In Schools, a Cautionary Video About America’s ‘Stuff’ - cheerful but brutal assessment (NYT)

In Schools, a Cautionary Video About America’s ‘Stuff’


Workers without options are part of the cycle of human consumption conveyed in "The Story of Stuff," a video making its way to classrooms around the country.

By LESLIE KAUFMAN
Published: May 10, 2009

The thick-lined drawings of the Earth, a factory and a house, meant to convey the cycle of human consumption, are straightforward and child-friendly. So are the pictures of dark puffs of factory smoke and an outlined skull and crossbones, representing polluting chemicals floating in the air.

Which is one reason “The Story of Stuff,” a 20-minute video about the effects of human consumption, has become a sleeper hit in classrooms across the nation.

The video is a cheerful but brutal assessment of how much Americans waste, and it has its detractors. But it has been embraced by teachers eager to supplement textbooks that lag behind scientific findings on climate change and pollution. And many children who watch it take it to heart: riding in the car one day with his parents in Tacoma, Wash., Rafael de la Torre Batker, 9, was worried about whether it would be bad for the planet if he got a new set of Legos.

“When driving by a big-box store, you could see he was struggling with it,” his father, David Batker, said. But then Rafael said, “It’s O.K. if I have Legos because I’m going to keep them for a very long time,” Mr. Batker recalled.

The video was created by Annie Leonard, 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.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/11/education/11stuff.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

I work with a few schools that are integrating it into their curriculum--mostly SF Bay Area and Marin County.It's still too controversial for many other parts of California.

I've been a fan forever, and EVERYONE should see it and share it.

FREE MOVIE DOWNLOAD: http://web.1.c3.audiovideoweb.com/1c3web3536/StoryOfStuff.mov








:patriot:

...to their students. Dr. Seuss wrote it in the 1960's and it's the best pro-environment, "Save the Earth" video
that so eloquently illustrates what corporate greed can do to the environment, our water, our land and our resources.

Dr. Seuss was a fricking genius. He was practically prescient, in my opinion.

Check it out!

Why does YouTube videos of balls-to-the-crotch and viral-commercials hit the mainstream before something as ... important ... as ... oh nevermind.