The Story of Stuff

To be honest I thought as a family we were doing “our bit” in helping reduce harmful effects on the environment until I watched this video, but now I realise I am just your average consumer sucked into buying the latest and greatest and keeping up with the never ending, changing fashion trends! Up until now our family has always been strict on recycling (incl having our own compost heap), growing our own organic "pesticide free” garden and more importantly reducing our water consumption.

My biggest concern however is WATER, our most valuable resource. In the video it states 40% of the USA’s waterways are undrinkable! Just think of how much we humans are dependent upon clean water. Besides the fact that we drink the water, we use it for electricity, irrigation of farm fields, cooking, washing clothes, flushing toilets, etc. Did you know the Earth's surface is covered by 70% water, so why the fuss of protecting our water? Only 3% of all water is fresh and drinkable and of that 3%, 75% is frozen, which leaves a grand total of only 1% of the Earth's surface water that is readily available for consumption. After taking that fact into account, one can see why the conservation and protection of our remaining water supply is so vital. Water is a necessity of life and it needs to be conserved and protected.

We as consumers need to create a new path and unite to transform and reclaim the linear concept. I will certainly now be thinking twice and more cautiously about throwing out the ‘old’ so I can keep up with the ‘new’. Lets stop wasting our resources so future generations to come can also enjoy a clean, green planet..