On his radio and television programs today, Glenn Beck offered up a “critique” of The Story of Stuff—a 20-minute web-film that examines the underside of America’s production and consumption patterns. In Beck’s world, an honest exploration of the environmental and social challenges our children are inheriting is worthy of scorn and ridicule, not honest engagement.

In May 2009, the New York Times called The Story of Stuff “a sleeper hit in classrooms across the country.” We’re honored that teachers from middle school through university are using our film to spark debate and engage students in critical thinking.

While it may be hard for climate change deniers like Beck and his friends at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and Evergreen Freedom Foundation to swallow, there is a real hunger in this country for a straightforward, honest discussion of our environmental future. Teachers have told us that The Story of Stuff has been a valuable supplement to textbooks that give short shrift to issues like climate change by creating spirited debate and inspiring students to look deeper into what are truly some of the greatest challenges of the 21^st century.

Beck didn’t have the courtesy to contact The Story of Stuff Project for comment or offer a spot on his show to rebut the claims of his guests. While playing fast and loose with the facts is nothing new for Beck, we stand behind our presentation.

Viewers are welcome to visit www.storyofstuff.org to watch the film and, as Fox News would put it, decide for themselves. While on the site, visitors can check out the annotated script, which provides references for all the facts used in the film. For those who would like to use The Story of Stuff to stimulate discussions in classrooms, living rooms, community meetings or other venues, there are a number of resources, including sample discussion questions and group exercise ideas, in the resources section of the Story of Stuff webpage.

This past September, news of the economic crisis dominated the headlines. At the exact same time another debt crisis was intensifying, yet was barely noticed.

Earth Overshoot Day, also known as Ecological Debt Day, was September 23.This is the day in 2008 by which humanity had used all the resources that the planet will generate this year. As viewers of The Story of Stuff already know, we currently consume 1.4 planets’ worth of global resources each year. From September 23rd on, we’re eating into the natural capital, undermining its ability to produce for the future. We’re consuming on credit and accumulating ecological debt that we have no way to repay.

Ecology and economics share a common root: the Greek word oikos, meaning “home.” Economics and ecology both are about managing our home. In our current situation, we have messed up both.  Continue reading here.

We’re obsessive over economic indicators. We track indicators hourly, panic at the slightest decline, invest billions when it is shaky. Yet, we have a  huge collective blind spot to the other ecological management, even though it’s a bigger problem, both in terms of survival and even in terms of finances. There is a growing call coming from all over the world, to integrate our understanding of the economic and ecological crises and to ensure that a solution to one is a solution to both.

Crisis and opportunity are often referred to as two sides of the same coin. That is definitely true here. The current economic crisis provides us a much needed opportunity to re-evaluate the priorities of our economy, to develop new metrics for measuring real progress, for reducing superfluous consumption while increasing economic equity and ensuring the integrity of the ecological systems on which life depends.

My friend Rita always says “If you keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll keep getting what you’re getting.” Clearly, what we’re doing isn’t working. As David Korten, author of The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth, suggests, it’s time to try something new.