New American Dream, The Story of Stuff, Another Way...

The Center for a New American Dream helps Americans consume responsibly to protect the environment, enhance quality of life, and promote social justice.

The organization has released? promotes? a film, The Story of Stuff. Accompanying resources include a list of recommended readings. I'll emphasize the following items:

--Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv (2006)

--Affluenza by John Degraaf, David Wann, Thomas Naylor, 2nd edition (2005)

--Your Money Or Your Life by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin (2000)

--The Overspent American: Why We Want What we Don't Need by Juliet Schor (1999)

--Stuff: The secret lives of everyday things, by Alan Durning (1997)

--How Much is Enough? by Alan Durning (1992)

--Take Back Your Time: Fighting Overwork and Time Poverty in America by John De Graaf (2003)

--Slowing Down to the Speed of Life by Richard Carlson and Joseph Bailey (1997)

--The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure by Juliet Schor (1992)

--Made to Break by Giles Slade (2006) (addresses Planned Obsolescence)

--The Waste Makers by Vance Packard (1960)(addresses Planned Obsolescence)

--Born to Buy: A Groundbreaking Expose of a Marketing Culture That Makes Children Believe They Are What They Own by Juliet Schor (2005)

--Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television by Jerry Mander (1978)

--Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things by William McDonough, Michael Braungart, (2002) (listed in my Biblio File...)

--YES! (www.yesmagazine.org) spotlights the visionary ideas and practical actions for building a just, sustainable, and compassionate world.

Another resource is a list of actions we can take. Another Way: Everyone can make a difference, but the bigger your action the bigger the difference you’ll make.

My favorite excerpts:
--Look for opportunities in your life to significantly reduce energy use: drive less, fly less, turn off lights, buy local seasonal food (food takes energy to grow, package, store and transport), wear a sweater instead of turning up the heat, use a clothesline instead of a dryer, vacation closer to home, buy used or borrow things before buying new, recycle. All these things save energy and save you money. And, if you can switch to alternative energy by supporting a company that sells green energy to the grid or by installing solar panels on your home, bravo!

--Use both sides of the paper, carry your own mugs and shopping bags, get printer cartridges refilled instead of replaced, compost food scraps, avoid bottled water and other over packaged products, upgrade computers rather than buying new ones, repair and mend rather than replace…

--A student once asked Cesar Chavez how he organized. He said, “First, I talk to one person. Then I talk to another person.” “No,” said the student, “how do you organize?” Chavez answered, “First I talk to one person. Then I talk to another person.” You get the point. Talking about these issues raises awareness, builds community and can inspire others to action.

--Write letters to the editor and submit articles to local press.

--On-line activism is a good start, but spending time in face-to-face civic or community activities strengthens the community and many studies show that a stronger community is a source of social and logistical support, greater security and happiness. A strong community is also critical to having a strong, active democracy.

--Driving less and walking more is good for the climate, the planet, your health, and your wallet. But sometimes we don’t have an option to leave the car home because of inadequate bike lanes or public transportation options. Then, we may need to march, to join with others to demand sustainable transportation options.

--Change your lightbulbs…and then, change your paradigm. Changing lightbulbs is quick and easy. Energy efficient lightbulbs use 75% less energy and last 10 times longer than conventional ones. That’s a no-brainer. But changing lightbulbs is just tinkering at the margins of a fundamentally flawed system unless we also change our paradigm. A paradigm is a collection of assumptions, concepts, beliefs and values that together make up a community’s way of viewing reality. Our current paradigm dictates that more stuff is better, that infinite economic growth is desirable and possible, and that pollution is the price of progress. To really turn things around, we need to nurture a different paradigm based on the values of sustainability, justice, health, and community.

--Recycle your trash…and, recycle your elected officials. Recycling saves energy and reduces both waste and the pressure to harvest and mine new stuff. Unfortunately, many cities still don’t have adequate recycling systems in place. In that case you can usually find some recycling options in the phone book to start recycling while you’re pressuring your local government to support recycling city-wide. Also, many products – for example, most electronics - are designed not to be recycled or contain toxics so recycling is hazardous. In these cases, we need to lobby government to prohibit toxics in consumer products and to enact Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) laws, as is happening in Europe. EPR is a policy which holds producers responsible for the entire lifecycle of their products, so that electronics company who use toxics in their products, have to take them back. That is a great incentive for them to get the toxics out!

--Shopping is not the solution to the environmental problems we currently face because the real changes we need just aren’t for sale in even the greenest shop. But, when we do shop, we should ensure our dollars support businesses that protect the environment and worker rights....[B]uying less may be the best option of all. Less pollution. Less Waste. Less time working to pay for the stuff. Sometimes, less really is more.