Sustainability Maven Annie Leonard and “The Story of Solutions"

Here’s another in the fantastic series of “The Story of Stuff” videos from Annie Leonard, called “The Story of Solutions.”

Of all the people who impress me on this planet of ours, Annie’s very close to the top of the list.  Her insight into the underlying problems facing humankind and her focus on real answers is hard to top.

Here, she shows us how “we’re getting better and better at playing the wrong game.”  Simply put, our goals are misplaced.  We are rewarded for building more — even if what we mean by “more” is larger amounts of war machines, gas-guzzlers, and chemical poisons.  A new coal-fired power plant and a new wind farm both count the same in terms of our GDP.

And even if we’re talking about innocuous items like creme brulee blowtorches, do we really need more?  Is all this stuff really making us happier?  The answer, interestingly enough, is no.

Instead of “more,” Leonard suggests we try “better,” and she offers extremely specific suggestions that clarify what she means by that.  Enjoy.