The Story of Stuff

The problem of pollution caused by over-consumption and a throwaway mentality is critically increasing.

The interactive website storyofstuff.com seeks to change consumer behaviour by showing the world’s production and consumption patterns. It highlights that we cannot continue looting and destroying our planet without having to face severe consequences.

“It is a fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns, with a special focus on the United States. All the stuff in our lives, beginning from the extraction of the resources to make it, through its production, sale, use, and disposal, affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view,” said the team working on the The Story of Stuff project.

It’s designed with a cartoonish style with old-school animation that makes it child-friendly and straightforward. The creator and narrator of the documentary is activist Annie Leonard, a former GreenPeace employee and an independent lecturer. More than six million people have viewed the film from the website and millions more have seen it on YouTube since it was launched in 2007.

“The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues and calls for all of us to create a more sustainable and just world. It’ll teach you something. It’ll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.”