La Historia de las cosas (Subtitulada)

Summary

El guion explora el sistema económico de materiales, desde la extracción hasta la eliminación, y cómo es insostenible en un planeta finito. Expone la crisis ambiental y social causada por un sistema lineal, la desigualdad en la distribución del poder y recursos, y la obsolescencia programada. Se aboga por un cambio hacia un modelo sostenible y equitativo, enfocándose en la química verde, la producción de ciclo cerrado, la energía renovable y la economía local, para construir un futuro más justo y sostenible.

Takeaways

• 📦 La economía de materiales es un sistema lineal que extrae, produce, distribuye, consume y desecha, y esto está en crisis porque no se puede sostener en un planeta finito.
• 🌍 Hemos consumido un tercio de los recursos naturales del planeta en las últimas tres décadas, y muchos recursos están al borde del agotamiento.
• 🛠 El sistema de producción mezcla productos naturales con químicos tóxicos, lo que resulta en productos contaminados y peligrosos para la salud humana y el medio ambiente.
• 💰 El verdadero costo de los productos no se refleja en el precio que pagamos; los recursos y la salud de las personas que los producen y los consumen se ven afectados negativamente.
• 🛒 La obsolescencia programada y percibida son estrategias utilizadas para mantener el flujo constante de consumo, llevando a una gran cantidad de desperdicio de recursos.
• 🛍 Los consumidores en los EE. UU. compran y descartan productos a un ritmo insostenible, con un 99% de los productos siendo desechados dentro de los seis meses posteriores a su compra.
• ♻️ Aunque el reciclaje ayuda, no es suficiente para resolver el problema, ya que la mayoría de los productos no están diseñados para ser reciclables.
• 🔥 La incineración de desechos produce sustancias químicas extremadamente tóxicas, como la dioxina, que es la más tóxica creada por el hombre.
• 🤝 El problema es sistémico, pero hay múltiples puntos de intervención, desde la conservación de bosques hasta el comercio justo y el consumo consciente.
• 🔄 La solución radica en transformar el sistema lineal en uno circular, basado en sostenibilidad, química verde, cero residuos, energía renovable y economías locales.

Q & A

¿Qué es la economía de materiales y cómo se define el proceso que ella describe?

La economía de materiales es un sistema que abarca la extracción, producción, distribución, consumo y disposición de bienes. Se describe como un proceso desde la extracción de recursos naturales hasta su transformación, distribución, consumo y, finalmente, eliminación o reciclaje.

¿Por qué es el sistema de economía de materiales considerado una crisis?

El sistema es considerado una crisis porque es lineal y se ejecuta indefinidamente en un planeta finito. Esto conduce a un agotamiento de recursos, impacto ambiental y una serie de problemas sociales y económicos que chocan con límites reales que el diagrama del sistema no refleja.

¿Cuál es la relación entre las corporaciones y el gobierno en el contexto de la economía de materiales?

Las corporaciones, al crecer en tamaño y poder, han llegado a tener más influencia que el gobierno en muchos casos. Esto ha llevado a un cambio en el gobierno, donde se muestra más preocupación por el bienestar de las corporaciones que por el del pueblo.

¿Qué impacto tiene la extracción de recursos naturales en el planeta?

La extracción de recursos naturales, también conocida como explotación de recursos naturales, conduce a la deforestación, la destrucción de montañas, el agotamiento de aguas y la extinción de animales, lo que a su vez provoca un agotamiento de recursos y un impacto negativo en el medio ambiente.

¿Cómo se relaciona el consumo en masa con la creación de desechos?

El consumo en masa, impulsado por la economía de materiales, resulta en una gran cantidad de productos que son desechados en un corto período de tiempo. Esto crea una gran cantidad de desechos que no solo llenan vertederos sino que también afectan negativamente al medio ambiente.

¿Qué es la obsolescencia planificada y cómo afecta a los productos que consumimos?

La obsolescencia planificada es un proceso intencional por el cual los productos son diseñados para ser obsoletos lo antes posible, lo que nos motiva a deshacernos de ellos y comprar nuevos. Esto contribuye a la creación de más desechos y a un ciclo continuo de producción y consumo.

¿Por qué la percepción de obsolescencia es un factor clave en el consumo?

La percepción de obsolescencia nos convence para deshacernos de cosas que aún son útiles, basándonos en cambios estéticos o de diseño. Esto nos motiva a comprar productos nuevos para mantener la apariencia de estar al día con las tendencias, lo que a su vez impulsa el consumo y la generación de desechos.

¿Cómo afectan los anuncios publicitarios a nuestra percepción de valor y satisfacción?

Los anuncios publicitarios, al ser expuestos a una tasa de más de 3,000 al día en los EE. UU., nos hacen sentir insatisfechos con lo que tenemos y nos impulsan a comprar cosas nuevas para sentirnos mejor, lo que contribuye a un ciclo de consumo insalubre.

¿Qué implicaciones tiene el uso de químicos tóxicos en la producción de bienes?

El uso de químicos tóxicos en la producción puede resultar en productos contaminados que luego se liberan en el hogar, la escuela y otros espacios, lo que tiene un impacto en la salud humana y el medio ambiente, especialmente en las personas que trabajan en fábricas y en las comunidades cercanas a las fábricas.

¿Por qué la recolección de residuos no es suficiente para abordar el problema de la economía de materiales?

La recolección de residuos, aunque es positiva, no es suficiente porque solo aborda la punta del iceberg. La mayoría de la contaminación y la generación de desechos ocurren en la producción, y muchos desechos no son reciclables debido a su composición tóxica o diseño anti-reciclaje.

¿Qué alternativas propone el guionista para transformar el sistema de economía de materiales en uno más sostenible?

El guionista propone alternativas como la química verde, la producción de ciclo cerrado, la energía renovable, el vivir local y la economía equitativa, que buscan crear un sistema que no desperdicie recursos ni personas y que opere de manera sostenible y justa.

Outlines

00:00

🌏 Economía de los materiales y crisis del sistema lineal

El primer párrafo explora el sistema económico de los materiales, desde la extracción hasta la eliminación, y cómo este modelo lineal entra en crisis debido a la naturaleza finita del planeta. El hablante, tras investigar durante diez años, concluye que este sistema no es sostenible y está en crisis, afectando a sociedades, culturas, economía y el medio ambiente. Se menciona la importancia de las personas en el sistema, la desigualdad de poder y el papel del gobierno y las corporaciones en esta dinámica.

05:01

🌿 Problemas ambientales y la explotación de recursos naturales

Este párrafo se enfoca en la extracción de recursos y sus consecuencias, como la deforestación, la explotación de minas y la contaminación del agua. Se destaca que el planeta está agotando sus recursos naturales a un ritmo alarmante, y que el consumo excesivo de los Estados Unidos representa un problema, ya que usa y produce un porcentaje desproporcionado de recursos y residuos en comparación con su población. La respuesta a esta limitación es la expansión hacia terceres países, lo que conduce a una mayor degradación ambiental y social.

10:02

🏭 Producción industrial y exposición a sustancias tóxicas

El tercer párrafo discute cómo la producción industrial implica la mezcla de recursos naturales con químicos tóxicos, creando productos contaminados. Se menciona la preocupante cantidad de sustancias químicas sintéticas en el comercio que no han sido completamente evaluadas en términos de impacto en la salud. Los efectos de estas sustancias en la cadena alimentaria y en el cuerpo humano, especialmente en lactantes y trabajadores expuestos, se resaltan como un problema significativo, así como la externalización de los costos reales de producción por parte de las empresas.

15:04

🛍️ Consumo desenfrenado y obsolescencia programada

El cuarto párrafo aborda el concepto de consumismo y cómo se ha convertido en una forma de vida, con el objetivo de mantener los precios bajos y el flujo de ventas. Se critica la obsolescencia programada y la obsolescencia percibida, que incentivan el reemplazo constante de bienes aún útiles. El impacto de la publicidad y los medios de comunicación en la percepción de valor y la insatisfacción con lo que se posee se mencionan como factores que impulsan el consumismo.

20:06

🗑️ Problemas de disposición y la necesidad de un cambio de mentalidad

El último párrafo analiza el problema del desperdicio y la disposición de los productos, destacando que la mayoría de los materiales utilizados en la producción no se reciclarán y terminan en vertederos o incineradores. Se argumenta que el reciclaje, aunque positivo, no es suficiente para abordar el núcleo del problema. Se hace un llamado a abandonar la mentalidad de desecho y adoptar un enfoque basado en la sostenibilidad y la equidad, con ejemplos de prácticas innovadoras que ya se están implementando en algunos lugares.

Keywords

💡Economía de materiales

La economía de materiales se refiere al sistema a través del cual los objetos pasan de la extracción a la producción, distribución, consumo y eliminación. Es central en el tema del video, ya que ilustra cómo el consumo excesivo y la producción lineal conducen a una crisis en un planeta finito. El guion menciona este concepto para destacar la interacción entre el sistema de producción y los límites del mundo real.

💡Sistema lineal

Un sistema lineal es uno que sigue un proceso secuencial de extraer, producir, consumir y desechar, sin tener en cuenta la necesidad de sostenibilidad. El video argumenta que este tipo de sistema es problemático ya que no es compatible con la finitud del planeta y conduce a un agotamiento de recursos.

💡Agotamiento de recursos

El agotamiento de recursos se refiere a la rápida disminución de los recursos naturales debido al consumo excesivo y la producción. En el guion, se menciona que en las últimas tres décadas, un tercio del espacio de recursos naturales de la Tierra ha sido consumido, ilustrando la gravedad de la situación.

💡Toxicidad

La toxicidad hace referencia a la presencia de sustancias químicas dañinas en los productos y su impacto en la salud y el medio ambiente. El video destaca la utilización de químicos tóxicos en la producción, como los retardantes de llamas bromodados, que son neurotoxicos y se encuentran en diversos objetos cotidianos.

💡Consumo

El consumo es el núcleo del sistema de economía de materiales y se presenta en el video como una rutina social que se ha convertido en una forma de vida. El guion critica cómo el consumismo ha sido promovido como una solución a la felicidad, lo que ha llevado a un aumento en la producción de bienes y un descuido de otros aspectos importantes de la vida.

💡Obsolescencia planificada

La obsolescencia planificada es la práctica de diseñar productos para que se desprueben o sean obsoletos en un corto período de tiempo, lo que fomenta la compra de reemplazos. El video menciona esta estrategia como una de las herramientas utilizadas por las empresas para mantener el flujo de consumo.

💡Obsolescencia percibida

La obsolescencia percibida se refiere a la sensación de que un producto ya no es útil o está desactualizado, a pesar de que aún funcione correctamente. El guion lo ejemplifica con la moda y los cambios en el diseño de productos tecnológicos, que nos impulsan a comprar cosas nuevas para mantener el estatus percibido.

💡Trabajo forzado

El trabajo forzado implica la explotación laboral de personas que no tienen otra opción debido a la erosión de sus entornos locales. El video menciona que muchas trabajadoras en fábricas, a menudo mujeres en edad fértil, se ven obligadas a trabajar con sustancias tóxicas, lo que refleja un problema ético y social en el sistema de producción.

💡Descarte

El descarte es el último paso en el sistema de economía de materiales, donde los productos se convierten en basura. El video destaca cómo el 99% de los productos se desecho en un plazo de seis meses, subrayando la ineficiencia y el impacto negativo en el medio ambiente.

💡Reciclaje

El reciclaje es presentado en el video como una solución parcial al problema del descarte, ya que reduce la cantidad de residuos y la presión sobre la extracción de nuevos recursos. Sin embargo, el guion argumenta que el reciclaje por sí solo no es suficiente para abordar los problemas fundamentales del sistema lineal de producción.

💡Sostenibilidad

La sostenibilidad es la capacidad de un sistema para mantenerse a largo plazo sin dañar el medio ambiente o los recursos. El video concluye con una llamada a la acción para adoptar un enfoque sostenible y equitativo, como la química verde y la producción de ciclo cerrado, en lugar del actual enfoque de 'tira y reemplaza'.

Highlights

Obsessión con las posesiones y la curiosidad sobre el origen y destino de nuestras cosas.

El sistema de economía de materiales es lineal y en crisis en un planeta finito.

La interacción del sistema económico con la sociedad, la cultura y el medio ambiente revela límites no visibles.

La importancia de las personas en el sistema, y cómo algunas tienen más influencia que otras.

El gobierno y las corporaciones, y cómo las corporaciones pueden ser más poderosas que los gobiernos.

La extracción de recursos naturales y su impacto en el planeta, como la deforestación y la explotación de minas.

La crisis de recursos naturales y la sobreutilización por parte de los países desarrollados.

La explotación de tercermundistas y la problemática de la extracción de recursos en otros países.

La producción con químicos tóxicos y su impacto en la salud y el medio ambiente.

Los retos de la salud pública debido a las sustancias químicas en productos domésticos.

La problemática de la contaminación y cómo se traslada de vuelta a los países desarrollados.

El papel del consumismo en la economía y cómo se ha convertido en una forma de vida.

El concepto de obsolescencia planificada y su impacto en el ciclo de vida de los productos.

La influencia de la publicidad y los medios en la percepción de obsolescencia.

La disminución de la felicidad nacional a pesar del aumento en la posesión de bienes.

El trabajo excesivo y la falta de tiempo para las actividades que realmente aportan felicidad.

La problemática del desperdicio y la necesidad de un cambio en la mentalidad de 'desecho'.

La importancia de la reciclaje pero su insuficiencia para abordar el núcleo del problema.

La necesidad de un sistema sostenible y equitativo basado en la economía circular.

La posibilidad de crear un nuevo sistema basado en la sostenibilidad y la equidad.

Transcripts

do have one of these I got a little

obsessed with mine in fact I got a

little obsessed with all my stuff Have

you ever wondered where all the stuff we

buy comes from and where it goes when we

throw it out I couldn't stop wondering

about that so I looked it up and what

the textbook said is that stuff moves

through a system from extraction to

production to distribution to

consumption to disposal all together

it's called the materials economy well I

looked into it a little bit more in fact

I spent 10 years traveling the world

tracking where our stuff comes from and

where it goes and you know what I found

out that is not the whole story there is

a lot missing from this explanation for

one thing this system looks like it's

fine no problem but the truth is it's a

system in crisis and the reason it's a

system in crisis is it's a linear system

and we live on a finite planet and you

cannot run a linear system on a finite

planet in definitely every step along

the way this system is interacting with

the real world in real life it's not

happening on a blank white page it's

interacting with societies cultures

economies the environment and all along

the way it's bumping up against limits

limits we don't see here because the

diagram is incomplete so let's go back

through let's fill in some of the blanks

and see what's missing well one of the

most important things that's missing is

people yes people people live and work

all along the system and some people in

this system matter a little more than

others some have a little more say who

are they well let's start with the

government now my friends tell me I

should use a tank to symbolize the

government and that's true in many

countries and increasingly in our own

after all more than 50% of our federal

tax money is now going to the military

but I'm using a person to symbolize the

government because I hold true to the

vision and values the government should

be of the People by the people for the

people it's the government's job to

watch out for us to take care of us

that's their job job then Along Came the

corporation now the reason the

corporation looks bigger than the

government is that the corporation is

bigger than the government of the 100

largest economies on Earth Now 51 are

corporations and as the corporation has

grown in size and power we've seen a

little change in the government where

they're a little more concerned in

making sure everything's working out for

those guys than for

us okay so let's see what else is

missing from this picture we'll start

with extraction which is a fancy word

for natural resource exploitation which

is a fancy word for trashing the planet

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 so here we

are running up against our first limit

we are running out of resources we are

using too much stuff now I know this can

be hard to hear but it's the truth so

we've got to deal with it in the past

three decades alone onethird of the

planet's natural resource space has been

consumed gone

we are cutting and Mining and Hauling

and trashing the place so fast that

we're undermining the planet's very

ability for people to live here where I

live in the United States we have less

than 4% of our original forests left 40%

of the waterways have become undrinkable

and our problem is not just that we're

using too much stuff but we're using

more than our share we have 5% of the

world's population but we're using 30%

of the world's resources and creating

30% of the world's waste if everybody

consumed at us rates we would need three

to five planets and you know what we've

only got one so my country's response to

this limitation is simply to go take

somebody else's this is the third world

which some would say is another word for

our stuff that somehow got on somebody

else's land so what does that look like

the same thing trashing the place 75% of

global Fisheries now are fished at or

Beyond capacity 80% of the planet's

original forests are gone in the Amazon

alone we're losing 2,000 trees a minute

that is seven football fields a minute

and what about the people who live here

well according to these guys they don't

own these resources even if they've been

living there for Generations they don't

own the means of production and they're

not buying a lot of stuff and in this

system if you don't own or buy a lot of

stuff you don't have value

so next the materials move to production

and what happens there is we use energy

to mix toxic chemicals in with the

natural resources to make toxic

contaminated products there are over a

100,000 synthetic chemicals in use in

Commerce today only a handful of them

have even been tested for health impacts

and none have been tested for

synergistic Health impacts that means

when they interact with all the other

chemicals were exposed to every day so

we don't know the full impact on health

and the environment of all these toxic

chemicals but we do know one thing

toxics in toxics out as long as we keep

putting toxics into our industrial

production systems we're going to keep

getting toxics in the stuff that we

bring into our homes and workplaces and

schools and duh our bodies like bfrs

brominated flame retardants they're a

chemical that make things more fireproof

but they are super toxic they're are

neurotoxin that means toxic to the brain

what are we even doing using a chemical

like this yet we put it in our computers

our PL liances couches mattresses even

some pillows in fact we take our pillows

we douse them in a neurotoxin then we

bring them home and put our heads on

them for 8 hours a night to sleep now I

don't know but it seems to me in this

country with so much potential we could

think of a better way to stop our heads

from catching on fire at night now these

toxics build up the food chain and

concentrate in our bodies do you know

what is the food at the top of the food

chain with the highest level of many

toxic contaminants human breast milk

that means that we've reached a point

where the smallest members of our

societies our babies are getting the

highest lifetime dose of toxic chemicals

from breastfeeding from their mothers is

that not an incredible violation

breastfeeding must be the most

fundamental human Act of nurturing it

should be sacred and safe now

breastfeeding is still best and mother

should definitely keep breastfeeding but

we should protect it they should protect

it I thought they were looking at out

for us and of course the people who bear

the biggest brunt of these toxic

chemicals are the factory workers many

of whom are women of reproductive age

they're working with reproductive toxins

carcinogens and more now I ask you what

kind of woman of reproductive age would

work in a job exposed to reproductive

toxins except for a woman with no other

option and that's one of the beauties of

this system the erosion of local

environments and economies here ensures

a constant supply of people with no

other option globally 200,000 people a

day are moving from environments that

have sustained them for Generations into

cities many to live in slums looking for

work no matter how toxic that work may

be so you see it's not just resources

that are wasted along this system but

people too whole communities get

wasted yep toxics in toxics out a lot of

the toxics leave the factories in

products but even more leave as

byproduct or pollution and it's a lot of

pollution in the US our industry admits

to releasing over 4 billion pounds of

toxic chemicals a year and it's probably

a lot more cuz that's only what they

admit so that's another limit because

Yak who wants to look at and smell 4

billion pounds of toxic chemicals a year

so what do they do move the dirty

factories overseas pollute someone

else's land but surprise a lot of that

pollution is coming right back at us

carried by wind

currents

so what happens after all these natural

resources are turned into products well

it moves here for distribution now

distribution means selling all the toxic

contaminated junk as quickly as possible

the goal here is to keep the prices down

keep the people buying and keep the

inventory moving how do they keep the

prices down well they don't pay the

store workers very much and they skimp

on health insurance every time they can

it's all about externalizing the costs

what that means is that the real costs

of making stuff aren't captured in the

price in other words we aren't paying

for the stuff we buy I was thinking

about this the other day I was walking

to work and I wanted to listen to the

news so I popped into a Radio Shack to

buy a radio I found this cute little

green radio for

$4.99 I was standing there in line to

buy this thing and I was thinking how

could

$4.99 possibly capture the cost of

making this radio and getting it into my

hands the metal was probably mined in

South Africa the petroleum was probably

drilled in Iraq the Plastics were

probably produced in China and maybe the

whole thing was assembled by some

15-year-old in a macador in Mexico $4.99

wouldn't even pay the rent for the Shelf

space it occupied until I came along let

alone part of the staff guy salary who

helped me pick it out or the multiple

ocean cruises and truck rides pieces of

this radio went on that's how I realized

I didn't pay for the radio so who did

pay well these people paid with the loss

of their natural resource space these

people paid with the loss of their clean

air with increasing asthma and cancer

rates kids in the Congo paid with their

future 30% of the kids in part of the

Congo have dropped out of school to mine

colal tan a metal we need for our cheap

and disposable Electronics these people

even paid by having to cover their own

health insurance all along this system

people pitched in so I could get this

radio for

$4.99 and none of these contributions

are recorded in any accounts book that's

what I mean by the company owners

externalize the true cost of

production and that brings us to the

Golden Arrow of

consumption this is the heart of the

system the engine that drives it it is

so important that protecting this Arrow

has become the top priority for both of

these guys that's why after 911 when our

country was in shock and President Bush

could have suggested any number of

appropriate things to grieve to pray to

hope no he said to shop to shop we have

become a nation of consumers our primary

identity has become that of being

consumers not mothers teachers Farmers

but consumers the primary way that our

value is measured and demonstrated is by

how much we contribute to this Arrow how

much we consume and do we we shop and

Shop and Shop keep the materials flowing

and flow they do guess what percentage

of total materials flow through this

system is still in product or use 6

months after their date of sale in North

America 50% 20 no

1% one in other words 99% of the stuff

we Harvest mine process transport 99% of

the stuff we run through this system is

trashed within 6 months

now how can we run a planet with that

level of materials throughput it wasn't

always like this the average US person

now consumes twice as much as they did

50 years ago ask your grandma in her day

stewardship and resourcefulness and

Thrift were valued so how did this

happen well it didn't just happen it was

designed shortly after World War II

these guys were figuring out how to ramp

up the economy retailing analyst Victor

laau articulated the solution that's

become the norm for the whole system 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

President Eisenhower's Council of

economic advisers chairman said that the

American economy's ultimate purpose is

to produce more consumer goods more

consumer Goods our ultimate purpose not

provide health care or education or Safe

Transportation or sustainability or

Justice consumer goods how did they get

us to jump on board this program so

enthusiastically well two of their most

effective strategies are planned

obsolescence and perceived obsolescence

planned obsolescence is another word for

designed for the dump it means they

actually make stuff to be useless as

quickly as possible so we'll Chuck it

and buy a new one it's obvious with

things like plastic bags and coffee cups

but now it's even big stuff mops DVDs

cameras barbecues even everything even

computers have you noticed that when you

buy a computer now the technology is

changing so fast that in just a couple

of years it's actually an impediment to

communication I was curious about this

so I opened up a big desktop computer to

see what was inside and I found out that

the piece that changes each year is just

a tiny little piece in the corner but

you can't just change that one piece

because each new version is a different

shape so you got to ch the whole thing

and buy a new one so I was reading

industrial design journals from the

1950s when planned obsolescence was

really catching on these designers are

so open about it they actually discuss

how fast can they make stuff break that

still leaves the consumer having enough

faith in the product to go out and buy

another one it was so intentional but

stuff cannot break fast enough to keep

this Arrow afloat so there's also

perceived obsolescence now perceived

obsolescence convinces us to throw away

stuff that is still perfectly useful how

do they do that well they change the way

the stuff looks so if you bought your

stuff A couple of years ago everyone can

tell that you haven't contributed to

this Arrow recently and since the way we

demonstrate our value is contributing to

this Arrow it can be embarrassing like

I've had the same fat white computer

monitor on my desk for 5 years my

coworker just got a new computer she has

a flat shiny Sleek monitor it matches

her computer matches her phone even

penstan she looks like she's driving in

spaceship Central and I I look like I

got a washing machine on my desk fashion

is another prime example of this have

you ever wondered why women's shoe heels

go from fat one year to skinny the next

to Fat to skinny it's not because

there's some debate about which heel

structure is the most healthy for

women's feet it's because wearing fat

heels in a skinny heel year shows

everybody that you haven't contributed

to that arrows recently so you're not as

valuable as that person in skinny heels

next to you or more likely in some ad

it's to keep us buying new

shoes advertisements and media in

general plays a big role in this each of

us in the US is targeted with over 3,000

advertisements a day we see more

advertisements in one year than people

50 years ago saw in a liftime and if you

think about it what's the point of an ad

except to make us unhappy with what we

have so 3,000 times a day we're told our

hair is wrong our skin is wrong our

clothes are wrong our furniture is wrong

our car is wrong we are wrong but it can

all be made right if we just go shopping

media also helps by hiding all of this

and all of this so the only part of the

materials economy we see is the shopping

the extraction production and Disposal

all happens outside of our field of

vision so in the US we have more stuff

than ever before but polls show that our

national happiness is actually declining

our national happiness peak in the 1950s

the same time that this consumption

Mania exploded hm interesting

coincidence I think I know why we have

more stuff but we have less time for the

things that really make us happy friends

family leisure time we're working harder

than ever some analysts say we have less

leisure time than any time since feudal

society and you know what the two main

activities are that we do with the scant

leisure time we have watch TV and Shop

in the US we spend three to four times

as many hours shopping as our

counterparts in Europe do so we're in

this ridiculous situation where we go to

work maybe two jobs even we come home

and we're exhausted so we pl down on our

new couch and watch TV and the

commercials tell us you suck so you got

to go to the mall to buy something to

feel better and then you got to go to

work more to pay for the stuff you just

bought so you come home and you're more

tired so you sit down and you watch more

TV and it tells you go to the mall again

and we're on this crazy work watch spend

treadmill and we could just

stop so in the end what happens to all

the stuff we buy anyway at this rate of

consumption it can't fit into our houses

even though the average house side has

doubled in this country since the 1970s

it all goes out in the garbage and that

brings us to disposal this is the part

of the materials economy we all know the

most because we have to haul the junk

out to the curb ourselves each of us in

the United States makes 4 and2 lbs of

garbage a day that's twice what we each

made 30 years ago all of this garbage

either get stumped in a landfill which

is just a big hole in the ground or if

you're really unlucky first to burned in

an incinerator and then dumped in the

landfill either way they both pollute

the air land water and don't forget

change the climate incineration is

really bad remember those toxics back in

the production stage well burning the

garbage releases the toxics up into the

air even worse it makes new super toxics

like dioxin dioxin is the most toxic

man-made substance known to science and

incinerators are the number one source

of dioxin that means that we could stop

the number one source of the most toxic

man-made substance known just by

stopping burning the trash we could stop

it today now some companies don't want

to deal with building landfills and

incinerators here so they just export

the disposal to what about recycling

does recycling help yes recycling helps

recycling reduces the garbage at this

end and it reduces the pressure to mine

and harvest new stuff at this end yes

yes yes we should all recycle but

recycling is not enough recycling will

never be enough for a couple reasons

first the waste coming out of our houses

is just the tip of the iceberg for every

one garbage can of waste you put out on

the curb 70 garbage cans of waste were

made Upstream just to make the junk in

that one garbage can you put out on the

curb so even if we could recycle 100% of

the waste coming out of our households

it doesn't get to the core of the

problems also much of the garbage can't

be recycled either because it contains

too many toxics or it's designed not to

be recyclable in the first place like

those juice packs where they have layers

of metal and paper and plastic all

smooshed together you can never separate

those for True

recycling so you see it is a system in

crisis all along the way we're bumping

up against limits from changing climate

to declining happiness it's just not

working but the good thing about such an

all-pervasive problem is there are so

many points of intervention there are

people working here on saving forests

here on clean production labor rights

fair trade conscious consuming blocking

landfills and incinerators and very

importantly taking back our government

so that it really is by the people for

the people all of this work is

critically important but things really

start moving when we see the connections

when we see the big picture when people

all along the system get united we can

reclaim and transform this whole linear

system into something new A system that

doesn't waste resources or people you

see what we really need to Chuck is that

old school throwaway mindset there's a

new school of thinking about this stuff

and it's based on sustainability and

Equity things like green chemistry zero

waste closed loop production renewable

energy local living economies it's

already started some say it's

unrealistic too idealistic that it can't

happen I say the ones who are

unrealistic are those who think that we

can continue with the old way they're

dreaming remember that old way didn't

just happen it wasn't like gravity that

we just have to live with people created

it and we're people too so let's create

something new there's a lot of

information on this website about groups

doing incredible work click around get

involved