Who The *%#!!@ Is Annie Leonard?

Raising the awareness of my children (ages 9, 12) about our mindless consumer culture has become one of my current obsessions. I would prefer--for their benefit, not mine--that they ween off television, read more books and find contentment in a simple walk in the park.

It's not going to be easy. The pull of hand-held video games, Cartoon Network and advertising is mighty powerful.

But Annie Leonard, an environmental activist, offers hope that attitudes might be changed through education. She has produced a smart 20-minute video that explains difficult concepts ("externalized costs" and "perceived obsolescence") in a casual, almost breezy way that anybody can comprehend.

http://www.thestoryofstuff.com/

Using stick figure animation, Leonard traces the arc of "stuff," from extraction and production to consumption and disposal.

It is a story of raw political power, class exploitation and resource depletion, all that goes under the banner of "globalization" as understood by many progressives.

It is also a story about "limits," one that barely touches on the carbon emission crisis. But it shouldn't have to. Man-caused global warming is the obvious and logical culmination of all she talks about.

In fact, I say it might be better to start off the conversation with young children by telling a simple story of "stuff" and what happens to it, rather than introduce hifalutin concepts of "global warming" and "climate crisis." My experience is that these latter terms conjure up a doomsday that scares the crap out of kids and causes them to shut down mentally and emotionally.

So, who the &%#*! is Annie Leonard?

She is, among other things, a long-time expert on sustainability and materials economy issues who has tracked the offshoring of U.S. trash as well as visited and studied factories in dozens of third world countries.