La historia de las cosas - Annie Leonard (Completo)

Summary

El guion explora el ciclo económico de los materiales desde la extracción hasta el descarte, criticando un sistema lineal en un planeta finito. Expone cómo la obsolescencia planificada y la percepción social impulsan una cultura de consumo insostenible, desafiando límites ambientales y afectando la felicidad humana. La narrativa llama a la reflexión y a la acción colectiva para transformar el modelo en uno sostenible, equitativo y basado en la economía circular.

Takeaways

• 🌏 La economía de materiales es un sistema lineal en crisis, que no es sostenible en un planeta finito.
• 🏭 Las corporaciones son más grandes que los gobiernos y su influencia ha cambiado la dinámica de la política y la regulación.
• 🌳 La extracción de recursos naturales está agotando los recursos del planeta y afectando negativamente a las comunidades y el medio ambiente.
• 🔥 La producción de bienes implica el uso de químicos tóxicos, que impactan la salud humana y el medio ambiente.
• 🍼 La exposición a químicos tóxicos es particularmente preocupante para los trabajadores de fábrica y las madres lactantes.
• 🛍️ El consumo masivo y la obsolescencia planificada están impulsados por la industria para mantener el flujo de materiales a través del sistema.
• 📉 El crecimiento del consumo no ha traído mayor felicidad; en realidad, la felicidad nacional ha decaído a pesar de una mayor cantidad de bienes.
• 🗑️ La disposición de los desechos es un problema significativo, ya que la mayoría de los productos terminan en desechos en un corto período de tiempo.
• 🔄 El reciclaje es importante, pero no es suficiente para abordar el núcleo del problema de la sostenibilidad.
• 🌱 Existen alternativas sostenibles basadas en la equidad y la sostenibilidad, que incluyen la química verde, la producción de ciclo cerrado y la energía renovable.
• 🔗 La comprensión de las conexiones entre los diferentes puntos del sistema y la visión de conjunto son cruciales para transformar el sistema.

Q & A

¿Qué es la economía de materiales y cómo se describe en el guion?

La economía de materiales es un sistema que describe el movimiento de cosas desde la extracción hasta la producción, distribución, consumo y eliminación. Se menciona que este sistema es lineal y está en crisis debido a que no puede funcionar indefinidamente en un planeta finito.

¿Por qué el sistema económico线性 (lineal) se considera una crisis?

Se considera una crisis porque es un sistema lineal que opera en un planeta finito con recursos limitados. No puede continuar indefinidamente sin impactar negativamente el medio ambiente y las sociedades.

¿Qué es una de las cosas más importantes que falten en la explicación del sistema económico según el guion?

Una de las cosas más importantes que falta en la explicación es la participación de las personas, que viven y trabajan a lo largo del sistema y que tienen un peso diferenciado en su influencia y poder.

¿Cuál es la relación entre las corporaciones y el gobierno según lo descrito en el guion?

Según el guion, las corporaciones son más grandes que el gobierno y tienen más poder económico. Esto ha llevado a un cambio en el gobierno, con más preocupación por asegurar que todo salga bien para las corporaciones que para la gente.

¿Qué problemas se mencionan en relación con la extracción de recursos naturales?

La extracción de recursos naturales se asocia con la deforestación, la destrucción de montañas para obtener metales, el agotamiento del agua y la extinción de animales. Esto lleva a la limitación de recursos, con un tercio del espacio de recursos naturales de la Tierra consumido en las últimas tres décadas.

¿Cómo se describe el consumo en los Estados Unidos en relación con el uso de recursos y la generación de residuos?

Se describe que los Estados Unidos, con el 5% de la población mundial, usan el 30% de los recursos y generan el 30% de los residuos. Esto es sostenible y contribuye a la crisis del sistema económico lineal.

¿Qué implica la producción de productos con químicos tóxicos y cómo afecta a la salud y el medio ambiente?

La producción de productos con químicos tóxicos implica el uso de sustancias sintéticas en la manufactura que no han sido completamente probadas para su impacto en la salud. Esto resulta en la acumulación de tóxicos en la cadena alimentaria y en nuestros cuerpos, afectando especialmente a los trabajadores de fábrica y a las mujeres embarazadas.

¿Cuál es la relación entre el consumo y la identidad de las personas en la sociedad actual según el guion?

Según el guion, la identidad principal de las personas en la sociedad actual se ha convertido en la de consumidores. Nuestro valor se mide por cuánto consumimos y nuestra felicidad parece estar ligada a la cantidad de bienes que adquirimos.

¿Qué estrategias se utilizan para mantener el flujo continuo del consumo según lo descrito en el guion?

Se utilizan estrategias como el obsolescencia planificada, que significa diseñar productos para que se vuelvan inútiles rápidamente, y la obsolescencia percibida, que nos convence para desechear cosas útiles mediante cambios en la apariencia o la moda.

¿Cómo se relaciona el crecimiento económico con el consumo de bienes de consumo según el guion?

El crecimiento económico se ha asociado con la producción y el consumo de más bienes de consumo, lo que ha llevado a una mentalidad de desperdicio y a la externalización de los costos reales de producción, lo que no se refleja en los precios de los productos.

¿Qué papel juegan los medios de comunicación y la publicidad en el impulso del consumo?

Los medios de comunicación y la publicidad juegan un papel crucial al mostrar 3,000 anuncios al día a cada persona en los Estados Unidos, lo que nos hace insatisfechos con lo que tenemos y nos motiva a comprar cosas nuevas para sentirnos mejor.

¿Por qué el reciclaje por sí solo no es suficiente para solucionar el problema del desperdicio según el guion?

El reciclaje por sí solo no es suficiente porque la cantidad de desperdicio generado es mucho mayor que lo que se puede reciclar, y muchos productos contienen tóxicos o están diseñados de tal manera que no son reciclables, lo que significa que no aborda el núcleo del problema.

¿Qué soluciones se mencionan en el guion para transformar el sistema económico lineal en uno más sostenible?

Se mencionan soluciones como la química verde, el cero desperdicio, la producción de ciclo cerrado, la energía renovable y la economía local, que ya están ocurriendo y que pueden ayudar a transformar el sistema económico lineal en uno más sostenible y equitativo.

Outlines

00:00

🌏 Sistema de economía de materiales en crisis

El primer párrafo explora el sistema económico de materiales, desde la extracción hasta la eliminación, y cómo este modelo lineal entra en crisis debido a la interacción con un planeta finito. Se destaca la importancia de las personas en el sistema, la influencia desproporcionada de las corporaciones sobre el gobierno y la crisis ambiental causada por la explotación de recursos naturales, poniendo de manifiesto la sobreutilización de recursos y la desigualdad en el consumo global.

05:01

💉 Impacto de las químicas tóxicas en la salud y el medio ambiente

Este párrafo se enfoca en los peligros de las químicas sintéticas utilizadas en la producción industrial, que no han sido completamente evaluadas para su impacto en la salud. Se menciona el problema de las sustancias tóxicas que se acumulan en la cadena alimentaria y se concentran en el cuerpo humano, especialmente en la leche materna, lo que representa una grave violación de la salud infantil. Además, se discute la exposición de los trabajadores a sustancias peligrosas y las consecuencias para las comunidades y el medio ambiente.

10:03

🛍️ Consumo insostenible y externalización de costos

El tercer párrafo critica el modelo de consumo impulsado por la sociedad, donde la identidad principal de las personas se ha convertido en ser consumidores. Se argumenta que el sistema de producción y distribución de bienes no refleja los verdaderos costos, ya que estos se externalizan a la sociedad y el medio ambiente. Se menciona la importancia de la flecha dorada del consumo para el sistema económico y cómo las estrategias de obsolescencia planeada y percibida fomentan el deseo de productos nuevos y la desechabilidad de los existentes.

15:03

📺 Influencia de la publicidad y la cultura en el consumismo

Este párrafo examina cómo la publicidad y los medios de comunicación influyen en el comportamiento de consumo, mostrando la insatisfacción con lo que poseemos y la presión para adquirir más. Se destaca la cantidad abrumadora de publicidades a las que se expone el público en los Estados Unidos y cómo esto contribuye a un ciclo de trabajo, entretenimiento y gasto que no mejora la felicidad general.

20:03

🚮 Problemas del desecho y la necesidad de un cambio de paradigma

El último párrafo aborda el problema del desecho, que es una consecuencia directa del alto nivel de consumo no sostenible. Se describe cómo la mayoría de los productos terminan en desechos en un corto período de tiempo, y se cuestiona la viabilidad de las soluciones actuales como la reciclaje. Se hace un llamado a la transformación del sistema lineal de producción y eliminación a uno más sostenible y equitativo, enfocándose en la sostenibilidad y la economía local.

Keywords

💡Economía de materiales

Es el sistema que describe el movimiento de los objetos desde su extracción hasta su disposición. En el video, se argumenta que este sistema es lineal y está en crisis porque no es sostenible en un planeta finito, destacando la importancia de las interacciones entre las fases del ciclo de vida de un producto y los límites ambientales y sociales.

💡Sistema lineal

Se refiere a un modelo de producción y consumo que sigue un patrón de extraer, producir, consumir y desechar, lo cual es insostenible a largo plazo. En el video, se cuestiona la viabilidad de este sistema debido a los límites de los recursos naturales y la sobreutilización por parte de las naciones desarrolladas.

💡Extracción

Es el proceso de obtener recursos naturales del planeta, como la tala de árboles y la explotación de minerales. En el video, se menciona que esta fase está causando un agotamiento de los recursos y un impacto negativo en el medio ambiente.

💡Producción

Involve el uso de energía y químicos para convertir recursos en productos. El video destaca cómo la producción actual implica la creación de productos tóxicos y la exposición de trabajadores a sustancias peligrosas, subrayando los efectos en la salud y el medio ambiente.

💡Distribución

Es la fase en la que los productos se mueven hacia el mercado para su venta. El video critica cómo la distribución se centra en mantener los precios bajos y la venta constante, a menudo a costa de externalizar los costos en términos de salud y bienestar de los trabajadores y el medio ambiente.

💡Consumo

Es el acto de adquirir y usar productos. El video argumenta que el consumismo es una parte fundamental del sistema lineal y que ha sido promovido intensamente, llevando a una sobreproducción y un aumento en los desperdicios.

💡Obsolescencia planificada

Es la práctica de diseñar productos para que se desprenda o se vuelvan obsoletos rápidamente, motivando al consumidor a reemplazarlos por nuevos. En el video, se menciona como una estrategia para mantener el flujo de consumo y generar más desperdicios.

💡Percepcion de obsolescencia

Se refiere a la sensación de que un producto ya no es útil o está desactualizado, a pesar de que aún funcione correctamente. El video muestra cómo esto es utilizado para influir en los consumidores para que compren nuevos productos, a pesar de que los anteriores sigan siendo útiles.

💡Reciclaje

Es el proceso de transformar los materiales usados en nuevos productos. Aunque el video reconoce que el reciclaje es positivo, también señala que no es suficiente para abordar el problema de los desperdicios y la sobreproducción en el sistema lineal.

💡Sostenibilidad

Es la capacidad de un sistema para mantenerse a largo plazo sin dañar el medio ambiente ni los recursos. El video propone la sostenibilidad como una alternativa al sistema lineal, enfocándose en la equidad, la química verde y la producción de ciclo cerrado.

💡Equidad

Se refiere a la justicia y la igualdad en la distribución de recursos y oportunidades. En el video, la equidad es una parte integral de la propuesta de un nuevo sistema sostenible, destacando la necesidad de una distribución justa del trabajo y los recursos.

Highlights

Obsessed with the lifecycle of consumer goods, from origin to disposal.

Explored the materials economy, a linear system from extraction to disposal, which is in crisis on a finite planet.

People are integral to the system, with some having more influence than others, like the government.

Corporations have grown more powerful than governments, impacting policy and regulation.

Extraction, or natural resource exploitation, leads to environmental degradation and resource depletion.

The United States consumes and wastes disproportionately to its population size.

The exploitation of third-world countries for resources contributes to global inequality.

Production processes involve toxic chemicals, posing health and environmental risks.

Toxic chemicals accumulate in the food chain and are particularly harmful to infants through breastfeeding.

Factory workers, often women of reproductive age, are exposed to hazardous materials.

Global migration patterns are influenced by the erosion of local environments and economies.

Pollution from production processes is a global issue, affecting air, land, and water.

The cost of production is often externalized, not reflected in the price of consumer goods.

Consumption is the driving force of the economy, encouraged by government and media.

Planned and perceived obsolescence are strategies to increase consumption.

Advertisements contribute to dissatisfaction, promoting continuous shopping.

National happiness has declined despite increased consumption, suggesting a disconnect.

Disposal of waste is a significant issue, with landfills and incinerators causing environmental harm.

Recycling is beneficial but insufficient to address the systemic issues of consumption and waste.

A new mindset based on sustainability, equity, and closed-loop production is needed.

Transcripts

[Music]

[Music]

[Music]

to 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 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 indefinitely 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 this 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 percent 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 too

take care of us that's their 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 weather

a little more concern and 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 who 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 one-third 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 variability 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 in 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 7 football

fields on

it 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

hundred thousand 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 toxic syn the stuff that we

bring into our homes and workplaces and

schools and duh our bodies like VF ARS

brominated flame retardants they're a

chemical that make things more fireproof

but they are super toxic they're our

neurotoxin that means toxic to the brain

what are we even doing using a chemical

like this yet we've put it in our

computers or appliances 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 eight 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 no

breastfeeding is still best and mothers

should definitely keep breastfeeding but

we should protect

it they should protect it I thought they

were looking 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 two hundred

thousand 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 toxic sleev the

factories and products but even more

leave as byproducts 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

it's probably a lot more because that's

only what they admit so that's another

limit because Yaak 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 cost 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

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 macular or 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 guys 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 percent of the kids in part of

the Congo have dropped out of school to

mine coltan 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

costs 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 9/11 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 six months after their date of

sale in North America 50 percent 20 no 1

percent 1 in other words 99% of the

stuff we harvest mine process transport

99% of the stuff we run through the

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 u.s. 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 two

these guys were figuring out how to ramp

up the economy retailing analyst Victor

LeBeau articulated the solution that's

become the norm for the whole system he

said our enormous ly 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

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 chuck the whole

thing and buy a new one

so I was reading industrial design

journals in 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 five years my

coworker just got a new computer she has

a flat shiny sleek monitor it matches

her computer matches her phone even her

pen stand 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

lorentz feet it's because wearing fat

heels in a skinny heel year shows

everybody that you haven't contributed

to that arrow as 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 u.s. is targeted with over 3,000

advertisements a day we see more

advertisements in one year than people

50 years ago saw in a lifetime 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 her skin is wrong

our clothes are wrong our furniture is

wrong her car is wrong

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

u.s. we have more stuff than ever before

but polls show that our national

happiness is actually declining our

national happiness peaked in the 1950s

the same time that this consumption

mania exploded hmm 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 u.s. 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 and we come

home and were exhausted so we plop down

on a 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 on when you're more

tired so you sit down and you watch more

TV then tells you to 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 is

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 four and a half

pounds of garbage a day that's twice

what we each made thirty years ago all

of this garbage either gets dumped in a

landfill which is just a big hole in the

ground or if you're really unlucky first

it's 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 toxic back in the production stage

well burning the garbage releases the

coccyx 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 - what about recycling does

recycling help yes recycling helps

recycling reduces the garbage at this

end and it reduces the pressure to mine

and harvests 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

everyone 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 a hundred

percent 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 are 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 that there are

so many points of intervention there are

people working here on saving forests

and here on clean production people

working on labor rights and fair trade

and conscious consuming and blocking

landfills and incinerators and very

importantly on taking back our

government so that it really is by the

people and for the people all of this

work is critically important but things

are really going to start moving when we

see the connections when we see the big

picture when people along the system get

united we can reclaim and transform this

linear system into something new

a system that doesn't waste resources or

people because what we really need to

chuck is that old-school throwaway

mindset there's a new school of thinking

on this stuff

and it's based on sustainability and

equity green chemistry zero waste

closed-loop production renewable energy

local living economies it's already

happening now some say it's unrealistic

idealistic that it can't happen but I

say the ones who are unrealistic are

those that want to continue with the old

path that's dreaming remember that old

way didn't just happen it's not like

gravity that we've just got to live with

people created it and we're people too

so let's create something

[Music]

[Music]

and

you