The Story of Stuff - Annie Leonard [204]
Many people shared stories about their personal experiences resisting oil and coal extraction around the world: Oronto Douglas, MaryAnn Hitt, Robert Shimeck, Owens Wiwa, Ka Hsaw Wa, Steve Kretzman, and Mike Roselle. Payal Sampat, Pratap Chatterjee, and Danny Kennedy taught me about mining. Lafcadio Cortesi, Daniel Katz, Josh Martin, Todd Paglia, Mike Brune, Randy Hayes, and Tyson Miller shared their vast knowledge of forestry and paper issues. Patricia Jurewicz did the same for cotton production and Mike Shade for all things PVC. Thanks also to my supply-chain guru Dara O’Rourke, and to Gary Ruskin and Vance Packard, who educated me about the advertising industry. Ted Smith, Sheila Davis, and Robby Rodriguez provided me with more information about electronics than even the most powerful iPod could hold.
Colin Beavan, John DeGraaf, Tim Kasser, Alan Durning, Michael Maniates, Tom Princen, Vicki Robbins, Juliet Schor, and the indomitable Betsy Taylor all helped me understand that for many of us, living with less really is more satisfying.
Thanks to the hundreds of people who opened their homes, welcomed me into their communities and shared their stories with me during my years of tracking factories and dumps. There are far too many to name here, but they include Bobby Peek in South Africa, Ralph Ryder in the U.K., Tomori Balasz in Hungary, Von Hernandez in the Philippines, Madhumitta Dutta, Bittu Sahgal, Praful Bidwai, and Nityanand Jayaraman—the Indian journalist who accompanied me on so many factory investigations that he once called me his greatest occupational hazard—in India. Many of the people I worked with around the world are members of GAIA, an international network of people in eighty-one countries working for safe, just alternatives to incineration. To GAIA, I offer especially heartfelt thanks.
Thanks to the economists who made me realize that the study of economics is both fascinating and essential: Dave Batker, Josh Farley, David Korten, Pritam Singh, John Talberth, and especially Jeffrey Morris, who spent hours exploring the nearly infinite externalized costs associated in making a modern-day consumer product.
I deeply appreciate the people who shared their knowledge about solutions and alternatives: Bryony Schwan and Janine Benyus for their teachings on biomimicry, Beverly Bell for documenting that other worlds are possible, and John Warner for articulating and advancing Green Chemistry.
In addition to the invaluable expertise shared by those working in specific issue areas, I also want to thank those who taught me to look at the big picture, who helped me to connect the dots. First and foremost, Patrick Bond at the University of KwaZulu Natal in Durban, South Africa, who read through this manuscript and provided invaluable critiques and comments throughout. Additionally, Maude Barlow, John Cavanagh, Gopal Dayaneni, Ellen Dorsey, Anwar Fazal, Tom Goldtooth, Paul Hawken, Van Jones, Rita Lustgarten, Jerry Mander, Donella Meadows, Peter Montague, Ralph Nader, Bobby Peek, Meena Raman, Mark Randazzo, Katie Redford, John Richard, Satinath Sarangi, and Robert Weissman.
I am forever grateful that my first real job was with an organization whose default response was “let’s do it” rather than “but that might not work.” Jim Vallette, Heather Spalding, Kenny Bruno, Connie Murtagh, Jim Puckett, Marcelo Furtado, Von Hernandez, Veronica Odriozola, Kevin Stairs, Dave Rapaport, Peter Bahouth, and others in Greenpeace