An Oldie but Goodie -- The Story of Stuff

Written and narrated by Annie Leonard, The Story of Stuff is a twenty minute movie which takes viewers through the entire lifecycle of, well, stuff. All kinds of stuff. This movie was first released in November of 2007 after Annie had completed about ten years of research into the concept. Her information is in your face but well worth addressing and her reasoning is solid and sound.

Annie describes to viewers in great detail how our stuff goes through the total cycle:
extraction => production => distribution => consumption => disposal
and how it relates to our planet and its resources.

Please click on the picture below to be taken directly to the movie site then just click on Play to watch this incredibly insightful video. Whether you have seen it before or this is the first time you are viewing it I promise the statistics and information related to what we do with our stuff will be astounding.

Old School Fun Videos

Charmaine sent me the first two videos this morning and immediately upon watching them I was taken back to age five sitting in front of the television, watching Sesame Street. Educational television existed back then and they were not afraid to teach us kids about things that were seemingly out of our grasp. The third video is one that stuck with me through all of school; anytime I got stuck in English class this little ditty went through my head and everything was alright. Notice that without the second lesson it would be pretty difficult to pronounce the name of the third video. It would be great to see more programming like this on television again!

Only A Bill



TION



Conjunction Junction

Movie Spotlight: Idiocracy

An Army Librarian (Luke Wilson) addicted to television, and a Prostitute (Maya Rudolph) who calls herself an artist, are dubbed as the two most average people on the planet and chosen to participate in a top secret governmental experiment where they would be placed in hibernation chambers for a full year. Through a series of ludicrous twists that only Mike Judge (Beavis and Butthead, Office Space) could conceive, the Colonel in charge of the experiment is arrested, the military base is demolished (with the chambers still inside of course) and the debris from the deconstruction taken away so a Fuddruckers can be built on the site.

Through narration we are taught that being smart is not exactly a requirement for procreation and a series of graphs points out how the birth of morons begins outpacing the intelligent, essentially creating a completely dumbed down society. Fast forward 500 years into the future to the year 2505 when the great garbage avalanche takes place, bringing the hibernation chambers with it and the main characters are reintroduced into society. By a miracle of chance, they are now the smartest people on the planet.

This is where my environmental brain kicked into high gear. The garbage was piled so high it created mountains taller than the Alps and I sensed it might not be too far off from reality if something were not done now to offset it. Additionally the world had become one big advertising campaign where everything was sponsored by something and that something was not always the right choice. For example, the entire planet drank nothing but a liquid containing electrolytes which took over many of the government agencies and began claiming it was the best solution for everything, including watering plants.

The outcome of the movie is of course very predictable and it is typical Mike Judge fashion -- a cult style classic comedy but sadly not speaking to the mainstream. I will challenge that association however by giving this movie a Three Leaf Rating, reminding ourselves how important it is to take care of our environments -- the planet, local businesses and our free thinking minds -- so we do not become the type of society that begins naming our children after popular products like corn chips or luxury cars. Oh wait, that has already begun.

Welcome to the Green Leaf Reviewer

First of all I would just like to say thank you very much for stopping by, we are brand new and hope you will enjoy the format as it evolves through time.

Next I would like to tell you all a little bit about what we do here at Green Leaf Reviewer. Our mission is simple -- review any and all things environmental. Movies, books, music, products, people, everything! The world is the environment and everything in it can be discussed. One day a review may be completed for an eco-conscious movie such as An Inconvenient Truth while the following day I might post a review of my next door neighbor because they tossed a plastic bottle in the recycle bin for the first time. Anything and everything goes.

I will do my best to post a little something everyday but since I am a real life person (waving hi to all current and future admirers!) life sometimes does get in the way. Please bear with me, especially in these early stages as this gets off the ground. With that in mind, I would also like to draw attention to the Google advertisement box on the right side bar. If something looks interesting to you please click on the ad. This will help me to raise funding to ensure this blog can grow. I appreciate it and thank you in advance for your kind click.

Finally, the Leaf Rating System I developed will be applied to every review completed on this blog. As many critics do, I have a rating system from one to five. One is considered "don't waste your time unless you are really bored" while five is "get yourself out there and experience this yesterday!!" Clearly 2-4 are everything else in between. Here is what a Two Leaf Rating would look like:

The opinions expressed with each Leaf Rating are mine alone. I do not expect everyone to agree with everything I say although whether you agree or not please feel free to comment! Getting people to talk about the environment is the best way to bring the issues it faces to the forefront and then fix them!

Thanks for your visit, please feel free to subscribe to this blog so you never miss a Green Leaf!