The Story of Stuff Project

By Margot Roosevelt:

“Annie Leonard used to spout jargon. She reveled in the sort of geek-speak that glazes your eyeballs.

Externalized costs, paradigm shifts, the precautionary principle, extended producer responsibility.

That was before she discovered cartoons.

Today the 45-year-old Berkeley activist is America’s pitchperson for a new style of environmental message. Out with boring PowerPoints and turgid reports; in with witty videos that explain complex issues in digestible terms…”

Click here to read the full story!

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.

US Social Forum – 2nd Edition of Hoodwinked in the Hothouse available in Detroit!

Rising Tide North America and Carbon Trade Watch are pleased to announce the release of the 2nd edition of Hoodwinked in the Hothouse: False Solutions to Climate Change.

The publication is a close-to-comprehensive guidebook to bogus climate change solutions, covering more than 20 technologies and policy approaches pushed by corporations and industry. It includes contributions from the Energy Justice Network, The Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, ETC Group, the Indigenous Environmental Network, Movement Generation, and International Rivers.

A more formal announcement and press release, along with details for ordering the booklet by mail, and a link to the online version of the booklet in both English and Spanish will be forthcoming in July, but for now we wanted to send a special announcement to everyone attending the US Social Forum that you can pick up a copy of the booklet here in Detroit.

Here’s how you can get the booklet in Detroit:

Stopping by our table at the USSF in the Cobo Hall.
At the “Direct Action Strategies for Climate Justice and Community Resilience” workshop we are co-sponsoring with Movement Generation, the Ruckus Society, Zero Waste Detroit, and the Mobilization for Climate Justice West (Thursday, Jun 24, 10:00am Cobo Hall DO-7A).
At the EcoJustice PMA (Friday, June 25, 1-5:30pm in Cobo Hall D3-28).
At the Tar Sands PMA (Wednesday, Jun 23 2010, 1:00pm  Cobo Hall: W2-70)

We’ll probably have them at many other climate justice oriented workshops as well.

We are actively seeking individuals who would be able to take several hundred copies or more for distribution outside the US and Canada; please let me know if you might be able to help.

We also intend to have a limited number of the Spanish language version of Hoodwinked available; please contact me for more details.

Lastly, if you are interested in taking a bunch of booklets (ie, more than 25) please let me know in advance if possible (or visit our table in Cobo Hall) so we can make arrangements.

Many thanks!
~Brian, on behalf of Rising Tide North America
–

Rising Tide North America
Confronting the root causes of climate change
www.risingtidenorthamerica.org

“If we hold up banners saying climate change kills and we want more government action, the very power groups driving the destruction will cheer and might give us even more carbon finance or agrofuels. Instead, we need to mobilise against the false solutions and for real, meaningful actions that will actually cut emissions and deliver climate justice.”

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