Monday, August 25, 2008

Consumerism

My environmentally conscious and politically aware 15yr old sent me this link today. It is very thought provoking, interesting and, I must say, really depressing.

It is worth taking the 20 minutes it takes to watch it. It certainly made me think. We are all guilty to some degree, although I do try to be socially conscious, I do try to shop locally. It should be easy as we live on the edge of what is the market garden of Ontario, but unfortunately we also live extremely close to that enormous monster, the United States. Although I try to buy Ontario grown produce - it can be hard to find.....and no matter what, I cannot find bananas that are grown any closer than Chile. I have made a pact not to shop at Walmart - they truly are taking over the world, here in our mid-sized town in Ontario they are in the process of building a second huge store. Shopping mall parking lots are always full. It is a scary world we live in and a lot of the information given in this little story hit very close to home.

Anyway I hope some of you will take a few minutes to click on the link and digest the sentiment:

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

When I had finished watching, I said to my 15yr old "Well, that was a big eye opener!" - "Yes" he replied "BUY LESS STUFF!!".

Of course I replied "Yes" and I definitely will......once this wedding is over!

3 comments:

Georgina said...

SITH, it's really scary how much "Stuff" people do buy. Everytime I see my sister's family they've got new phones, Iopods, PSPs, plasma tellys, new coffee makers etc. etc. My telly is 14 years old, I don't have a mobile or and ipod. I get fed up of people who tell me to buy "Stuff" that I don't need. I drink tap water, where on earth are all these plastic water bottles ending up? Answer back in the earth! Excellent post! Debs x

aims said...

At least we are recycling here in this province. Not to the extent that they do in Guelph that I know of...but still. I love to take in the bottles and come away with a bit of change in my pocket.

Still - stuff. Sigh. People don't ask - they don't care. It appears by magic-or didn't you know that!

Maggie May said...

In general we are living in a throw away world. Buy today and chuck it tomorrow.
Thank Goodness that we are getting into recycling over here, but it is only the tip of the iceberg worldwide.