Annie Leonard Taking Action

8/7/2019 Annie Leonard Taking Action

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Page 1 www.storyofstuff.com

Many people who have seen The Story of Stuff have asked whatthey can do to address the problems identifed in the flm. Eacho us can promote sustainability and justice at multiple levels:as an individual, as a teacher or parent, a community member, anational citizen, and as a global citizen.

As Annie says in the lm, the good thing about such an all pervasiveproblem is that there are so many points o intervention. That meansthat there are lots and lots o places to plug in, to get involved, to make adi erence and we each just need to nd the actions that eel right to us. Toget started, think about the issues which most excite or interest you, whichhave a connection to your own community or amily, then contact organiza-tions at www.storyofstuff.com working on those issues to nd out the bestway or you to plug in.

Weve provided some ideas below on how each o us can promote sustain-ability at the individual, community, city and State level. And we would like

to hear your ideas. I you have suggestions or more ideas or success stories rom your work, pleasesend us a letter or email.

Things YOU can do as an individualAs The Story of Stuff makes clear, current consumption patterns are intertwined with a range o envi-ronmental, health, and social problems. It ollows then, that changing our individual consumptionchoices is a good place to start. Yes, it is a good place to start, but it is not a good place to stop. Bythis, we mean that being a conscious consumer is better than being a mindless one. Of course , i we

must buy something, we should buy the least toxic, most eco- riendly, most airly produced productsavailable. Of course we should ride public transportation and our bikes more and drive cars less. Of course we should recycle as much o our discards as we can. Of course we should do all this and more.But buying green and planting trees and changing light bulbs and recycling and all those things arentenough to address the scale o the problem were acing.

Ideas for Taking Action afterWatching The Story of Stuff
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To really change things, we need to engage as political beings, to join with our neighbors ascitizens in a participatory democracy, not just engage as consumers. We need political changebecause the real solutions we need arent for sale in even the greenest shops.

Weve listed some ideas on greening our individual lives below in hopes that The Story of Stuff viewers will adopt these practices as one step in a journey. While we are all integrating more greenpractices into our personal lives, lets also start reinvigorating our political li e, our local democracy,and our communities. Because strengthening communities and engaging in local democratic actionis going to bring about longer, stronger change than any change we can achieve at the supermarketcheck out.

Join or Start an organization addressing issues youre concerned about. For this one, skipdown to Things you can do in a community or organization.

Power down! A great deal o the resources we use and the waste we create is in the energy we

consume. So drive less, fy less, turn o lights, buy local seasonal ood ( ood takes energy togrow, package, store and transport), wear a sweater instead o turning up the heat, use a clothes-line instead o a dryer, vacation closer to home, buy used or borrow things be ore buying new,recycle. All these things save energy and save you money. And, i you can switch to alternativeenergy by supporting a company that sells green energy to the grid or by installing solar panelson your home, bravo!

Support your local economy. By shopping at locally-owned stores, keeping your money in a localcredit union, buying locally grown ood, donating to and working with local non-pro ts and co-ops, we keep money and resources closer to home, and strengthen our communities. The closerto home you keep your money, the more likely itll come back to you in a variety o ways. Prioritize

eco- riendly businesses whenever possible to build the green jobs economy in your community.

Waste less. Per capita waste production in the U.S. just keeps growing. There are hundreds o opportunities each day to nurture a Zero Waste culture in your home, school, workplace, church,community. This takes developing new habits which soon become second nature. Use both sideso the paper, carry your own mugs and shopping bags, get printer cartridges re lled instead o replaced, compost ood scraps, avoid bottled water and other over packaged products, upgradecomputers rather than buying new ones, repair and mend rather than replace.the list is end-less! The more we visibly engage in re-use over wasting, the more we cultivate a new culturalnorm, or actually, reclaim an old one!

Talk to everyone about these issues At school, in line at the supermarket, on the busA stu-dent once asked Cesar Chavez how he organized. He said, First, I talk to one person. Then I talkto another person. No, said the student, how do you organize? Chavez answered, First Italk to one person. Then I talk to another person. You get the point.

Write letters to the editor and submit articles to local press. In the last two years, and espe-cially with Al Gore winning the Nobel Peace Prize, the media has been orced to write aboutClimate Change. As individuals, we can infuence the media to better represent other important


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issues as well. Letters to the editor are a great way to help newspaper readers make connectionsthey might not make without your help. Also local papers are o ten willing to print book and lmreviews, interviews and articles by community members.

Consume consciously! While doing so, remember, you are not JUST a consumer! Even thoughthe supermarket check out is not the most strategic place to make broad systems change, itis still good to shop consciously when we do shop. I you can, buy organic, avoid toxics, buy

air trade or union made items. Avoid over packaged and single-use disposable products. Andremember, conscious consuming really starts with consuming less and consuming locally ratherthan buying new, borrow, buy used, or nd other ways to meet your needs. Developing a com-munity that encourages borrowing items you need saves money, avoids producing new stu andcan help build relationships with neighbors. Grow some o your own ood, or shop at armersmarkets and join community-supported agriculture programs. (For more help ul pointers, see theCenter or a New American Dreams Conscious Consuming program: www.newdream.org

Things you can do as a part of a community or localorganization:While individual action is important, its even more important, e ective and rewarding to engage inaction with others who share our values. Remember, some people in the current system have a little moresay than others. Lets get together to infuence or, when necessary, replace, those decision makers! Forexample, one elected o cial can ban a particular toxic chemical much aster than we can in orm everyshopper about its risks and alternatives. And i the elected o cials are not responding to our requests toeliminate toxic threats, then lets look at and challenge those power dynamics that are in the way!

1. Environmental Audit

I environmental issues concern you, do an environmental audit o your community or campus.Investigate the biggest sources o air pollution on www.scorecard.org and start a campaign to getthose sources to implement clean production and pollution prevention measures. Call your local wastemanagement authority and nd out what is in your towns garbage, so you can gure out which materi-als to target or reduction. For example, i your waste is 40% paper, you could aim to reduce it by 10%a year through a public education and outreach program on paper recycling. Begin having conversa-tions with neighbors, other parents at the kids schools, classmates, to identi y the top 5 or so environ-mental priorities or you. Then send this list to elected o cials, political candidates and other decisionmakers to ask or action.
http://www.newdream.org/http://www.scorecard.org/http://www.scorecard.org/http://www.newdream.org/


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2. Develop a local Zero Waste infrastructure

Un ortunately, much o our municipal in rastructure (our roads, buildings, stores) are built to encouragewasting so we need to start building the systems and spaces to encourage re-use and waste preven-

tion. We can support a local sustainable materials economy, while also getting to know our neighbors,with activities like city-wide barter and exchange days, on-line trading o used but still good items (seeFreecycle.org ) , community gardens, car shares and carpools, composting seminars, repair centers or

urniture and other goods, green jobs training corps and more. There are hundreds o examples o allthese and more around the U.S. Do some internet research, or look at the organizations recommendedon this webpage, and contact a group or guidance.

3. Outreach, Organize, Educate, Network

As you learn about sustainability issues, gure out ways to share this in ormation with your neighbors,classmates, riends. There are many ways to increase the pro le o sustainability issues in a community.Have a sustainability table at airs; speak at local schools, have a poster contest or kids to designsustainability themed posters. Join a parade with foats and costumes made o all recycled materials.Organize tours to local actories and dumps so people can see where stu comes rom and where itgoes. Show The Story of Stuff and other lms at the library and churches. Invite pres and local electedo cials to these activities so that it is increasingly hard or either to ignore pressing environmental andsocial concerns.

Things you can do at the City and State LevelIt is usually easier to get sustainability policies adopted at a city or state level than a national level. Andeach new city o state law helps build momentum to make change at the ederal level. For these ideasbelow, or any other city or state campaign you launch, youll need to start amiliarizing yoursel withlocal and state decision makers and policies.

Attend city council meetings and encourage positive local initiatives. Run for local of ce to promote sustainability and justice at all levels in every governmental dis-

cussion rom school board to planning commission to Mayors o ce. Learn about city and state tax structure and advocate for taxes for toxics and subsidies for

sustainability.

Contact groups working on Green Cities, Green Jobs, Sustainable Economies for advice and tools.
http://www.freecycle.org/http://www.freecycle.org/


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Suggestions for Speci c City or State Sustainability Goals: From Green Procurement to Zero Waste:

1. Overall City Sustainability

A group called ICLEI, or Local Governments or Sustainability, works with cities around the U.S. andinternationally to promote sustainability. ICLEI o ers local governments an online sel -assessment toolto track local sustainable development processes. You can use this tool ree o charge to evaluateprocesses and progress towards sustainable development rom a local authority perspective and toidenti y areas to work or improvement: www.localevaluation21.org

2. Procurement

In most cities (as well as hospitals, universities and other big institutions), there is a group o peoplewho are responsible or purchasing decisions, or procurement, or all the supplies. Cities purchasehuge quantities o everything rom paper to cleaning supplies to pesticides to cars. Rather than wait

or all this stu to come through the system and be waste, many cities are now looking upstream orways to design waste and toxics out o the system. Changing purchasing decisions is a great way tostart. I you can convince your city to buy less toxic, less waste ul products then you have less wasteat the back end o the fow and you can stimulate the marker or greener products with large-scalepurchases. For examples, see San Franciscos Department o the Environment ( www.sfenvironment.org/index.html ) which has recently passed legislation requiring the city to ollow the Precautionaryprinciple (www.sehn.org/precaution.html ) and to purchase green products as much as possible.

3. Promoting Zero WasteMany cities across the U.S. around the world have made commitments to Zero Waste and are slowlyworking their way towards that goal. Through upstream techniques like banning speci c toxics andExtended Producer Responsibility and down stream programs like recycling and composting, citiesand states can drastically reduce their waste. Many Zero Waste Community Plans have been adoptedto guide communities in the development o new policies, programs and acilities to progress towardsZero Waste. As more cities adopt Zero Waste policies and plans, we can learn rom their programsso we dont have to start rom scratch with each new city. Examples o Plans that have been adoptedinclude: the City o Oakland, CA Zero Waste Strategic Plan ( http://clerkwebsvr1.oaklandnet.com/attachments/14983.pdf ), the City o Palo Alto, CA Zero Waste Strategic Plan ( www.cityofpaloalto.

org/zero waste /graphics/Strategic_Plan_FInal_100405.pd f ), and the City o Nelson, British ColumbiaZero Waste Action Plan ( www.city.nelson.bc.ca/pdf/zero_waste.pd f ). Both Oakland and Palo Alto used their website throughout the development o their plans, so you cansee all the steps taken to develop those plans, and subsequent updates, at their Zero Waste web-sites: Oakland, CA Zero Waste website ( www.zerowasteoa kland.co m) and Palo Alto, CA Zero WasteWebsite ( www.cityofpaloalto.org/zerowaste/ ).
http://www.localevaluation21.org/http://www.sfenvironment.org/index.htmlhttp://www.sfenvironment.org/index.htmlhttp://www.grrn.org/localgov/index.htmlhttp://clerkwebsvr1.oaklandnet.com/attachments/14983.pdfhttp://clerkwebsvr1.oaklandnet.com/attachments/14983.pdfhttp://www.cityofpaloalto.org/zerowaste/graphics/Strategic_Plan_FInal_100405.pdfhttp://www.cityofpaloalto.org/zerowaste/graphics/Strategic_Plan_FInal_100405.pdfhttp://www.cityofpaloalto.org/zerowaste/graphics/Strategic_Plan_FInal_100405.pdfhttp://www.cityofpaloalto.org/zerowaste/graphics/Strategic_Plan_FInal_100405.pdfhttp://www.cityofpaloalto.org/zerowaste/graphics/Strategic_Plan_FInal_100405.pdfhttp://www.city.nelson.bc.ca/pdf/zero_waste.pdfhttp://www.city.nelson.bc.ca/pdf/zero_waste.pdfhttp://www.zerowasteoakland.com/http://www.zerowasteoakland.com/http://www.cityofpaloalto.org/zerowaste/http://www.cityofpaloalto.org/zerowaste/http://www.zerowasteoakland.com/http://www.city.nelson.bc.ca/pdf/zero_waste.pdfhttp://www.cityofpaloalto.org/zerowaste/graphics/Strategic_Plan_FInal_100405.pdfhttp://www.cityofpaloalto.org/zerowaste/graphics/Strategic_Plan_FInal_100405.pdfhttp://clerkwebsvr1.oaklandnet.com/attachments/14983.pdfhttp://clerkwebsvr1.oaklandnet.com/attachments/14983.pdfhttp://www.grrn.org/localgov/index.htmlhttp://www.sfenvironment.org/index.htmlhttp://www.sfenvironment.org/index.htmlhttp://www.localevaluation21.org/


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E-waste, or waste rom discarded electronics, is an especially toxic and rapidly growing part o todays waste stream. Maine recently passed an e-waste law that establishes a system in which con-sumers, municipalities, and manu acturers share responsibility or ensuring that electronics are prop-erly recycled to reclaim all useable materials and prevent the release o toxics to the environment.

Such e-waste campaigns are a great way to prevent pollution and motivate electronics producers tomake less-hazardous, more durable products.

The Grassroots Recycling Network (GRRN) Website or Local Government actions, provide ve actsheets that detail cutting edge solutions to urgent waste problems and o er model local govern-ment resolutions or communities wanting to take action: www.grrn.org/localgov/index.html .
http://www.grrn.org/localgov/index.htmlhttp://www.grrn.org/localgov/index.html

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Annie Leonard Taking Action