The story of stuff January 10, 2008
I stumbled onto this website today about the story of our “stuff”.
http://storyofstuff.com/index.html
It is a 20 minute video about all of our stuff. Where it comes from and where it goes in this world we live in. In my ever increasing efforts to reduce “stuff” in our life, from junk toys, to unneeded housewares, to the overstuffed closet that I always seem to have…. I was very interested in what “The story of our stuff” might have to say. Now, I do think this is activism at its best (or worst… however you might look at it), but I think it is a though provoking conversation starter about the stuff we buy, the stuff we have, the stuff we don’t use, the stuff we throw away and the new stuff we want. Since we sold or got rid of 1/3 of our stuff before we moved here, and we stored 1/3 of our stuff in my parent’s basement (some stuff I just couldn’t part with), I am realizing that I still have plenty (and in many cases too much) stuff. And “stuff” has really come to Albania… it is everywhere and people here are only in the beginning stages of learning what kind of “stuff” is available to them from all over the world. So let’s talk about it. What stuff is really important to you? What do you do with your used up, worn out stuff? Do you need all the stuff you have? Interesting and thought provoking!!!
i lost most of my “stuff” some 16 yrs ago, through a blazing fire… and i had just started an initiative to get impoverished albanian families the “stuff” they really needed: food and clothes, mainly… as i knew how little “stuff” they had there, through my correspondance with mimoza, who i met in the summer of 1988 in fier albania… it made me humble and thinking of the “richness” i had accepted as almost normal, before. being in contact with albanians and having travelled there so many times, i feel “rich” now, in a totally different way!
and the fumes from the nearby plants suffocating… but NO cars then!
love reading your “stuff” (haha) as so much is so recognizable to me, and in the old times, the water and electricity were even less predictable and the dust (mud in other seasons…