluded to think that every other person on this planet deserves the rights afforded to US citizens under the constitution?
And in what way have we imposed our way of life on other sovereign nations? HMMM? Iraq? HA! I don’t see “americanism” springing up in the streets of Baghdad…do you? I don’t see the same thing happening in Afghanistan…do you?
I shouldn’t be surprised…the modern liberal mindset seems to be blame everything on the conservatives and Bush. Nevermind the democrats helped the country go down the tubes…right? Gimme a break.
May 11th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
In the 6th grade I had a wonderfully liberal and environmentalist teacher. This was when banning CFC’s was all the rage, and aerosol cans were the most evil thing ever. We discussed environmental issues often and we were encouraged to read the paper and bring topics to discuss.
I brought an article one day, talking about how Pledge was now converting their aerosol cans to a non CFC propelent, and I said this is a good thing and that we should buy products like Pledge.
My teacher quipped back, I don’t have time to read labels and find out what’s good or bad.
…I thought about it for a minute, then decided that she was crazy and I became fairly anti-environmentalist for many years.
I’m all for turning the lights off, using more efficient appliances, using cars with better gas mileage (until we can get a truly clean car)etc…but I definitely take the messages of hard-core environmentalists with a grain of salt.
The people who think the world is worse today than it was 100 years ago are few and far between.
May 12th, 2009 at 3:22 am
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May 12th, 2009 at 8:33 am