Very interesting lecture. Annie Leonard is a good speaker, well educated and is carrying strong opinions. The clip is three years old, but still more up-to-date than ever. The topic concerns every one of us.
However, I can’t help having a feeling of the lecture kind of back firing. The more I watch, the more I’m convinced that Leonard is not at all objective, thus making the clip a lot less credible. For example, she mentions that 99 % av everything we consume is trashed in six months. C’mon, how is that meassured? Is 1 % of the number of things kept, or 1 % of the value? If I in six months I buy 99 cartons of milk and 1 iPod, but only keep the Ipod, does that make me a polluter? Either if the value is calculated or not, it doesn’t really seem to fit in my life. Annie, more sources please.
Okay, to be a bit reasonable, I totally agree with her. The earth is going down, and we got to something. Enlighten people sure is a good start. But to just stop, or reduce, our consumerism isn’t that easy. As she mentions, it has become our culture to do so. Although I’m not too fond of the government getting more power and influence, I believe taxes on especially hazardous goods would be the fastest way to make people consume less. We can’t count on the companies to produce less, or switch to less profitable ways of production, just as you never would agree to a reduction of your salary. Even if they did agree to that, it would mean a lot of people getting canned. Not so sure that’s what Annie Leonard wants.
I think the best thing to do, is to aim for more progress in technology and science, saving the earth that way. Let’s just hope we get there before more countries reach the consumtion rate of the U.S., because then we’re screwed.
