The following discussion is based on the video clip The Story of Stuff made by Anne Leonard (available on www.storyofstuff.com)
Anne Leonard has studied environmental science at Barnard College in New York and worked for Greenpeace International for eight years. Today she drives a project with the aim to make people more aware of the problems their lifestyle causes.
The message in the video clip is that we (with we Leonard means the industrialized world in general and the US in particular) have to stop consuming so much and begin to live in a more responsible fashion. The video explains how much waste and toxic chemicals are released from the production chain and how the companies have made a system (capitalism) that will, in the end, destroy the environment. Leonard also talks about something called externalized cost with which she mean that the consumers don’t pay the actual price for the products they buy. Part of the price is always paid by the people (often in developing countries) how get there environment destroyed by things like mines, toxic waste and pollution. If factors like this would be added to the price of the products the price would be much higher.
After watching the video I must admit that, although the picture she is painting is a bit extreme and all the facts aren’t quite right*, the problems Leonard describes are very real.
Leonard talks much about all the toxic chemicals that we use in everyday products like pillows etc. She mentions the brominated flame retardants and I can give some more examples like bisphenol-A, asbestos (which is still a common material outside Europe and the US) and acrylamide (which was used as a sealant, called Rockagill, in Hallandsåsen and are sometimes used as a retention agent in papermaking).
As a chemist I think many companies are too quick to use chemicals and materials which aren’t properly tested. In our society every advantage you can get as a company is worth fighting for and new chemicals can sometimes give you that valuable advantage over your competitors. The solution to the problem is not to abandon capitalism altogether because, let’s face it, it’s the best system we have come up with so far. A more realistic solution is to make the laws and regulations better. Especially force the developing countries to accept more strict regulations, because when a chemical becomes forbidden in Europe the companies which uses it often move their production to another part of the world where it’s accepted.
One thing that I reacted on was Leonard’s saying “toxic in toxic out” about a production chain. This is not always true. Many harmful substances can be turned into less harmful ones with the proper treatment. I think we can’t ban all toxic chemicals (nearly all chemicals are toxic to some extant) but instead we should try to minimize the emission and pollution of them and try to recycle them.
I got the impression after I had watched the video that Leonard tried to scare her watchers a bit. This is quite typical for the US where scaring people is a common way to make people heed your message. I think this isn’t the best way to present your message to a Swedish audience.
Even though Leonard tries to scare her audience to reconsider their lifestyle I think her message is important and that all of us should think about it next time we are out buying Christmas presents.
*See for example Los Angeles Times, Teaching 'stuff' about ecology, Margot Roosevelt, July 13, 2010.
