The Story of Stuff Project

Excerpt of article written by Annie Leonard & Stacy Malkan for the Huffington Post

What a couple of weeks it’s been! More than 200,000 of you have watched the Story of Cosmetics since its launch July 21, and we’ve received an outpouring of support — from cancer survivors, salon workers who’ve been harmed by chemical exposures on the job, green business owners and people around the world who are thanking us for raising the debate about toxic chemicals in the shampoos, deodorants and lotions we rub on our bodies every day.

The introduction of the Safe Cosmetics Act on the same day as the film premiere provides a vehicle to organize this energy into action. There are real opportunities ahead to shift the $50 billion beauty industry in a safer, more sustainable direction‘

Surprise, surprise:  the big cosmetics companies aren’t such big fans of the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010—legislation introduced yesterday to more strictly regulate their business—or of our new movie. The Personal Care Products Council went so far as to issue a statement calling The Story of Cosmetics a “repugnant and absurd…shockumentary.” Whoa!

There’s a good reason the cosmetics industry doesn’t like all the attention it’s getting:  for years, they’ve been largely left alone to decide what’s safe to put in their products. You know, things like lead in lipstick. Neurotoxins in body spray. Carcinogens in baby wash.

Now that’s repugnant!

Yesterday, the industry front group released their own plan for “reforming” cosmetics industry regulation—basically a lame, watered-down version of the kinds of changes that would really help to make our products safer and healthier.

To learn more about the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010, click here, or check out Stacy’s blog to learn more about the industry press conference.

Now is a critical time to really turn up the volume on personal care product safety and to demand that Congress forces cosmetics companies to get the neurotoxins and carcinogens out of our personal care products.

We got a great start yesterday:  thanks to you, more than 50,000 people have watched The Story of Cosmetics over the last 24 hours and thousands more have taken action to make sure we get these nasty toxics out of our products. Yay!

In the next week, we want at least 100,000 more people to watch the film and add their voices to the call to clean up the cosmetics industry.

Will you help us get there?

Just keep doing what you’re doing—posting the video on your Facebook or Twitter, forwarding it to friends, family and colleagues, writing about it on your blog, shouting the url from the rooftops!  It also really helps when you comment on blog posts that mention the film.

And of course, make sure that you visit the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics website to sign a letter to your Member of Congress. Make your voice count!

For folks in the greater NYC area, join CHEJ, the Teamsters, Clean New York, and other health and environmental leaders at a press event this coming Thursday at Toys R Us’ flagship store in Times Square, NYC…

TOXIC TOYS R US?:  JOIN PARENTS, WORKERS, OTHER HEALTH AND JUSTICE ACTIVISTS IN HOLDING THE TOY RETAILER ACCOUNTABLE.

HELP US TAKE ACTION!!!   TELL TOYS R US:

End the toxic toy story. Label PVC presence on all toys. Agree to a complete phase-out of PVC.

WHEN:  Thursday, July 22nd, 2010, 11:30 am-12:30pm

WHERE:  In front of Toys R US-Times Square, NYC (44th and Broadway)

PARTICIPATE IN: Live Toy Testing; Leafleting; Return Toxic Toys to TOYS R US

RSVP:  Mike Schade – mike@chej.org or 212.964.3680

WHY? In 2008, under pressure from parents and other people concerned about toxic toys, Toys R’ US, the largest specialized toy retailer in America, announced a new policy to reduce polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic, phthalates, and lead in children’s and infant toys.

The company says it is reducing PVC use and is moving towards a goal of offering PVC-free products. They also announced that by the end of 2008, juvenile products must be produced without the addition of phthalates.

Unfortunately, independent testing this June 2010 has revealed that Toys R’ US continues to sell brand new toys laced with PVC, the poison plastic, while not providing information to the parents and the public at large as to the types of plastic used.

Chemicals released in PVC’s lifecycle have been found to cause impaired child development and birth defects, cancer, disruption of the endocrine system, reproductive impairment, neurotoxicity and immune system suppression.

It’s no surprise that Toys R’ Us is selling unsafe products. After all, Kohlberg Kravitz and Roberts (KKR), the private equity firm that owns Toys R’ Us is out to make a profit at anybody’s expense. They even abuse workers’ rights at their food service company, US Foodservice.

What we’ve learned is that we can’t rely on hazy promises for self-regulation by Toys R US top managers.

The Center for Environmental Health & Justice and the Teamsters Union are therefore commissioning a Report, to be delivered to Congress before Christmas, on Toys’ R US Toys Safety Policy and Practices, with a special focus on its failure to phase out-PVC.

Toys R’ US, with its unique brand recognition and massive operations carries a great deal of responsibility, it is unconscionable that it should continue to peddle toys made with toxic plastic, while keeping parents, caregivers and communities in the dark.

HELP US TAKE ACTION!!!   TELL TOYS R US

End the toxic toy story. Label PVC presence on all toys. Agree to a complete phase-out of PVC.

Brought to you by the Center for Health, Environment & Justice (CHEJ), The Teamsters, Clean New York and other health and environmental leaders.

***If you aren’t in NY and want to start a local campaign against PVC producers or vendors, check out; www.chej.org/BESAFE/pvc

It’s probably one of the most common questions that we get asked at the Story of Stuff Project:   “How do you all stay so positive in the face of (insert horrifying ecological or social problem here)?”

In Annie’s case, we think it might be chemical, but for the rest of the Story of Stuff crew, a huge reason we keep coming to the office everyday is the opportunity to connect with people around the world who are inventing Another Way. Let’s face it; it’s hard to be Debbie Downer when the folks around you are so inspiring.

My most recent brush with solutions has me all a flutter (in addition to confirming that I am an absolute and total geek).

This July I spent the better part of a week in Lowell, Massachusetts at the Lowell Center’s Sustainability Action Summer Institute. The training was a gathering of a special kind of nerd (myself included) who is fascinated by the toxicity of various chemical compounds in cleaning products and thinks that brominated flame retardants in cell phones makes for stimulating dinner conversation. Needless to say, I had a great time.

I think I found the week so nourishing mainly because the entire meeting was solutions oriented. Here was a room full of policy wonks, academics, scientists, foundation representatives, and sustainability advocates who really understand the disastrous consequences of our super toxic, chemical-laden culture for people and the planet.  If ever there was a group of people who could tell you how x-chemical causes cancer and y-chemical is killing off all the fish and z-chemical results in birth defects this was it.

Yet for the five days that I was in Lowell, the conversation was almost exclusively about what was being done to change the landscape and bring us closer to the kind of future we want:  debriefs on state and national policies—like the Safer Chemicals Act—to regulate the use of toxic chemicals; an orientation on the Pharos database that helps activists study up on toxic chemicals and helps green builders make safer and more sustainable materials choices; talking through frameworks for sustainable products and alternatives assessments; and exploring the groundbreaking work being done to green the electronics industry.

One real highlight was a dinner with John Warner, one of the fathers of green chemistry. Warner inspired me with the incredible possibility that creativity and innovation hold for transforming entire industries to be safer and more sustainable. Even if less geeky sectors of the population may not be as enthralled as I am by the possibility of dry chemicals reactions or a database comparing the most sustainable, least toxic resilient flooring options, I think that we can all agree that creativity and innovation are captivating.

To borrow from one of the Lowell Center’s slogans “Natural resources are finite, ideas are not.”  And that is a very good thing.

Excerpt from the New York Times:

CONCORD, Mass. — Henry David Thoreau was jailed here 164 years ago for refusing to pay taxes while living at Walden Pond. Now the town has Jean Hill to contend with.

Mrs. Hill, an octogenarian previously best known for her blueberry jam, proposed banning the sale of bottled water here at a town meeting this spring. Voters approved, with the intent of making Concord the first town in the nation to strip Aquafina, Poland Spring and the like from its stores.

In orchestrating an outright ban, Mrs. Hill, 82, has achieved something that powerful environmental groups have not even tried. The bottled water industry is not pleased; it has threatened to sue if the ban takes effect as planned on Jan. 1. Officials here have hinted that they might not strictly enforce it, but Mrs. Hill, who described herself as obsessed, said that would only deepen her resolve.

“I’m going to work until I drop on this,” she said. “If you believe in something, you have to persist and you have to have a thick skin.”

Read the full article HERE.

Dear Friends,

Tomorrow night, June 2^nd, CNN is airing part one of a two-night special, “Toxic America”, with Dr. Sanjay Gupta at 8 PM.  This special investigation highlights Mossville, Louisiana, which is home to more PVC chemical plants than anywhere else in the country.

Below is an excerpt from my book discussing PVC and sample letter you can adapt to send to PVC producers, stores who sell products containing PVC or the PVC industry’s lobby group in Washington, DC.  You can also learn more about PVC and get more ideas for taking action from the Center for Health, Environment & Justice’s campaign, PVC: The Poison Plastic.

“Even with the best of intentions, I find that PVC (polyvinyl chloride) plastic still sneaks its way into my house occasionally. Whether it is in kids’ toys received as gifts from well-meaning relatives to that horrible child-sized Barbie pink raincoat that was left at our home to products in which I didn’t recognize the PVC until I opened the package and smelled that telltale smell, there it is. Sometimes PVC is in the product and sometimes it is the packaging. The problem with PVC is that once we have it, we’re stuck. We can’t give it to a thrift store, where someone who may be unaware of its hazards would bring it home, potentially exposing her family. We can’t throw it away, since PVC releases toxics when landfilled or, worse, incinerated. So what to do? I stick this junk in an envelope or box and send it back to the retailer, the producer, or, in cases in which I can’t identify either, the Vinyl Institute, which is the PVC industry’s lobby group in Washington, D.C., along with an explanation and a request to stop selling, making, and advocating for the poison plastic. If I am returning a product I purchased, I always ask for a refund and donate the money to an organization working to ban PVC. If you want more information on identifying PVC in consumer products and joining campaigns to get rid of this poison plastic, please visit www.besafenet.com/pvc.

Here’s a letter that you’re welcome to adapt for your own use. Share it with friends. Perhaps if stores get enough of this back in the mail, they’ll join the many retailers and producers who have agreed to stop using and selling PVC.”

Click HERE for the PVC sample letter that you can send along.

from giveyourstuffaway.com

free stuff all over the place

Free stuff will be available in neighborhoods all over America on May 15, 2010. It’s an event Mike Morone is hoping to establish world-wide twice annually. The event could eventually help millions, while diminishing landfills, reducing clutter, and boosting the economy.

Many of us own valuable stuff we just don’t want anymore. But instead of giving it away or selling it, we allow it to clutter our households and businesses. Billions of great items are just wasting away, taking up space.

Wouldn’t it be cool if we could magically shift ownership of this stuff, in one weekend, coast to coast, with zero effort, little time, and at no cost?

Cool happens on May 15, 2010. It’s called Give Your Stuff Away Day and it will work (almost) like magic, as long as we promote the idea and follow common sense procedures.

On May 15, bring your valuable, but unwanted stuff to your curb. Some guidelines – no trash, recyclables, illegal or dangerous items. No food, drugs, chemicals, or weapons. Just safe, valuable items we would like to donate. Then watch the fun – or better yet, take a walk and find some free stuff you can use.

A few warnings: Give Your Stuff Away Day can get a bit messy, but it’s worth it. Trash hauling expenses could spike that week. But in the long run, fewer items in landfills equate to lower hauling expenses.

Local governments won’t like it – until they understand how beneficial it can be. Last month, Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell became the first elected official to understand that. Read about it here, and please call Mike Morone if you would like to discuss this event. http://giveyourstuffaway.com/docs/CTProclamation.pdf

Give Your Stuff Away Day is not a government program. Let’s keep it citizen-based, and let the government solve bigger problems.

But let’s also be responsible by:
• informing our local municipalities of our intent to participate
• asking local governments for a waiver to ordinances that might prohibit this activity
• placing at our curbs only items that others could use
• retrieving items not picked up within a couple of days

Want to help?
• Forward this email to family and friends
• Write a small article or letter to the editor
• Contact your local government and let them know you want to participate
• Help sponsor Give Your Stuff Away Day