TriVillage Energy Offers Screening of “The Story Of Stuff”

Stuff. Where does it come from? Where does it go? What is the impact?

Actually, there’s a whole lot more to the answers to these questions than we might imagine. And when you think about it, do we ever stop to imagine??

The producers of “The Story of Stuff” did.

“The Story of Stuff” is an entertaining 20 minute video sweeping the internet that takes a hard look at these questions and their answers. It traces the “materials economy” from extraction, to production, distribution, consumption, and finally, disposal.

It’s a system that assumes there is an unlimited amount of raw materials from which to make stuff. The system also assumes there is an unlimited area into which we can toss the used items that we no longer want. In fact, though, (at least at the moment) we have just this one planet from which to harvest resources. Many experts are warning that we are beginning to reach a point of diminishing returns in our efforts to extract raw materials. And at the other end of the system, as Gertrude Stein said, “Away has gone away. You used to be able to throw things away. Now there is no away.”

And what’s even more interesting, many experts are now also saying that the part in between, the endless buying, using (often briefly), and throwing out, is not making us happy. Go figure – the richest nation on earth, our people able to buy more stuff than other people can imagine, and we’re less happy than people in some of the countries you couldn’t pay us to live in. Huh.

Maybe it is a good idea to give it all a little more thought.

TriVillage Energy will be offering a free public screening of “The Story of Stuff” on Saturday, February 2, 2008 at 10:30 am in the Walpole Village Library. TriVillage Energy, a group recognized by the Selectmen, serves Drewsville, North Walpole, and Walpole. The group works to help the entire town -- individuals, businesses, schools, and government -- save energy, reducing both our dependence on non-renewable (often foreign) fossil fuels and our greenhouse gas emissions. For more information on TriVillage Energy or the screening of “The Story of Stuff,” phone Fritze Till at 445-5283 or email Jill Robinson at info@trivillageenergy.org.