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[Music]
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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just have one of these I got a little
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obsessed with mine in fact I got a
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little obsessed with all my stuff Have
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you ever wondered where all the stuff we
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buy comes from and where it goes when we
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throw it out I couldn't stop wondering
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about that so I looked it up and what
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the textbook said is that stuff moves
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through a system from extraction to
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production to distribution to
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consumption to disposal all together
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it's called the materials economy well I
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looked into it a little bit more in fact
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I spent 10 years traveling the world
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tracking where our stuff comes from and
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where it goes and you know what I found
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out that is not the whole story there is
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a lot lot missing from this explanation
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for one thing this system looks like
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it's fine no problem but the truth is
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it's a system in crisis and the reason
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it's a system in crisis is it's a linear
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system and we live on a finite planet
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and you cannot run a linear system on a
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finite Planet
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indefinitely every step along the way
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this system is interacting with the real
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world in real life it's not happening on
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a blank white page it's interacting with
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societies cultures economies the
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environment and all along the way it's
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bumping up against limits limits we
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don't see here because the diagram is
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incomplete so let's go back through
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let's fill in some of the blanks and see
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what's missing well one of the most
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important things that's missing is
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people yes people people live and work
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all along this system and some people in
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this system matter a little more than
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others some have a little more say who
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are they well let's start with the
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government now my friends tell me I
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should use a tank to symbolize the
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government and that's true in many
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countri count and increasingly in our
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own after all more than 50% of our
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federal tax money is now going to the
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military but I'm using a person to
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symbolize the government because I hold
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true to the vision and values the
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government should be of the People by
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the people for the people it's the
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government's job to watch out for us to
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take care of us that's their job then
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Along Came the corporation now the
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reason the corporation looks bigger than
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the government is that the corporation
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is bigger than the government of the 100
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largest economies on Earth Now 51
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corporations and as the corporation has
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grown in size and power we've seen a
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little change in the government where
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they're a little more concerned in
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making sure everything's working out for
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those guys than for
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us okay so let's see what else is
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missing from this picture we'll start
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with extraction which is a fancy word
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for natural resource exploitation which
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is a fancy word for trashing the planet
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what this looks like is we chop down the
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trees we blow up mountains to get the
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metals inside we use up all the water
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and we wipe out the animals so here we
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are running up against our first limit
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we are running out of resources we are
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using too much stuff now I know this can
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be hard to hear but it's the truth so
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we've got to deal with it in the past
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three decades alone onethird of the
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planet's natural resource space has been
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consumed gone we are cutting and Mining
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and Hauling and trashing the place so
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fast that we're undermining the planet's
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very ability for people to live here
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where I live in the United States we
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have less than 4% of our original
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forests left 40% of the waterways have
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become undrinkable and our problem is
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not just that we're using too much stuff
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but we're using more than our share we
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have 5% of the world's population but
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we're using 30% of the world's resources
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and creating 30% of the world's waste if
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everybody consumed at us rates we would
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need three to five five planets and you
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know what we've only got one so my
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country's response to this limitation is
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simply to go take somebody else's this
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is the third world which some would say
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is another word for our stuff that
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somehow got on somebody else's land so
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what does that look like the same thing
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trashing the place 75% of global
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Fisheries now are fished at or Beyond
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capacity 80% of the planet's original
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forests are gone in the Amazon alone
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we're losing 2,000 trees a minute that
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is seven football fields a minute and
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what about the people who live here well
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according to these guys they don't own
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these resources even if they've been
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living there for Generations they don't
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own the means of production and they're
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not buying a lot of stuff and in this
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system if you don't own or buy a lot of
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stuff you don't have
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value so next the materials move Mo to
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production and what happens there is we
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use energy to mix toxic chemicals in
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with the natural resources to make toxic
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contaminated products there are over a
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100,000 synthetic chemicals in use in
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Commerce today only a handful of them
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have even been tested for health impacts
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and none have been tested for
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synergistic Health impacts that means
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when they interact with all the other
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chemicals we're exposed to every day so
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we don't know the full impact on health
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and the environment of all these toxic
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chemicals but we do know one thing
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toxics in toxics out
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as long as we keep putting toxics into
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our industrial production systems we're
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going to keep getting toxics in the
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stuff that we bring into our homes and
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workplaces and schools and duh our
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bodies like bfrs brominated flame
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retardants they're chemical that make
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things more fireproof but they are super
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toxic they're a neurotoxin that means
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toxic to the brain what are we even
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doing using a chemical like this yet we
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put it in our computers our appliances
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couches mattresses even some pillows
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in fact we take our pillows we douse
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them in a neurotoxin then we bring them
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home and put our heads on them for 8
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hours a night to sleep now I don't know
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but it seems to me in this country with
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so much potential we could think of a
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better way to stop our heads from
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catching on fire at night now these
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toxics build up the food chain and
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concentrate in our bodies do you know
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what is the food at the top of the food
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chain with the highest level of many
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toxic contaminants human breast milk
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that means that we've reached a point
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where the smallest members of our
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societies our babies are getting the
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highest lifetime dose of toxic chemicals
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from breastfeeding from their mothers is
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that not an incredible violation
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breastfeeding must be the most
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fundamental human Act of nurturing it
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should be sacred and safe now
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breastfeeding is still best and mothers
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should definitely keep breastfeeding but
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we should protect it they should protect
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it I thought they were looking out for
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us and of course the people who bear the
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the biggest brunt of these toxic
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chemicals are the factory workers many
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of whom are women of reproductive age
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they're working with reproductive toxins
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carcinogens and more now I ask you what
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kind of woman of reproductive age would
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work in a job exposed to reproductive
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toxins except for a woman with no other
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option and that's one of the beauties of
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this system the erosion of local
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environments and economies here ensures
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a constant supply of people with no
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other option global
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200,000 people a day are moving from
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environments that have sustained them
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for Generations into cities many to live
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in slums looking for work no matter how
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toxic that work may be so you see it's
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not just resources that are wasted along
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this system but people too whole
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communities get
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wasted yep toxics in toxics out a lot of
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the toxics leave the factories in
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products but even more leave as
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byproducts or pollution and it's a lot
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of pollution
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in the US our industry admits to
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releasing over 4 billion pounds of toxic
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chemicals a year and it's probably a lot
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more cuz that's only what they admit so
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that's another limit because Yak who
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wants to look at and smell 4 billion
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pounds of toxic chemicals a year so what
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do they do move the dirty factories
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overseas pollute someone else's land but
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surprise a lot of that pollution is
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coming right back at us carried by wind
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currents
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so what happens after all these natural
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resources are turned into products well
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it moves here for distribution now
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distribution means selling all the toxic
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contaminated junk as quickly as possible
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the goal here is to keep the prices down
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keep the people buying and keep the
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inventory moving how do they keep the
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prices down well they don't pay the
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store workers very much and they skimp
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on health insurance every time they can
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it's all about externalizing the cost
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what that means is that the real cost
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costs of making stuff aren't captured in
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the price in other words we aren't
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paying for the stuff we buy I was
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thinking about this the other day I was
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walking to work and I wanted to listen
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to the news so I popped into a Radio
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Shack to buy a radio I found this cute
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little green radio for
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$4.99 I was standing there in line to
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buy this thing and I was thinking how
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could
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$4.99 possibly capture the cost of
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making this radio and getting it into my
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hands the metal was probably mined in
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South Africa the petroleum was probably
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drilled in Iraq the Plastics were
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probably produced in China and maybe the
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whole thing was assembled by some
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15-year-old in imacor in Mexico $4.99
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wouldn't even pay the rent for the Shelf
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space it occupied until I came along let
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alone part of the staff guy salary who
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helped me pick it out or the multiple
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ocean cruises and truck rides pieces of
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this radio went on that's how I realized
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I didn't pay for the radio so who did
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pay well these people paid with the loss
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of their natural resource space these
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people paid with the loss of their clean
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air with increasing asthma and cancer
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rates kids in the Congo paid with their
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future 30% of the kids in part of the
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Congo have dropped out of school to mine
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coal tan a metal we need for our cheap
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and disposable Electronics these people
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even paid by having to cover their own
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health insurance all along this system
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people pitched in so I could get this
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radio for
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$4.99 and none of these contributions
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are recorded in any accounts book that's
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what I mean by the company owners
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externalize the true cost of
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production and that brings us to the
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Golden Arrow of
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consumption this is the heart of the
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system the engine that drives it it is
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so important that protecting this Arrow
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has become the top priority for both of
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these guys that's why after 911 when our
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country was in shock and President Bush
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could have suggested any number of
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appropriate things to grieve to pray to
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hope no he said to shop to shop we have
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become a nation of consumers our primary
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identity has become that of being
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consumers not mothers teachers Farmers
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but consumers the primary way that our
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value is measured and demonstrated is by
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how much we contribute to this Arrow how
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much we consume and do we we shop and
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shop and Shop keep the materials flowing
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and flow they do guess what percentage
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of total materials flow through this
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system is still in product or use 6
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months after their date of sale in North
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America 50% 20 no
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1% one in other words 99% of the stuff
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we Harvest mine process transport 99% of
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the stuff we run through this system is
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trashed within 6 months now how can we
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run a planet with that level of
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materials throughput it wasn't always
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like this the average US person now
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consumes twice as much as they did 50
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years ago ask your grandma in her day
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stewardship and resourcefulness and
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Thrift were valued so how did this
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happen well it didn't just happen it was
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designed shortly after World War II
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these guys were figuring out how to ramp
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up the economy retailing analyst Victor
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leau articulated the solution that's
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become the norm for the whole system he
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said our enormously productive economy
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demands that we make consumption our way
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of life that we convert the buying and
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use of goods into rituals that we seek
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our spiritual satisfaction our ego
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satisfaction in consumption we need
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things consumed burned up replaced and
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discarded at an Ever accelerating rate
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President Eisenhower's Council of
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economic advisers chairman said that the
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American economy's ultimate purpose is
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to produce more consumer goods more
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consumer goods our ultimate purpose not
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provide health care or education or safe
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Transportation or sustainability or
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Justice consumer goods how did they get
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us to jump on board this program so
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enthusiastically well two of their most
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effective strategies are planned
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obsolescence and perceived obsolescence
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planned obsolescence is another word for
00:13:14
designed for the dump it means they
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actually make stuff to be useless as
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quickly as possible so we'll Chuck it
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and buy a new one it's obvious with
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things like plastic bags and coffee cups
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but now it's even big stuff mops DVDs
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cameras barbecues in everything even
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computers have you noticed that when you
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buy a computer now the technology is
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changing so fast that in just a couple
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of years it's actually an impediment to
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communication I was curious about this
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so I opened up a big desktop computer to
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see what was inside and I found out that
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the piece that changes each year is just
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a tiny little piece in the corner but
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you can't just change that one piece
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because each new version is a different
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shape so you got to Chuck the whole
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thing and buy a new one so I was reading
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industrial design journals from the 19
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50s when planned obsolescence was really
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catching on these designers are so open
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about it they actually discuss how fast
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can they make stuff break that still
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leaves the consumer having enough faith
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in the product to go out and buy another
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one it was so intentional but stuff
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cannot break fast enough to keep this
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Arrow afloat so there's also perceived
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obsolescence now perceived obsolescence
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convinces us to throw away stuff that is
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still perfectly useful how do they do
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that well they change the way the looks
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so if you bought your stuff A couple of
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years ago everyone can tell that you
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haven't contributed to this Arrow
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recently and since the way we
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demonstrate our value is contributing to
00:14:38
this Arrow it can be embarrassing like
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I've had the same fat white computer
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monitor on my desk for 5 years my
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cooworker just got a new computer she
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has a flat shiny Sleek monitor it
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matches her computer matches her phone
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even her pen stand she looks like she's
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driving in spaceship Central and I I
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look like I got a washing machine on my
00:14:59
desk fashion is another prime example of
00:15:02
this have you ever wondered why women's
00:15:04
shoe heels go from fat one year to
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skinny the neck to Fat to skinny it's
00:15:08
not because there's some debate about
00:15:10
which heel structure is the most healthy
00:15:11
for women's feet it's because wearing
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fat heels in a skinny heel year shows
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everybody that you haven't contributed
00:15:17
to that era as recently so you're not as
00:15:19
valuable as that person in skinny heels
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next to you or more likely in some ad
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it's to keep us buying new
00:15:26
shoes advertisements and media in
00:15:28
general plays a big role in this each of
00:15:31
us in the US is targeted with over 3,000
00:15:33
advertisements a day we see more
00:15:36
advertisements in one year than people
00:15:37
50 years ago saw in a lifetime and if
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you think about it what's the point of
00:15:41
an ad except to make us unhappy with
00:15:43
what we have so 3,000 times a day we're
00:15:46
told our hair is wrong our skin is wrong
00:15:47
our clothes are wrong our furniture is
00:15:48
wrong our car is wrong we are wrong but
00:15:50
it can all be made right if we just go
00:15:52
shopping media also helps by hiding all
00:15:55
of this and all of this so the only part
00:15:58
of the materials economy we see is the
00:16:00
shopping the extraction production and
00:16:03
Disposal all happens outside of our
00:16:04
field of
00:16:06
vision so in the US we have more stuff
00:16:08
than ever before but polls show that our
00:16:11
national happiness is actually declining
00:16:13
our national happiness peaked in the
00:16:15
1950s the same time that this
00:16:17
consumption Mania exploded hm
00:16:20
interesting coincidence I think I know
00:16:23
why we have more stuff but we have less
00:16:26
time for the things that really make us
00:16:27
happy friends family leisure time we're
00:16:31
working harder than ever some analysts
00:16:33
say we have less leisure time than any
00:16:35
time since feudal society and you know
00:16:37
what the two main activities are that we
00:16:39
do with the scant leisure time we have
00:16:41
watch TV and Shop in the US we spend
00:16:45
three to four times as many hours
00:16:47
shopping as our counterparts in Europe
00:16:48
do so we're in this ridiculous situation
00:16:51
where we go to work maybe two jobs even
00:16:52
and we come home and we're exhausted so
00:16:54
we plop down on our new couch and watch
00:16:56
TV and the commercials tell us you suck
00:16:58
so you got to go to the mall to buy
00:16:59
something to feel better and then you
00:17:01
got to go to work more to pay for the
00:17:02
stuff you just bought so you come home
00:17:03
and you're more tired so you sit down
00:17:04
and you watch more TV until tell you go
00:17:05
to the mall again and we're on this
00:17:07
crazy work watch spend treadmill and we
00:17:10
could just
00:17:19
stop so in the end what happens to all
00:17:22
the stuff we buy anyway at this rate of
00:17:24
consumption it can't fit into our houses
00:17:26
even though the average house side is
00:17:27
doubled in this country since the 1970s
00:17:30
it all goes out in the garbage and that
00:17:32
brings us to disposal this is the part
00:17:34
of the materials economy we all know the
00:17:36
most because we have to haul the junk
00:17:37
out to the curb ourselves each of us in
00:17:40
the United States makes 4 and2 lbs of
00:17:42
garbage a day that's twice what we each
00:17:45
made 30 years ago all of this garbage
00:17:48
either gets dumped in a landfill which
00:17:49
is just a big hole in the ground or if
00:17:51
you're really unlucky first it's burned
00:17:53
in an incinerator and then dumped in the
00:17:55
landfill either way they both pollute
00:17:58
the the air land water and don't forget
00:18:01
change the climate incineration is
00:18:04
really bad remember those toxics back in
00:18:06
the production stage well burning the
00:18:08
garbage releases the toxics up into the
00:18:10
air even worse it makes new super toxics
00:18:14
like dioxin dioxin is the most toxic
00:18:17
man-made substance known to science and
00:18:20
incinerators are the number one source
00:18:22
of dioxin that means that we could stop
00:18:25
the number one source of the most toxic
00:18:27
man-made substance known
00:18:29
just by stopping burning the trash we
00:18:31
could stop it today now some companies
00:18:34
don't want to deal with building
00:18:35
landfills and incinerators here so they
00:18:37
just export the disposal too what about
00:18:40
recycling does recycling help yes
00:18:43
recycling helps recycling reduces the
00:18:46
garbage at this end and it reduces the
00:18:47
pressure to mine and harvest new stuff
00:18:49
at this end yes yes yes we should all
00:18:52
recycle but recycling is not enough
00:18:55
recycling will never be enough for a
00:18:57
couple reasons first the waste coming
00:19:00
out of our houses is just the tip of the
00:19:02
iceberg for every one garbage can of
00:19:04
waste you put out on the curb 70 garbage
00:19:07
cans of waste were made Upstream just to
00:19:09
make the junk in that one garbage can
00:19:10
you put out on the curb so even if we
00:19:13
could recycle 100% of the waste coming
00:19:15
out of our households it doesn't get to
00:19:17
the core of the problems also much of
00:19:20
the garbage can't be recycled either
00:19:22
because it contains too many toxics or
00:19:24
it's designed not to be recyclable in
00:19:26
the first place like those juice packs
00:19:28
where they have layers of metal and
00:19:30
paper and plastic all smooshed together
00:19:32
you can never separate those for True
00:19:41
recycling so you see it is a system in
00:19:44
crisis all along the way we're bumping
00:19:46
up against limits from changing climate
00:19:48
to declining happiness it's just not
00:19:51
working but the good thing about such an
00:19:53
all-pervasive problem is there are so
00:19:55
many points of intervention there are
00:19:57
people working here on SA saving forests
00:19:59
here on clean production labor rights
00:20:01
fair trade conscious consuming blocking
00:20:03
landfills and incinerators and very
00:20:05
importantly taking back our government
00:20:08
so that it really is by the people for
00:20:10
the people all of this work is
00:20:13
critically important but things really
00:20:15
start moving when we see the connections
00:20:16
when we see the big picture when people
00:20:19
all along the system get united we can
00:20:21
reclaim and transform this whole linear
00:20:24
system into something new A system that
00:20:26
doesn't waste resources or people you
00:20:29
see what we really need to Chuck is that
00:20:31
old school throwaway mindset there's a
00:20:33
new school of thinking about this stuff
00:20:35
and it's based on sustainability and
00:20:37
Equity things like green chemistry zero
00:20:40
waste closed loop production renewable
00:20:43
energy local living economies it's
00:20:46
already started some say it's
00:20:48
unrealistic too idealistic that it can't
00:20:51
happen I say the ones who are
00:20:52
unrealistic are those who think that we
00:20:54
can continue with the old way they're
00:20:56
dreaming remember that old way didn't
00:20:59
just happen it wasn't like gravity that
00:21:01
we just have to live with people created
00:21:03
it and we're people too so let's create
00:21:06
something new there's a lot of
00:21:09
information on this website about groups
00:21:10
doing incredible work click around get
00:21:25
involved
