Name ______Date ______

Viewing Guide: Story of Stuff, with Annie Leonard (www.storyofstuff.org)

1.  How is stuff created and destroyed?

2.  Why doesn’t this system work?

3.  _____ of rivers have become undrinkable.

4.  We have 5% of the world’s population, but we use ______of the world’s resources and consume _____ of the world’s waste.

5.  ______of global fisheries are fished at or above capacities.

6.  In the Amazon, we are losing ______a minute of forest.

7.  If you don’t ____ or ____ a lot of stuff, you don’t have value. Do you think this statement is true? Why or why not?

8.  How are pillows made and why are they toxic?

9.  How do toxic chemicals get into the food chain?

10.  Globally, ______a day move from their land into cities to look for jobs, often living in slums.

11.  Toxics leave factories in ______, but also in ______and ______.

12.  What do we do when chemicals are banned in the US?

13.  What is distribution?

14.  How do they keep prices down at these “Big-Box Mart?”

15.  How does this affect people around the world?

16.  What are externalized costs?

17.  Why do we consume so much?

18.  The average US person consumes _____ as much as we did 50 years ago.

19.  “Our ultimate purpose is to create more consumer goods.” Do you think this is true? Why or why not?

20.  What is “planned obsolescence” and what are some examples? Why would companies do this?

21.  What is perceived obsolescence? Why would companies do this?

22.  How do advertising and media contribute to this?

23.  What is the point of an ad? Who makes money because of this?

24.  In the US, we have more stuff than ever before, but we are less ______. Why?

25.  Each of us makes ______lbs of garbage a day. Where does it go?

26.  Why is incineration harmful? What toxins does it make?

27.  What do some companies do if they don’t want to incinerate or can’t send their trash/chemicals to the landfill?

28.  Recycling is good, but why is it not enough?

29.  For every garbage can of waste that we create, ______garbage cans of waste were created in making that trash/ those products.

30.  How can we create a non-linear system?

31.  How can we shift from being a consumer, throw away society to a sustainable society?

32.  What can you do personally to choose “another way”?

33.  How can we convince others to use less “stuff?”