When Missoula, Montana high school teacher Kathleen Kennedy showed The Story of Stuff to students in her 12th grade biology classes last October she figured it would be a good conversation starter. Yet, one parent, Mr. Zuber, who wasn’t too pleased with the subject matter discussed in the Story of Stuff, launched a campaign against the teacher and the film that eventually reached the school board. As you recall, in February the board voted 4-3 (with 3 members absent) that Kennedy’s showing of the video violated the district’s policy on presentation of controversial issues.
This issue in Missoula was complicated by the fact that Mr. Zuber’s complaint against Kennedy’s showing of The Story of Stuff changed over time. His original complaint focused on the content of the film. Quoted in the Missoulian, Zuber said “This video is essentially a 20-minute infomercial supporting an extremely liberal agenda”.Zuber questioned the validity of showing The Story of Stuff in a wildlife biology class, citing climate change and other issues as being “inappropriate”. When he realized that these claims were not gaining traction, his claims morphed into issues around providing alternative viewpoints in the lesson plan, along with personal attacks on the teacher’s capacity to conduct discussions.
Even though many board members supported the teacher, a combination of miscommunications among board members and fluke absences during the board meeting lead to an outcome that was favorable to Mr. Zuber’s ambitions, at least in the short term. Due to a miscommunication, Ms. Kennedy did not present a lesson plan to the school board as she was instructed to do so. Moreover, three board members were absent that day, (one sick, one on a trip, one at the son’s basketball game), which gave Zumber’s supporters on the board, who are in the minority, a majority for that day, resulting in the vote in favor of Mr. Zuber’s complaint.
The Story of Stuff project spoke with Toni Rehbein, the School Board chair, who confirmed that the board’s intention was not to prevent use of The Story of Stuff in classrooms or to squelch much needed attention on environmental issues, as long as such discussions welcome diverse opinions. She told us that the emails of support for Story of Stuff which the Board received from around the world had made a big impact and she assured us that the Board planned to issue a statement clarifying their position. We look forward to seeing that statement.
Meanwhile, in School Board elections on May 4th, Missoula citizens removed incumbant Rick Johns, one of the School Board members who had supported Mr Zuber’s concerns, further securing the majority of those who welcome environmental discourse and promote academic freedom.
Thank you to all the Story of Stuff supporters who mobilized to support the showing of our film and the open discussion on the issues it raises in Kennedy’s classroom.
All along, Story of Stuff has been about raising the volume on discourse on this matter. regardless of the complicated situation that followed the school boards decision, the good folks of Missoula viewed the Story of Stuff on our website nearly 2,000 times in February, just about quadrupling the total number of viewers from Missoula in all of 2008 in just one month. Way to Go! Thanks to Mr Zuber for helping to spread the word about Story of Stuff and inspiring so many Missoulians to check out the film themselves!
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May 7th, 2009 at 1:18 am
Great news! It seems incomprehensible to me that anyone would want to ban such an important and informative film. What baffles me is that Mr. Zuber claimed that the issues raised in The Story of Stuff were “inappropriate” and that it was “supporting an extremely liberal agenda”. I mean, what makes this liberal? It transcends political boundaries, this is about justice for people and sustainability for the planet. Even worse, how is discussing climate change in a biology class “inappropriate?” Keep up the good work guys, it seems this situation turned out positive in the end!
May 10th, 2009 at 11:41 pm
I’d like to point out that even organizations and people working to help improve the cycle sell stuff…not just for-profit companies. For example, don’t you sell a physical DVD on your site? Sometimes, just sometimes, stuff is helpful, you know? And often, quite often, companies have other missions than just to make money. Just a thought.
May 11th, 2009 at 2:20 am
Best thing I’ve seen online in years. I’m spreading the word and hope to see a huge groundswell of support. Thanks for doing this!
May 11th, 2009 at 9:33 am
Lol, so cute how u pretend you’re the only one who has looked inside a computer!!
Cheers!
May 11th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
Interesting developments and congratulations SoS on the NYT article!
The issue tugs at something that concerns me more deeply about the issue. While I don’t agree with the censorship, I do agree that there are ways to do things right that make a necessary addition to the S o S DVD (Wow, nice abbreviation…).
The movie “The Next Industrial Revolution” about William McDonaugh and another ex-Greenpeacer Michael Braungart shows their work with big corp’s to green their businesses.
“Democracy in the Workplace” is another DVD about US cooperative partnership businesses, and at least one is environmental. Nevertheless, they raise answers to the problem of “Environmental sustainability will never happen unless you create work.”
Third is William Greider’s book The Soul of Capitalism. I think of it as the Green Manifesto. Environmental problems? When he raises the issue, he doesn’t mince words. Industry? He shines a flashlight like a doctor rooting out every last bit of disease.
These three works at least would make an unstoppable quartet for SoS. For the same reason the electric cars the Tesla and the Norwegian Think are us environmentalists’ best friends.
See you in the GreenAmerica (formerly CoopAmerica) GreenPages and at their Green Festival!
May 11th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
One more thing. The UK has had a new Solar panel maker in recent years called Solarcentury. Guess who the Chairman is? Former Greenpeacer Jeremy Leggett. That’s not even to mention the Greenpeace initiative that lead to the Greenfreeze refrigerator. Imagine the possibilities….
Congrats again, SoS on the success and the NYT. Let’s keep SoS as a driving force into Green Business to make local, employee-owned and managed jobs networked to the global society!
May 11th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
[...] in February this year,the board of Big Sky High School in Missoula, Montana, ruled against the earlier use of the video by one of the teachers in her class, in reaction to a complaint by a parent. The parent regarded [...]
May 12th, 2009 at 8:28 am
I became aware of your video about a year ago and am happy to see that it’s gaining ground. The scariest thing I’ve seen so far is the Missoula story you mention here. Why would any school board wish to stifle an opportunity to build critical thinking skills? Students aren’t supposed to be automatons who are fed a certain viewpoint and then expected to blindly go where they’re led. In fact, that just may be how we arrived at this point in the first place.
If the gentleman from Missoula wants to advocate for capitalism, he should ask any number of employers what their employees are lacking. One of the rallying cries will be critical thinking skills! Hmmm…isn’t that what he just stifled?
May 12th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
[...] fairness, Missoula County school board officials claim they have not banned the video; they just want alternative views presented along with it. Looks like high school kids with video [...]
May 12th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
wow..I didn’t realize I was so unhappy until I saw this video. LOL…showing this to children is child abuse. But then that’s what marxist/statist do…abuse people minds…they use the same tactics that the marketers use to get people to buy stuff. If you want to have your child turn into more of a low grade moron than public schools are doing presently, then have your kid watch this video.
May 14th, 2009 at 11:50 am
I agree that it’s controversial. It forces us to consider that our way of life, our religious rituals(christmas is not a christian religion let’s face it, controversial I know but true, yes), our sense of self been constructed for us to get us to shop and act like robots without any thought into what our motivations are and they are all based on lies OR at the very least the prevention of true reflection into why we do and why we buy the things we do. It’s always been that people want to keep believing those lies, the process to rid yourself of these ideas is heart wrenching and requires thought, planning and energy but I do believe the message of The Story of Stuff is true, we can’t sustain these lies within ourselves or in our cities, countries, planet for too much longer. BTW what exactly did the parent point to as being controversial? Was it the reference to government or religious traditions? Just curious because they can be tough to get people to recognize and admit. And on a quick note the narrator was, I do think a bit cynical, but it was truly enjoyable to watch.
May 14th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
[...] Update on Schoolboard Opposition to Film [...]
May 14th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
The only thing SoS transcends is the truth!!!
May 14th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
The United States has less than 4% of it’s original Forests?
I think you could acheive the same objective by presenting the facts honestly, don’t you?
But, I guess that’s not good propaganda.
May 14th, 2009 at 10:36 pm
I love the way you put a happy face on a story that demonizes a man’s right to have a differing opinion. “Climate change” is not science. The “facts” you present are misleading at best, and just wrong at worst. Mr. Zuber has every right to complain when his tax dollars are being used to teach an agenda he doesn’t feel is right for his children.
Typical of liberals, you preach tolerance unless that means an opinion other than yours gets a chance to be heard. How does your story end? You cite the fact that one of the board members in Missoula gets voted out of office. You are actually happy that an elected official who speaks for someone else can no longer be heard. THAT is fascism. Defeating fascism, by the way, is what President Eisenhower did for America and the world. Try telling that part of the story.
May 18th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
If you are wondering how a person could criticize the Story of Stuff, how a person could want to ban such an important and informative film, why not check out a rebuttal to the Story of Stuff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5uJgG05xUY
May 19th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Dear School Board Missoula,
I am a student from York Prep School in New York City. I recently viewed this video The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard. The video was very informative and opened my eyes and the eyes of my class dramatically. I learned how our tax money has been going to appease corporations, as well as 50% to the war, when it could be going to other things that important to our country. There are so many domestic issues, environmental problems and charities that could use our money. Instead we give it to feed the big companies and products, and not the people. I realized how the newest style is really a myth and a subconscious way to prevent being made fun of. People never want the old styles, it’s always this year’s fashion as a quick way to fit in and blend in. This results in people continuously spending more and more unnecessary money. After realizing this, I am not going to buy the newest things I’m going to stick with the things that I like, not what everyone else reads in a magazine. Our Earth is slowly depleting and we are vicariously concerned with how we look and what we have, it’s not fair. Due to this video, I have learned to worry about things that matter and act more selfless.
This concludes why I strongly feel as though you should lift the ban on the video The Story of Stuff. It has opened my eyes to what is important. Education is about providing people with the knowledge to make up their own minds about their personal views. Without this side of the spectrum, they have no options accept to believe what they are told and not what they believe. Please don’t take something away that is so informative, and can impact the youth actions as they grow into adults drastically. With more videos like this, together we can make a difference.
Sincerely, Ali Aroyan
May 20th, 2009 at 10:21 pm
I think the video is fantastic. The more people that see it, the better.
When I first saw it, I interpreted it to be a statement about sustainability and responsible consumption. I caught the political jabs, but the video as a whole did not seem overly slanted. I am a tree hugger, but I think environmental issues transcend politics (or at least they should).
Then I see these “critiques” suggesting that the video is a form of indoctrination intended to promote liberal, environmentalist, and socialist agendas. I think people that interpret the video like that are more slanted than Annie Leonard.
May 21st, 2009 at 3:08 pm
I recently moved from Montana to southern California and it’s been good to at least have the chance to recycle our trash through the city system. Living in Whitefish, it was such an extra effort to do so.
First, let me say that the man in Missoulas close-minded arguments grieved my heart. I am a Christian, (the real type that follow Jesus in the Bible) – and know all about the culture wars of Right-wing vs. Liberal agenda. Quite frankly it annoys the crap out of me. But, although our friends from the Democratic political persuasion tend to support more earth friendly ideas, let me just say that what Annie spells out in this video just makes common sense. I mean “duh” – who the heck can’t see the consumer mind set that’s taken over this country? I had my whole family sit down and watch this thing.
My comments are stemming from a desire to set a few people free from the mind-set that says… “oh, good ol’ christian right-wing republican guy in hick-ville Montana hates liberals” I know that’s where so many people go in there thoughts. Please don’t broad brush this guy into the melting pot of anti-recycling, “trash the earth” – right wing agenda folks who have come to re-define the word “Christian”.
There’s plenty of people out there who don’t support the obvious liberal agenda that drives groups like the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, and such. But, I’m just asking that you not allow Mr. Zuber to get lumped into a category in which he doesn’t belong – a representative of Christianity.
May 21st, 2009 at 4:40 pm
i love the video!!!!!!!!!!!!
it really taught me a lot!
i mean very muchly a lot
thankful i live in canada so its a bit different but it still hapens
May 21st, 2009 at 4:40 pm
you are not saving the world by Dowenloding and the plastic covers.
May 21st, 2009 at 4:41 pm
I liked the show. But i don’t get why u r selling DVD’s because the covers r plastic. And if u download it is wasting energy. Please reply!
May 21st, 2009 at 4:45 pm
The video was intoresting to whach how much people replied to the video…please reply!
May 28th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
Firstly, this video is crammed with inaccuracies. If you actually took the time to read the footnotes you would see that many of the ‘facts’ given are blatant misreadings. For example, she says its the government’s job to “take care of us”…and footnote 5 claims that this comes from the preamble of the constitution where it says to ‘provide for the general welfare’. However, James Madison, the Father of the Constitution claimed the exact opposite when he said this:
“With respect to the words “general welfare,” I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators.”
-James Madison “FATHER of the Constitution”
(You’d think that with 10 years of research she would have stumbled across this little bit of info.)
Second, Mr. Zuber was absolutely correct in his statement that this video promotes an extremely liberal agenda. The same statement, “it’s the government’s job to take care of us” proves that. The liberal agenda is to make the population dependent on Big Daddy Government to take care of them. The Founding Fathers are probably rolling in their graves. Also, another thing that makes this a liberal film is that she talks about global warming as if its fact. There is absolutely NO scientific evidence that supports man made global warming, except for that which is manufactured, as it was in Al Gore’s movie. NASA scientists, and the founder of the Weather Channel have said that the supposed evidence presented for man made global warming is an absolute farce, which, I believe is being promulgated to lay more taxes on the nation, in addition to creating a more socialized economy.
The bottom line is, is that Mrs. Greenpeace Annie and her followers WANT socialism. Barack Hussein Obama and HIS followers WANT socialism and they are doing everything in their power to get it. I would have no problem with this if socialism worked. However there has been no successful implementation of socialism in any country that had tried it. Russia? Nope. China? Nope. Hungary? Nope. The Pilgrims tried it, and it failed.
This video really has nothing to do with the environment, or anything remotely connected with it. The underlying theme is the same of all liberal propaganda being fed to our kids: You are evil. America is evil. Democracy is evil. Live like a caveman. Do what we say. (But don’t do as we do, because we do whatever we want, such as omit tons of co2 by flying around the world to figure out where trash comes from.) We’ll take care of you. (They’ll take care of us all right…they’ll take care of all our Christian ideals, beliefs, and our hard-earned wealth and replace them with Socialist dogma and poverty.)
Don’t try and hide what your meaning is. It’s extremely obvious. I think I’m going to really stay true to my belief that America’s government should be ‘Of the people, by the people and for the people’, which is the belief that it should stay out of our pockets and do its REAL job which is to provide military protection. That’s it. I
Sorry, lady, but I’m clinging to my God and my gun. You can keep the ‘change’.
-Original Me
June 2nd, 2009 at 5:31 pm
The loudness of the howls greeting The Story of Syuff in some quarters is only a testament to its effectiveness and success.
Folks like ‘Original Me’ repeat the right-wing blogs which quote Madison as if he was the only one who wrote the Constitution. But Hamilton, Franklin, Pinckney, Mason and Morris’ opinions about the ‘general welfare’ clause more closely resembles Annie’s perspective.
“NO” scientific facts to support global warming? Only if you’re hiding your head in the sand. A recent survey by CNN found that 90% of scientists believe global warming is real, and 82% believe humans have been a significant factor in it.
Thanks, Annie, for doing the research, making the video, opening peoples’ eyes and keeping the dialogue going.
June 17th, 2009 at 5:10 am
“A recent survey by CNN found that 90% of scientists believe global warming is real, and 82% believe humans have been a significant factor in it.” what kind of scientist? what qualifies them to know and talk about the temperature? My sister has a degree in Soil science i guess that make her qualified to take this survey based off the CNN info that was presented. weird how the earths Temp has actually dropped in recent years and that does not make the news January 2008 – 4 sources say “globally cooler” in the past 12 months
19
02
2008
January 2008 was an exceptional month for our planet, with a significant cooling, especially since January 2007 started out well above normal.
January 2008 capped a 12 month period of global temperature drops on all of the major well respected indicators. I have reported in the past two weeks that HadCRUT, RSS, UAH, and GISS global temperature sets all show sharp drops in the last year.
Also see the recent post on what the last 10 years looks like with the same four metrics – 3 of four show a flat trendline.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/02/a_tale_of_two_thermometers/
The other two widely used global temperature data sources are from earth-orbiting satellites UAH (University of Alabama at Huntsville) and RSS (Remote Sensing Systems.) Both show decreasing temperatures over the last decade, with present temperatures barely above the 30 year average.
i watched the video was was very disappointed with the content inaccuracy’s and false facts watch this to get more info on the video good stuff here i know that if my kids school plays this they will be missing that day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5uJgG05xUY
June 26th, 2009 at 6:55 am
What is really scary is that the father, Mr. Zuber is a civil engineer in the Natural Resources Conservation Office of the USDA in Montana… I wonder why no article mentioned this – it only took me 2 seconds to find out. When I told my 9 year old daughter – who had watched portions of it in her 3rd grade Math class – she asked “doesn’t he know what Natural Resources Conservation is about?” – Mr. Zuber and his daughter need to widen their horizons and she sure needs to develop an inquisitive mind for college next year.
July 1st, 2009 at 3:28 pm
You guys are so mindless… an ounce of common sense is worth more than a pound of this (story of stuff) BS. I can’t count the number of out right lies and misinformation laced in this deplorable video. shame on you.
kind regards,
J
July 1st, 2009 at 3:40 pm
Rio that’s not true… your false presumptions are your problem… It’s not that you ignorant it’s just that you know so much that isn’t so.
July 6th, 2009 at 5:03 am
Barry, Original Me….don’t you guys know anything? Yes….we are down to 4% of our original forests! We only have 1,170,000 square miles of forest left! (The US has a land area of 3,719,000 square miles). It’s readily apparent to any grade schooler in America that we used to have 8 acres of forest for every acre of land in the US.
Oh, what’s that?…You mean that most of those forests are “plantation” forests? You mean that we’ve lost 96% of our primary forest? That is to say, forests that have not been touched by the hand of man… Oh…ok…so…let’s see. In 2005 we had 402,000 square miles of primary forest. So, that means that originally every square inch of US land was covered 3 times over by primary forest? It’s absolutely amazing how many trees we’ve cut down!
On top of all that destruction of forest have you seen how far our life expectancy has dropped in the last 100 years? They didn’t comment on this in the video…but maybe, if I had to guess…our life expectancy must be 4% of what it was before we started destroying the earth. All those toxics have nearly killed us.
July 21st, 2009 at 11:20 am
I enjoyed your presentation and have recommended it to others. I’m not consumer-crazy myself and try to keep to the basics. (I don’t have and i-pod nor a TV.)
I would have liked that the time spent on the video talking bad about breast milk would have been praising it, and pause to reflect on the evils of man-made baby formula, bottles, nipples, medicine, etc., that breast milk reduces. Baby stuff, toys, blankets, decorations, etc., is something that is used less than 6 months in average.
Maybe you can still modify your information so that it does not lead to misinformation on the topic of breastfeeding.
Thank you,
August 23rd, 2009 at 5:17 pm
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September 1st, 2009 at 1:25 am
Hi Babken,
Babken you really post here a very nice article, i read your whole article and it seems very nice because you give here a very good realistic story, i think all one have to read this once and also have to follow… Its really a very good news you share with us, thanks for share this nice article with us..
September 18th, 2009 at 9:03 am
I need to tell you what I feel, what I think, what I FEAR for our own future, for the future of our little ones. It´s not enough to change “some” things in this “necrotic” system… We have to change most EVERYTHING if we wish a better future for our own children… please…!!! In the U.S.A. as in Canada, Europe, Japan, China and all the developed countries, the present culture of ilimited consuming habits has to be radically changed to the opposite culture of total AUSTERITY.
I think it’s time for all humankind to be conscious about reality. It’s not possible to go on with this irrational level of industrialization.
Humankind MUST STOP making so many frivolous and unnecessary luxurious products, all dispensable in this necrotic system of ilimited consumption. Our very toxic and contaminating garbage is growing in exponential degree, as well as human population does. Neverending contamination…!!!
Natural resources will soon be exhausted, so the logical reaction SHOULD BE to walk back the same way that brought us all up to this irrational point of neverending consumption.
DECREASE IS one of the two alternatives we have, but the ONLY LOGICAL ALTERNATIVE that IS LEFT in this PATHETIC REALITY that INVOLVES US ALL. The another one is to go on in the same very dramatically wrong way we are since ever.
Industrialization has to DIMINISH to the minimun necessary and vital level.
It’s needed a radical change in all steps of Education to provide the technical, mechanical, manual knowledge to go back to our grandparents’ times or to the style of the Amish people, in order to prepare our children to be able to get their own daily sustenance from mother earth, taking care of it naturally and without agrotoxical and chemical industrialized products. Familiar or community farms, with agricultural cooperatives in small communities should be encouraged to be done elsewhere for the self-sufficiency of goods and supplies. Recycling, restoration, recovering, reparing activities with manual and handicraft labours should be the alternative jobs in the near future for our children, activities of minimum fossil fuels requiry.
Please, do all what is possible for you to encourage the whole World to STOP PRODUCING cars, electronical supplies incompatible with new ones that forces people all around the world to buy new elements instead, luxurious materials, most everything no biodegradable and with very toxic components, etc.etc.etc. Industrialization should be diminished to its minimun necessary level!!!!!
Instead, it has to be produced all types of spare parts to recycle, restore, repare, recover all types of things that we have; all types of manual and mechanical elements must be produced for all types of jobs and labours of minimum fossil fuels requiry.
WE HAVE TO TAKE CARE OF THE LITTLE NATURAL RESOURCES THAT ARE STILL LEFT…
NO other alternative energy will be able to sustaine this irrational level of neverending consumption. It’s not enough to go on studying other alternative energies in this irrational and neverending necrotic system of insatiable industrialization.
We are all destroying our unique Planet, we are destroying LIFE elsewhere, contaminating water, air, soil, and intoxicating PEOPLE with MINING and AGRIBUSINESS activities.
Latinamerican people, the poor people of the Latinamerican Developing Countries, as well as the poor people in so many developing countries, are suffering since EVER in many ways because of long-term unemployment, intoxication, contamination, physical attacks to push them out of their ancestral lands and to be left excluded in poorer areas. All of our communities in Argentina are suffering the consequences of contamination of our soil, air, water natural resources with mining and agribusiness activities of multinational monopolies. Our yet fertile soils will become deserts in not so long term… What goes on in this world that is driven by selfish madness and ilimited greed of few people that have power …??? The Economic Power of the First World is taking out all our natural resources and destroying our ecosystems, killing LIFE in the vulnerable biodiversity, contaminating our water natural resources, our soil, intoxicating our people, etc.etc.etc.
GREED, SELFISHNESS, LIES, HYPOCRISY, are the values and principles that push people of economic power in the First World since ever.
This is the only truth that explains everything pretty much.
Whoever doesn’t want to see or understand this… it’s simply because he or she feels the same and shares with them the same purposes: to earn more and more BLOODSTAINED MONEY, to hoard PROPERTIES insatiably, etc.etc.etc.
We need to multiplicate our voices exponentially. We have to awaken more and more people all around the world from the basis of this feudal social pyramid. We need to be more and more people all around the World to take notice of this dramatic situation, that makes us feel this same anguish and distress in order to try to change this suicidal way straight to an abyss without return…
Please, you have to visit these other web sites for more information given by suitable professionals of all around the world.
http://www.crisisenergetica.org/
http://www.chrismartenson.com/crashcourse/
http://oilsmokeandmirrors.com/
WE HAVE TO , WE NEED TO CHANGE THIS SUICIDAL WAY STRAIGHT TO AN ABYSS WITHOUT RETURN…!!!
September 22nd, 2009 at 5:13 pm
You’re toast now… Glen Beck has demonstrated the at best exaggerations, at worst out right deception of this “educational” video. Nice try, but indoctrination isn’t going to be had in my lifetime…
Fire away, I know you won’t actually argue the facts, you’ll just shoot rounds at the opposing point of view.
September 22nd, 2009 at 5:26 pm
What lies and garbage you are feeding our children. Get your facts straight and start over.
September 22nd, 2009 at 6:11 pm
[...] talk about drinking the kool aid. If your school shows this, call the school office. This isn’t education, it is indoctrination and it doesn’t belong [...]
September 22nd, 2009 at 6:34 pm
Right on! I will fight to have this liberal piece of $hit thrown out of the classrooms in which my children attend.
You have absolutely no idea what capitalism does, the psuedo-science of global warming (now branded as climate change to catch up with DECREASING global temperatures), the government’s role of maintaining society NOT policing or socializing, and the simple fact that your environmental facts are COMPLETELY and UTTERLY misleading and false!
I would like to know your academic background! Are you another English major masquerading as an informed scientist?
Your liberal lies are being exposed & YOU WON’T TAKE CONTROL OF MY COUNTRY!
September 22nd, 2009 at 7:31 pm
Karen wrote: “Why would any school board wish to stifle an opportunity to build critical thinking skills?” Perhaps because this is a left-wing, socialist propaganda film with almost ZERO legitimate sources?? Would love to see critical thinking skills developed wthout the leftist spin. Oh, and by the way, it is NOT the government’s job to “take care of us”…that is each person’s individual responsibilty. Capitalism works..if we can just keep the big government’s greedy hands out of the way……
September 22nd, 2009 at 9:38 pm
This film is so full of Toxins it should be disposed of. And to think My Tax dollars went into making this 20 minutes of mis-information. Hey if your going to spend MY money on this shouldn’t you ask what I think first. I am all for conserving, but your facts and over the top illustrations for kids are another way for you to spread your poison, and not true facts. I truly wish you way left people would at least attempt to tell the truth just once.
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:21 am
I am happy Glen Beck has decided to let your socialist/marxist film become one of his causes to rally against. I watched part of your film today. Spooky. You folks really think it’s the government’s job to “take care of us?” Really? I’m also disturbed at your methods of going after little children. Hmmmm. Can’t get enough adults to agree with you? Move to France…or better yet Russia. Get out of my America if you hate it so much.
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:21 am
I am happy Glen Beck has decided to let your socialist/marxist film become one of his causes to rally against. I watched part of your film today. Spooky. You folks really think it’s the government’s job to “take care of us?” Really? I’m also disturbed at your methods of going after little children. Hmmmm. Can’t get enough adults to agree with you? Move to France…or better yet Russia. Get out of my America if you hate it so much.
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:28 am
I am happy Glen Beck has decided to let your socialist/marxist film become one of his causes to rally against. I watched part of your film today. Spooky. You folks really think it’s the government’s job to “take care of us?” Really? I’m also disturbed at your methods of going after little children. Hmmmm. Can’t get enough adults to agree with you? Move to France…or better yet Russia. Get out of my America if you hate it so much.
September 23rd, 2009 at 10:54 am
Thank GOD for people like Mr. Zuber.
September 24th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
That teacher should have been fired. Teacher’s work for the taxpayers and schools are run by the districts with approved curriculum. Teaching is much like how journalism should be objective. When we promote a liberal agenda such as this video with countless lies and distortions in the truth we do nothing but indoctrinate or brainwash. How this video is good for kids is a question I have for you Miss Leonard. Your facts are a mess. I’d debate you anytime anywhere.
September 26th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
We are all born equal. That does not mean, in any way, that the government should interfere to keep us equal for the rest of our lives, no matter what. Your video is teaching our children to expect handouts from the government and to hate the very ideals this country was founded on. THERE ARE PEOPLE DYING EVERYDAY UNDER OBAMA’S COMMAND FOR THIS COUNTRY – and all you can do is try to undermine its principles??? Go to Cuba or Haiti, and see if you would even have the freedom to show your face and spit your rhetoric there. If you think Glenn Beck is wrong, then say something substantive that shows you have a brain. You haven’t yet. You are an elitist hypocrite, just like your far-left liberal counterparts. You would rather kill a human’s freedom than a tree.
September 28th, 2009 at 7:17 pm
As a chemist working as an environmental manager for a chemical company, I was a bit surprised by some of the information and unbalanced viewpoint of this video.
100,000 synthetic chemicals in commerce? There are currently about 80,000 chemicals on the TSCA Inventory (i.e. legally allowed to be in commerce in the US) and of those 80,000; there is a large percentage of natural chemicals listed (water and salt are listed, for instance). It would have been more appropriate to verify this fact with EPA rather than the NRDC.
Also, only a handful have been tested? The testing performed under the EPA’s High Production Volume voluntary program produced a full set of health testing for what accounts for 90% of the chemicals in commerce today based on volume. It is also untrue to state no chemicals have been tested for synergistic effects – how else would pharmaceutical companies know how and what drugs interact with one another?
Suggested reading: TSCA 101; An Overview – http://www.americanchemistry.com/s_acc/sec_mediakits.asp?CID=2178&DID=9162 (and yes, I know ACC is “for” the chemical industry, but at least the information is factual.)
You’ve taken a great, important message – sustainability; something which I think everyone can and should believe in and distorted it with misinformation.
I’ve asked my own children to let me know if/when this is shown in their classroom, because I will undoubtedly be there offering a correct viewpoint.
October 26th, 2009 at 10:00 am
This is a very good video. Face the facts people, they’re right!
November 9th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
all you idiots who are calling this woman a liberal and such…you dont get it at all…all this liberal/conservative talk is all part of the social constructions that force us to live the way we are living now. you really think powerful politicians like obama are really against bush? these guys are all puppets who work for the same cause of complete capitalism…w/e none of you morons can be convinced anyways…but from the way this world is being treated, be prepared for total chaos very soon, and understand that you thinking that youre safe because a society protecting you is so very foolish, and when this society crumbles, like all of them do, well fuck around for several years, and then guess what, well do it all over again, and give unprecedented power to the capitalists, and well be their labor force once again
November 9th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
oh and to MEL: Get out of your America? What, do you have one of those American flags draped on your front porch? Why are there laws about how we can go about living on this earth? You don’t see squirrels having a government telling them that they are trespassing on private property when they climb trees, but here we are, the most selfish and destructive creatures to ever walk this earth, and you people think you have the right to tell me what to do? Hey why dont you continue buying products that are made by underpaid minors in other countries, just bc they are enslaved to the great empire that is America. Yeah thats your America, another damn empire no better than the Roman or British. We make sure our Rome, our mainland is secure while we strip the rest of the world of its resources and cause poverty all over the world. Have you ever wondered why no other living creature in this world has poverty in its life? No, its just the humans. So guess what, were clearly at fault here, so this better be fixed fast, or its the end of us.