blog17

In the movie "The Story of Stuff” Annie Leonard argues that our material production system is in crises because at the moment it works like a linear system instead of a circulation system that goes round and round. She want us to change this so that everything works just like life does; mosquitos are alive so that birds can eat them, so that wolfs can eat the birds, so that bears can eat the wolfs and then it continues on and on just like a rolling wheal. The system that we are in right now does not work like that. We are not recycling the stuff that we buy, we use it and then we throw it away. Big companies out there are using a marketing strategy that makes us consume a lot more stuff than we used to. This is because they are consciously using bad materials that easily break so that we have to buy new things. This is another smart way of tricking the costumers so that they can earn more money. They become winners and we losers, but wait a minute, if you really think about it we are all losers. The whole human population is hurting from the pollution that this linear system brings from producing so much without recycling it. The problem is that most peoples think that they can buy happiness. The American dream is to become rich so that they can wear their favorite designer and fill their homes with fancy shiny things. Are we not supposed to value health over money? If we’re not healthy it does not matter how much money we have, then we are nothing.
My dad always said to me “health is the most important thing, cause money has no value if you are dead".

Even though i know all this, and i think about it every day i fall in their trap. I always have a craving for buying new things. The way they built the system is that if you don't buy enough things you will fall behind. For example; the new facebook trend on smartphones. If you don't have the newest iPhone or blackberry you can't stay in touch with your friends the way other people can, you fall behind and you actually loose some of your social life. But the companies that provides all of these unnecessary things want to make money, so they trick us all. They make millions of dollars every day and ordinary people, such as u and i pay the prize. If we just look back 50 years we see a huge difference. The things they made before where made to last you a lifetime, cause the companies wanted to provide you with something good. Nowadays, the companies work together to earn more money. One company make the batteries, another make the chords & another one make the product. They design the product to last you about 2 years so you have to buy a new one when it breaks, cause they don't make spare parts for the 'older models'. It's an linear system where less then 1% of the population benefits.


If we all thought about this every day and actually wanted to make a difference, we could. Cause remember this; if we don't buy anything they don't make anything. The power have always, and will always be with the people.