For a year, Annie Leonard was part of a varied group of activists who met to polish their leadership skills. Month after month, despite her best efforts, she could tell that she wasn't getting through to the other participants. Five minutes into her talk on "changing the paradigm of our materials relationship," eyes were glazing over. It was Eli Pariser of moveon.org who finally gave her the
insight she needed. "I have no idea what you just said," he told her. "I work on democracy, and all I know is that democracy doesn't have anything to do with 'materials.'"
But Annie knew that democracy had everything to do with materials. At the next meeting, she was back with a set of simple drawings on posterboard, and she was back with a new phrase. Instead of materials, she was there to talk about "stuff" -- all the stuff we eat, wear, use, throw out, burn, and bury. Instead of documenting the flow of resources through consumer society, she was telling The Story of Stuff.
http://www.storyofstuff.com/