The Story of Stuff - Annie Leonard [176]
Leverage your procurement dollars. Universities, businesses, and organizations of all sorts generally buy more Stuff than individuals do, so they can demand more of their suppliers. Requiring printers to use recycled paper, caterers to serve organic food, suppliers to minimize packaging, or janitorial services to avoid toxic cleansers can help, slowly, shift these business sectors to better practices.
Why do any or all of these things, even when we know they aren’t enough to turn things around? The value of individual action includes:
It demonstrates potential and alternative ways to live. Each time we visibly choose quality of life over quantity of Stuff, each time we ignore those consumer messages telling us we must have the latest gadget, we demonstrate the possibility of another way. I have solar panels on my roof. After reducing my energy use with things like using a clothesline and installing insulated curtains, the panels produce enough power for my whole house and enough extra to power the small used electric vehicle that gets my daughter and me around town. I know that the cost of solar panels and a solar-powered electric vehicle are beyond the reach of many. And I know that, really, they don’t make a difference in my country’s massive CO2 emissions. But every time someone stops me to ask me about the car, and I tell them that I don’t have to go to gas stations anymore, it spreads a sense of possibility. It’s chipping away at the myth that our current industrial model is inevitable.
Conscious consuming includes buying the least toxic, least exploitative products available or sometimes not buying something at all. Avoiding toxic-containing consumer products reduces exposure to toxics for ourselves and our families and, if it gets enough traction, sends messages upstream to producers to phase toxics out, thus benefiting workers, host communities, and the broader environment. Buying locally keeps your money in the local economy, supports local jobs, and reduces miles traveled for your Stuff—all good for the planet and communities.
The individual actions we take to reduce our impact help us find the flaws in our system that need to be changed. I think of them as metal detectors leading us straight to what’s wrong. Where the onus is on us individuals to do the right thing, these are the places in the system that need to be changed. Why does taking public transportation cost more than the bridge toll if I drive to San Francisco? Systems flaw! Clearly we need to increase public investment and subsidies to expand mass transit. Why do I have to study GoodGuide for hours to figure out which shampoo, sunscreen, and lotions don’t have carcinogens and reproductive toxics? Systems flaw! Instead, let’s ban toxics in body care products so that everyone knows they are buying toxic free without investing hours of research.
Integrity: I believe that people are good. We want to do the right thing; we care about the planet, our global neighbors, and our grandchildren. It doesn’t feel good to know that so many of our daily choices erode the planet’s health, perpetuate inequality, and are downright toxic. Making these small choices to lessen our impact helps bring greater integrity to our values and our actions, which in turn makes us feel better about ourselves. If these small steps are lulling us into inaction in the larger picture, that’s obviously not beneficial, but if we can harness that greater sense of personal integrity and that newly freed time to making real change, that is certainly a good thing.
APPENDIX 3
SAMPLE LETTER TO PVC RETAILERS, MANUFACTURERS, AND LOBBYISTS
Even with the best of intentions, I find that PVC (polyvinyl chloride) plastic still sneaks its way into my house occasionally. Whether it is in kids’ toys received as gifts from well-meaning relatives to that horrible child-sized Barbie pink raincoat that was left at our home to products in which I didn’t recognize the PVC until I opened the package and smelled that telltale smell, there it is. Sometimes