The Story of Stuff: How Our Obsession with Stuff is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities, and our Health—and a Vision for Change

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The Story of Stuff: How Our Obsession with Stuff is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities, and our Health—and a Vision for Change

3.97 of 5 stars 3.97 · rating details · 1,075 ratings · 222 reviews

We have a problem with Stuff. With just 5 percent of the world's population, we're consuming 30 percent of the world's resources and creating 30 percent of the world's waste. If everyone consumed at U.S. rates, we would need three to five planets! This alarming fact drove Annie Leonard to create the Internet film sensation The Story of Stuff, which has been viewed over 10...more We have a problem with Stuff. With just 5 percent of the world's population, we're consuming 30 percent of the world's resources and creating 30 percent of the world's waste. If everyone consumed at U.S. rates, we would need three to five planets! This alarming fact drove Annie Leonard to create the Internet film sensation The Story of Stuff, which has been viewed over 10 million times by people around the world. In her sweeping, groundbreaking book of the same name, Leonard tracks the life of the Stuff we use every day—where our cotton T-shirts, laptop computers, and aluminum cans come from, how they are produced, distributed, and consumed, and where they go when we throw them out. Like Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, The Story of Stuff is a landmark book that will change the way people think—and the way they live.

Leonard's message is startlingly clear: we have too much Stuff, and too much of it is toxic. Outlining the five stages of our consumption-driven economy—from extraction through production, distribution, consumption, and disposal—she vividly illuminates its frightening repercussions. Visiting garbage dumps and factories around the world, Leonard reveals the true story behind our possessions—why it's cheaper to replace a broken TV than to fix it; how the promotion of "perceived obsolescence" encourages us to toss out everything from shoes to cell phones while they're still in perfect shape; and how factory workers in Haiti, mine workers in Congo, and everyone who lives and works within this system pay for our cheap goods with their health, safety, and quality of life. Meanwhile we, as consumers, are compromising our health and well-being, whether it's through neurotoxins in our pillows or lead leaching into our kids' food from their lunchboxes—and all this Stuff isn't even making us happier! We work hard so we can buy Stuff that we quickly throw out, and then we want new Stuff so we work harder and have no time to enjoy all our Stuff. . . . With staggering revelations about the economy, the environment, and cultures around the world, alongside stories from her own life and work, Leonard demonstrates that the drive for a "growth at all costs" economy fuels a cycle of production, consumption, and disposal that is killing us.

It is a system in crisis, but Annie Leonard shows us that this is not the way things have to be. It's within our power to stop the environmental damage, social injustice, and health hazards caused by polluting production and excessive consumption, and Leonard shows us how. Expansive, galvanizing, and sobering yet optimistic, The Story of Stuff transforms how we think about our lives and our relationship to the planet.(less)

Hardcover, 352 pages

Published March 9th 2010 by Free Press (first published January 1st 2010)

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Feb 17, 2012 Jim rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Everyone

Recommended to Jim by: High ratings by several reviewers

Shelves: ecosystems-and-sustainability, kindle-books, nonfiction, favorites

I think this is a really important book. There is a lot of bad news, and it is not what we want to hear, but we certainly need to. There is also good news - a long list of positive suggestions, with links, that point the way out of the trash and into a sustainable future.

I read dystopian novels, in part, to get a sense of what horrors the future may hold, and how people can or cannot adapt to them. The fact that many of those books are ripping good reads is also a big attraction. There is also (...more

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Feb 21, 2011 Brenda Casto rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"The Story Of Stuff" is a thought provoking book, but also a bit depressing if you really think about it. Before picking up this book I thought I was doing my part to keep the planet green, I use freecycle regularly to get rid of my unwanted stuff, I also donate to Goodwill, and try to recycle as much as I can, but heck I learned that many of the things that I recycle have toxic material in them, so instead of recycling more I need to try and waste less.

The author does a great job of showing us...more

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Feb 23, 2011 Leslie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, social-science

Americans live in a consumer society. We are constantly bombarded by advertising and encouraged to buy more and more. Purchasing something new is supposed to make us happy. We are even told it’s patriotic to shop, spend money, get the economy moving. But how many of us ever think about what it takes to produce all this stuff and ship it to stores or our homes and then haul it off to the dump to dispose of it when we are done with it. After reading The Story of Stuff, it’s difficult to look at ‘s...more Americans live in a consumer society. We are constantly bombarded by advertising and encouraged to buy more and more. Purchasing something new is supposed to make us happy. We are even told it’s patriotic to shop, spend money, get the economy moving. But how many of us ever think about what it takes to produce all this stuff and ship it to stores or our homes and then haul it off to the dump to dispose of it when we are done with it. After reading The Story of Stuff, it’s difficult to look at ‘stuff’ the same way again.

I consider myself a green person. I reduce, reuse, recycle, conserve energy, grow my own veggies, compost everything I can and generally try to be a good citizen of the planet. After reading this book I have learned there is much more to the life cycle of a product than most of us ever realize. The author takes us through the five stages with a chapter on each: Extraction, Production, Distribution, Consumption and Disposal. Each stage consumes resources and creates pollution, and not just here in the US but around the world.

An eye-opener for me was learning that while recycling is good it’s not the solution. We are consuming resources faster than the planet can replenish them. The problem is excessive consumption. The author found that when she asked, “Are we consuming too much?”, it was not a very popular question. Our economy now depends on consumption at an ever accelerating rate.

As consumers we’ve become resigned to the fact that our stuff is disposable. It wasn’t always this way. Things used to last years and years. Now they are designed with planned obsolescence and fall apart quickly and cannot be repaired. That particularly resonated with me. A few months ago my printer stopped working. This was a perfectly good printer that I really liked and I wanted to get it repaired. Seems simple enough, right? Wrong. The cost to fix it was almost as much as buying a new one. I did some research and in the end I opted to fix it anyway because the ink cartridges it uses are half the cost of the newer models plus this kept my printer out of the landfill. All too often it doesn’t work out this way and the item ends up in the dump.

The Story of Stuff is a wealth of information and knowledge on the hidden costs of consumerism and what we can do to make it better. The author presents the facts without being preachy and writes in a humorous and engaging style. Ultimately we have to ask ourselves, does buying more and more stuff make us happier? (less)

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Mar 06, 2013 Kit rated it 4 of 5 stars

For the most part, the author avoided coming off sounding preachy, and her voice is refreshing in that it doesn't just resort to guilt tactics to get the doomsday point across. The problem, of course, is that no one I know cares about environmentalism. She ends on a note of united community against the big corporate contribution to waste, and all I have to say is, what community? Do I go out and build one? Get people to read the book when most people barely even bother to read fiction? Big sad f...more

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Aug 19, 2012 Jenny rated it 4 of 5 stars

I had to read "The Story of Stuff" for my humanities class on consumerism and I was shocked. I learnt a great deal of things in this book and discovered many paradigms we have created for ourselves. First and far most: recycling. It's such a big fat lie, a pretty picture we've all painted for ourselves... I'm not saying recycling isn't good, but it's definitely not the solution to everything, as the author pointed out several times. The other R's are better than recycling.

Anyways, I wouldn't sa...more I had to read "The Story of Stuff" for my humanities class on consumerism and I was shocked. I learnt a great deal of things in this book and discovered many paradigms we have created for ourselves. First and far most: recycling. It's such a big fat lie, a pretty picture we've all painted for ourselves... I'm not saying recycling isn't good, but it's definitely not the solution to everything, as the author pointed out several times. The other R's are better than recycling.

Anyways, I wouldn't say it's exactly "fun" to learn these somewhat terrible facts about our planet, but it's rather interesting. We all live in our own little bubbles and we hardly think of the other side of the coin, meaning that all we essentially care for is our own happiness, at the cost of others suffering, others who live in a country where human rights aren't as recognized as ours, such as Canada or United States. I'm not praising our countries either by saying we're so good with our human rights, but rather disappointed on how we are such hypocrites at times. This book really opened my eyes by showing me that yes, we are humans, we make mistakes but are we willing to correct them? Just realizing our mistakes alone seems to be impossible but willing to change? Willing to pay our "hard-earned" money to buy a pair of shoes for $5, rather than $30. We hardly think of the externalized costs of our wrong-doings. I'm trying to cut back on my consumption since I sincerely believe the planet is indeed "with stupid" meaning human beings.

The environment is linked to everything, even to the economy, despite what many think. Overall, this book covers a lot of bases that we know very little about, but she sometimes exaggerates her arguments, especially when she kind of says that just wearing our clothes is dangerous for our health and how there are numerous dangerous chemicals in our shampoos, and how we should stop flushing our toilets so often. Ok, maybe not in those exact words but I think she should stick to her very strong arguments and continue reinforcing them, rather than arguing things we can't really help, like wearing our clothes (yes, we should consume eco-friendly clothes but honestly? What about the other shirts we had before we read this book?)

This book is an eye-opener and I am glad to have read this book and am now aware of my actions. It takes a lot of willpower to simply change our ways of thinking.

Annie Leonard even makes videos on Youtube so if you guys want a little sneak peek of her book without reading long reviews such as this one, just search her up and the things she says in her videos are things she also mentions in her book, but she widens the information in her book, obviously.

I recommend this book to everyone and I sincerely hope people see things in a better light and not just feel ashamed of our planet because there are good people such as Annie Leonard who can actually help us change our ways.(less)

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Jul 16, 2012 Mikhaela rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: environment, nonfiction, how-to

Ah, yes--THIS is the book I've been waiting to read forever--I wish this had been around when I had taken Juliet Schor's "Shop Til You Drop: Gender and Class in Consumer Culture" course back in college. A smart, clear activist breakdown of our toxic materials economy and the massive and devastating environmental impact of consumption on the health of workers, the planet, consumers, communities, animals, etc... and what we can do about it.

Instead of the obnoxious and ineffective "personal green...more

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Apr 05, 2012 Rebecca rated it 3 of 5 stars

I think this author was on Colbert or TDS and I actually sat through at least part of the interview because the topic kind of interests me. Since I have been back from my overseas travels, I am a huge supporter in getting rid of stuff. When I travel, if I can't carry it in one trip, I don't bring it. I did accumulate a bunch of stuff when I was in Auckland for about 9 months in one place but once I started travelling around Australia for about 3 months with just my duffel, backpack and unfortuna...more I think this author was on Colbert or TDS and I actually sat through at least part of the interview because the topic kind of interests me. Since I have been back from my overseas travels, I am a huge supporter in getting rid of stuff. When I travel, if I can't carry it in one trip, I don't bring it. I did accumulate a bunch of stuff when I was in Auckland for about 9 months in one place but once I started travelling around Australia for about 3 months with just my duffel, backpack and unfortunately did accumulate a shoulder bag, I realized how little I could live without. When I got home, my room had accumulated with stuff I sent home and stuff I had bought and sent home and just everyday stuff, it took me a few months, but I tossed a lot of it and felt so good! Also, with having no kids in the house for 2 years, my parents accumulated so much stuff and even with me being back, no signs of slowing down. They aren't ready for that show Hoarders (not that I would know, I hate reality tv) but they are heading in that direction, sort of to a degree. It's even taking me a long time to furnish my apartment, because why would I buy something just to have when I know I am not going to use it? Before I left for my travels, I would splurge on dvd's every month just because I could. I haven't gotten a single one since I have been home and working again and I even keep going back and forth on getting the whole series of LOST because I just want it just to have and I have no idea what I would ever do with it and I hate myself for just that reason. I love my dvr because once I am done with some, I can just delete it. I love the library because it's free and I can give the books back when I am done and don't have them piling up. I can't stand stuff just for the sake of stuff anymore.

This book was sort of like that, but it talked more on how the Stuff gets to us in the first place, which that aspect I don't care about at all. I don't care too much about chemicals and I hate the word "organic" (I am of the school that thinks it's just a marking term to get people to spend more money on something that is pretty worthless). I do care about the cheapness of stuff lately and that we throw away more then we get fixed because it's easier. My parents have had the same tv for over 20 years and have no plans to toss it for a flat screen. They will toss it when it breaks because at this point, they have gotten their moneys worth. But if something breaks after like 5 years and it's easier to toss and get a new one, what a waste! Also, cell phones drove me crazy. Even in my short life and of getting a new phone every 2 years at the minimum, I think of all the phones I have had in my life and how many more will be in existence during it. And I am still a rarity! Lots of people get new ones as soon as the new model comes out, tossing their old ones. What the hell?! I am probably going to get a new phone next year and I will definitely look into getting a refurbished one. Who needs a new one when the old ones work perfectly well still? And I loved my stupid old Nokia that served me perfectly well in Aus and NZ, but it wouldn't have worked in the US. I was so sad when I sold it! It made calls, did txt and played simple games and I loved it!

Anyway, all in all this book was kind of meh. Too much on stuff I didn't care about.(less)

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Jan 07, 2012 Karin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, north-bay-library

Interesting quotes:

pg 149:It turns out more stuff doesn't make us happier especiallly when we factor in the extra time we have to work to pay for it and maintain it, even the time we spend just looking for it in our stuff-filled drawers and cupboards and homes. Meanwhile increased unhappiness results from our deteriorating social relationships.Relationships with family, peers, colleagues,neighbours, and community members have proven over and over to be the biggest determining factor inour happin...more Interesting quotes:

pg 149:It turns out more stuff doesn't make us happier especiallly when we factor in the extra time we have to work to pay for it and maintain it, even the time we spend just looking for it in our stuff-filled drawers and cupboards and homes. Meanwhile increased unhappiness results from our deteriorating social relationships.Relationships with family, peers, colleagues,neighbours, and community members have proven over and over to be the biggest determining factor inour happiness once our basic needs are met. Yet because we're working more time alone and less time with family, with friends, with neighbours. We're also spending less time on civic engagement and community building....We end up in a situation in which we have fewer friends, fewer supportive neighbours, less robust communities and near total apathy about our role within a democratic political system.

As a result our communities can't provide the things they used to. One quarter of Amaricans now say they have no one in their lives with whom they can discuss personal trouble; that number has doubled since 1985.... Alongside emotional support, logistical support has dried up too: if you need child care, help moving, a ride to the airport, food delivered to your door when you're sick, someone to bring in the mail or walk the dog or water your plants when you travel or a group with whom to play a game of basketball...you're likely out of luck. Increasingly we're all too busy and/ or too isolated for these things. Since we still need all these things, the market has filled the void. We can now hire someone to watch our pets, coach us thru a rough breakup, or move our stuff. We pay for child care and activities to entertain our kids. We can even buy comuter games that simulate sports with live opponents. This is commodification at work: the process of turning the things that were once public amenities, neighbourly activities or the role of friends into privately purchasable stuff or services.

.(less)

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Jan 02, 2012 JC rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, my-firsttime, kindle

This book has made me rethink my choices daily. I am one of those people that plays consumer regularly, doesn't think about what I am throwing away and what effects my actions have on the environment. This book has opened my eyes to the fact that I need to understand the choices and how they are impacting the future of the earth. This book goes through how stuff is created and used from the very beginning of when forests are cut down or water is used all the way through to when you throw it out...more

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Dec 13, 2011 Emily rated it 3 of 5 stars

Overall this was a good book. I definitely learned new things about how things are made, how materials are extracted, etc and all the toxic waste that is made from those processes. It's a little overwhelming in that the problems seem so huge and what am I, one person, supposed to do about it. I also thought that she could have given more suggestions and ideas for people living in different circumstances than she does. She owns a house in Berkeley and has the means (which you have to have if you...more

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Mar 25, 2011 Trevor rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: behavioural-economics, economics, social-theory

I haven’t seen this film – I will probably need to track it down now. This brings together a lot of things I have been thinking about lately in ways I have also been coming to slowly. However, it was just about the last place I expected to find some of these ideas. What I was expecting was a kind of sermon on the death of the planet (which it almost was in part) – in the modern world it is environmentalists who are cast as the ‘hell-fire and brimstone’ preachers (“I’ve seen the light – I will do...more

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Mar 22, 2011 Brenda Youngerman rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book is fascinating - to say the least. Let me begin by giving you a bit of background on the author - Annie Leonard. Ms. Leonard is an expert in international sustainability and environmental health issues. She has testified in front of Congress, publicly debated a US Stated Department representative, and done hundreds of public presentations. (all of that came from her press release). Just knowing that about her made me want to read this book - she must have a great deal of knowledge abou...more

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Oct 06, 2010 adllto rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: general, ologies, sophies

A heavy read as Annie Leonard comes with comprehensive experience in global social economic issues. She is obviously critical but I did not find her polemical. I have not read any reviews of her work or seen her internet documentary.

Two very key ideas stick in my mind. You cannot solve a problem by staying within the paradigm or the way of thinking that generated it. This is a paraphrase of leonard which in turn is a paraphrase of Einstein. The other is that we cannot simply separate the environ...more

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Jul 30, 2010 Tammy rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book goes way beyond exhorting readers to recycle (in fact, author Annie Leonard actually speaks the heresy that recycling carries some negative implications). This book follows our Stuff from extraction to production to distribution to consumption to disposal.

The result is a horror story. It is a story in which I’m completely implicated – to my great discomfort, because I like my Stuff.

I found reading the book uncomfortable – like watching a documentary about things that are horrible and b...more

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Jul 10, 2010 Keith Akers rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is an excellent book. Parts of it are a bit hard to get through; it drags, and the five section headings are perhaps deliberately chosen to be not-exciting: "Extraction," "Production," "Distribution," "Consumption," and "Disposal." I read probably 80%-90% of the whole thing. However, I noticed that it picked up in the last section ("Disposal"), which is evidently Leonard's special expertise and passion. The story about how toxic stuff winds up in Haiti and Bangladesh, and various people's r...more This is an excellent book. Parts of it are a bit hard to get through; it drags, and the five section headings are perhaps deliberately chosen to be not-exciting: "Extraction," "Production," "Distribution," "Consumption," and "Disposal." I read probably 80%-90% of the whole thing. However, I noticed that it picked up in the last section ("Disposal"), which is evidently Leonard's special expertise and passion. The story about how toxic stuff winds up in Haiti and Bangladesh, and various people's reactions to this, was quite illuminating.

The thing I liked most about the book is that the author understands that there is a connection between our material standard of living and the environment. This seems like an obvious point, but 99% of the population and virtually 100% of our national political leaders don't understand this. We're being promised "green growth" -- we'll still have stuff, but it will somehow be produced without harming the environment. She understands that this is a mirage.

A lot of our materials extraction (not to mention production, distribution, consumption, and disposal) is dependent on energy supplies, and thus as energy supplies decline or become more expensive, our materials will also decline or become more expensive. I think she understands this point -- she discusses it on pages 29-34 -- but then tends to separate the two issues, saying that solar and wind can pick up the slack.

So let me get this straight: does this mean that we will be able to extract the same amount of materials using clean energy, but shouldn't do so because it would still trash the planet? Or does she think that the whole system of producing stuff will decline as energy supplies decline? It's not clear. If I had written this book, I would have given "peak oil" and "peak coal" a bit more play than they got; and this might have lent a structural theme to what is driving this whole process.

She explicitly excluded food from this process. For me, this is a logical way to proceed; she wants to limit her book to those areas in which she is clearly an expert.

But I look forward to a future book on "The Story of Food." In fact, food is part of our whole extraction, production, distribution, consumption, and disposal process. We extract materials to power our industrialized agriculture, then we produce the food, distribute and consume it (making some people fat, and leaving others without enough to eat), and then dispose of the waste products, which include methane in the atmosphere and water pollution from livestock manure.

One final thing: while I saw the video "The Story of Stuff" before I read this book, what really attracted my attention was "The Story of Cap and Trade." This short video (in the same style as "The Story of Stuff") was quite a bit more controversial within the environmental community, but Leonard was exactly right, of course, and it's this kind of sharp commentary which really shows that this is someone we can respect and admire in the environmental community.(less)

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Feb 06, 2011 Heather rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science, non-fiction

Bleak. An uncomfortable read. I don't know how you could read this and not feel pessimistic. That as a species, on a global level, what appears to most important to us, more important than anything else and the paradigm upon which all other things are based is .... greed.

Leonard expertly guides us through the hard truths of our global, capitalist, consumer economy in 5 chapters: extraction, production, distribution, consumption, and disposal. She explains how everything exists as part of a larg...more Bleak. An uncomfortable read. I don't know how you could read this and not feel pessimistic. That as a species, on a global level, what appears to most important to us, more important than anything else and the paradigm upon which all other things are based is .... greed.

Leonard expertly guides us through the hard truths of our global, capitalist, consumer economy in 5 chapters: extraction, production, distribution, consumption, and disposal. She explains how everything exists as part of a larger system and that no single problem can be solved in isolation. A policy change here or there will make little difference in the intractability of an entrenched dysfunctional system. A paradigm shift is necessary for true and lasting change.

System change is inevitable. Just ask the dinosaurs. The question is not if we will change, but how. Will the change be by our choice and design for the values we want or will it be change by default? What do we want the guiding paradigm for ourselves to be? What do we want the system to do for us? Who do we want to make those decisions for us? Because I'm quite sure that the picture painted in this book is not a world any sane person would desire. Who wants cancer? Who wants their children to play with toxic toys or wear clothing dipped in poison? Who doesn't want refrigeration or heat in winter? Not anyone I know.

Nor does a different paradigm mean a life of sacrifice without stuff. It just means quality of stuff over quantity of stuff, with a better quality of life for all being the ultimate benefit.

To be fair, not all is doom and gloom. Leonard has two symbols sprinkled throughout the book, "a sign of hope" and "another way" to point out hopeful awareness and action afoot in the world. And she does close out the book with a great epilogue and series of appendices that help mitigate the bleakness.

One thing is sure. Reading this book is like putting on a pair of corrective glasses. Nothing you see, not even the humble tube of toothpaste you use every morning, will ever look the same to you again. (less)

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Sep 29, 2011 Carlos rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A História das Coisas é um livro que sublinha o estado insustentável em que o planeta se encontra devido à actividade humana.

O livro encontra-se bem estruturado, analisando aquilo que está a ser (muito) mal feito, bem feito ou que alternativas existem ao longo das diversas etapas da construção de uma coisa. Desde a extracção até ao consumo das coisas, existem processos, produtos e práticas que simplesmente têm de ser completamente abandonadas e outras reformuladas para que o nosso mundo possa s...more

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May 12, 2010 Terez rated it 4 of 5 stars

I happened upon this book by chance while browsing at the library and I'm so glad I did.

'The Story Of Stuff' is a passionate plea for us to wake up to the high price we are paying for our current culture of unrestrained conspicuous consumption.

What is the price we are paying? The very well being of our precious planet, the Earth itself.

Topics covered in detail in this book include how big industry (by the almost non-stop barrage of sales and marketing campaigns) has convinced many of us our sel...more

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Aug 08, 2012 Aysun rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, non-fiction

So I have a few things to say about this book I just couldn't not write a review.

This book was written by Annie Leonard based on her The Story of Stuff project and short movies. The Story of Stuff project The movies were short but this book is just so unnecessarily long and repetitive that I dreaded to finish it. I've heard a lot of people giving up on the book because the opening is too long and mainly about water consumption. Which probably gives the book a bad look because it has so many cont...more So I have a few things to say about this book I just couldn't not write a review.

This book was written by Annie Leonard based on her The Story of Stuff project and short movies. The Story of Stuff project The movies were short but this book is just so unnecessarily long and repetitive that I dreaded to finish it. I've heard a lot of people giving up on the book because the opening is too long and mainly about water consumption. Which probably gives the book a bad look because it has so many contents and aspects to it but you see it only if you keep on reading.

She goes deep into the process of consumption. Yes, they're all very informative however I can't help but notice that she's not well informed on some subjects so she keeps rambling the same things to fill her lack of information. (YES PVC and Dioxin are super extremely utterly bad for us, I get it. There's no need to say it a million times.) While I was reading those parts I actually thought this book deserved no more than 2 stars. I'm glad I read further.

I liked how this book wasn't only "We're trashing the planet. Government sucks. Big corporations suck." It gave great solutions and alternatives. In some parts she did sound a little too unrealistic:
"Rather than our status being signaled by the clothes we wear, the cars we drive, and the size of our homes, can't status be based upon kindness, experience and wisdom? Let's get creative, people!
I like the point she's trying to make but... seriously?

If you can endure all the negative stuff about this book it will become such an informative read. I should also mention that in the appendix she has some very helpful solutions listed. Things the governments and the individuals can do. And that although recycling may nourish us when we feel like helping the environment, it's definitely not enough. The real problem is with the whole idea of consuming and much deeper.

At first it seemed like this book was based on problems in USA and as someone from Europe I'd find it hard to relate. But it's also like a mirror into our future. A scary one to be frank. All of us should be careful about the change happening around us and not make the same mistakes as others across the Atlantic did.(less)

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Sep 11, 2011 Crystal Riley rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

The Story of Stuff is one of the most depressing books I’ve ever read. Annie Leonard has an important message, and I think it comes across loud and clear. However, when talking about the pitiful state of the environment, there’s a fine line that authors must walk. If they go too far, they just leave people feeling sad and unempowered. If they don’t go far enough, they may fail to communicate the gravity of the situation. I think Leonard may have swung a little too far in one direction, because I...more

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Nov 12, 2011 Michelle rated it 5 of 5 stars

Loved this book, all consumers uh I mean individuals should read it. As with food, the journey of our stuff is almost always hidden and complex, the only thing we see is the shiny things on the store shelves and rarely give thought to the people and places that were exploited to get it there. I especially enjoyed the introduction which combats some of the misconceptions that a reader might have. This book is not anti- stuff, it helps you see the incredible value of our stuff. This book is not an...more

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May 23, 2010 Judy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: homesteading-simplicity, 2010-reads, favorites

Annie Leonard does an excellent job of presenting the big picture of the environmental problems of our planet without laying a guilt trip and without being patronizing. She describes the manufacturing process from the extraction of the minerals, through the production phase, the distribution process, our consumption and disposal. This book is well-documented, easy-to-read and practical.

Ms Leonard, I believe, correctly lays the majority of the blame for the consumeristic approach to stuff at the...more

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Mar 25, 2011 Kavyen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The book is split into 5 sections as “Extraction”, “Production”, “Distribution”, “Consumption” and “Disposal”.

Extraction:
Did you know that one in six people don’t have access to safe drinking water and every day thousands of people die because they don’t have access to clean water?
Did you know that over half of the mine workers in Rajasthan, India have developed lung diseases?
Did you know that in the process of getting to Coltan (mineral used in cellphones) many national parks were destroyed, ch...more

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Feb 20, 2011 Mandy rated it 5 of 5 stars

We live in a disposable society, which might not matter if we didn't live in a finite world. Annie Leonard, writer and producer of the now renowned The Story of Stuff video has addressed a deeply polarizing topic. Her informative and non-shaming approach to the global issues of mass consumerism challenges us to think about the way we live our lives. Written in a conversational tone, Leonard manages to incorporate economics, politics, and environmental science in a format which everyone can under...more

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Aug 26, 2010 thatbookgirl rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

Excellent book overall. It was very informative and I really appreciate the way Leonard underlines the value of living a less wasteful life. My family are not eco-nuts yet my parents produce around one small shopping bag of trash a week, considerably less than most Americans. They were simply brought up by a generation that had been through the depression and WW2 and felt that common sense was to waste less. There is a nobility in that way of life, it's not an imposition. My father composts his...more

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Jul 27, 2011 Stampie rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book is an absolute MUST READ!!!! I had never really thought about my "stuff", from where it was mined/made/built/etc, to where it went when I was finished with it.

This book teaches the "story of stuff" and makes the reader evaluate the way we have been living our lives in the US (taking advantage of poorer nations for their materials, work, health, etc) and our tendency of over consuming.

After reading this book, I want to be more involved in my community, work towards a healthier planet, a...more

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Feb 16, 2011 L. Carrington rated it 5 of 5 stars

In today's society, many of us own too much "stuff," and according to The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard, most of that stuff is toxic.

Based on the acclaimed, same-entitled webfilm, The Story of Stuff outlines the social, economical, environmental, and health impacts on the production, distribution, consumerism, and even the disposal of the "stuff" we obtain over a matter of time.

The book outlines effects of "big box" companies such as Wal-Mart's on smaller business, the dangers of products such...more

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Sep 02, 2010 Sueij rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: did-not-finish

I wish the Goodreads rating system had a way to mark "I just couldn't finish it," because I didn't get past the middle of the first chapter with this one.

I had heard an interview with the author on NPR and it was great, so I was very excited and waited for ages to rise to the top of this list and get this from the library. But (a) it turns out to be topics and information that I personally have read, heard, lived and worked for years. It might be a great book for people who don't already link co...more

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Feb 25, 2011 Sara rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: buddhism-spirituality-new-age

This is a very important book, it is also a very disheartening book - it tells the truth about the absolute trashing of our planet in our relentless pursuit of Stuff.

The biggest message I gleaned from it is that the things we buy ($4.99 Target t-shirts, for example) have a much higher REAL cost, in destruction to communities, resources, etc. And unless we actually NEED a $4.99 t-shirt, we shouldn't be buying one just because it's cute, or "cheap". Because nothing is "cheap."

I knew a lot of the c...more

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Jun 19, 2010 Mike Piero rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction

Some parts of the book were interesting and informative, but many of the statistics are presented in a less than forthright manner. I found this out by simply looking up her own sources, which she has plenty of. In the end, I decided not to finish this book because it would be too large of a time investment to fact-check most of the "objective" statements in this book; and I wouldn't feel comfortable reading this book in its entirety without doing so. It's kind of disappointing - I was very much...more

4 likes · like · see review

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About Annie Leonard

Annie Leonard is the author and host of our very own The Story of Stuff. She is author of The Story of Stuff, the book, published by Free Press of Simon and Schuster on March 9, 2010.

Annie has spent nearly two decades investigating and organizing on environmental health and justice issues. She has traveled to 40 countries, visiting literally hundreds of factories where our stuff is made and dumps...more

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“I remember when my daughter was just learning her letters. She was playing in her room and came downstairs to ask me, “Momma, what does C-H-I-N-A spell?” “China,” I told her (she knew what the word meant—she had friends from there). “So,” she asked next, “why is it written on everything?” — 4 people liked it

“Why sit and stare at a box beaming messages indoctrinating us into consumer culture for hours a day when there are so many more enjoyable alternatives available?” — 2 people liked it

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title link	preview: The Story of Stuff: How Our Obsession with Stuff is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities, and our Health—and a Vision for Change
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The Story of Stuff: How Our Obsession with Stuff is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities, and our Health—and a Vision for Change

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