December 28, 2007

The Story of Stuff and the Busycle

With almost predictable regularity, I hear that we need a Busycle 2.0 with the latest in HiTech componentry. Besides telling those who suggest such a thing that our Busycle as it is, is just fine, that it is a spoof on our rampant materialism/consumerism, we can now offer the alarming Story of Stuff:

The Story of Stuff

(double click the above image to see the
Story of Stuff)
  • 80% of the world's forests are gone.
  • 2000 trees a minute are cut down in the Amazon alone. That is 7 football fields a minute!
  • The US has less than 4% of its forests left.
  • 40% of our waterways are undrinkable.
  • The US has 5% of the world's population and 30% of the waste.
  • 75% of global fisheries have been fished beyond capacity.
  • 100,000 synthetic chemicals are used in production today.
  • Bromated Flame Retardants (BFR) neurotoxins (toxins to brain) are in computers, mattresses, pillows
  • Food with highest level of contaminants is mother's milk.
  • 200,000 people a day are moving to cities from environments that no longer support them.
  • US industry *admits* to 4 billion pounds of toxic pollution released per year (likely far more).
  • Average person consumes twice as much as 50 years ago.
  • We see more ads in one year than people 50 years ago saw in a lifetime. 3,000 ads a day!
  • People in US spend three to four times as much time shopping as Europeans do.
  • Average house size has doubled in the US since the 1970's.
  • Average American creates 4.5 lbs. garbage a day -- an amount doubled from 30 years ago.
  • For every one garbage can you put out at the curb, 70 cans were filled by all the processes
    needed in order to make it.
  • 99% of all those things we buy are not in use after 6 months.

Or go to: http://www.storyofstuff.com

You see our Busycle is a parody of all that's wrong with our throw away society. As a vehicle that brings joy and community to the non discerning consumers that most all of us have become, it is a happy story story of stuff. Made from discarded items, it expands the possibility consciousness for not only the way we discard items but for how we foresee their usable life even before we endeavor to make them real.

The above piece is so important, I feel it is my moral obligation to spread it around...

THX 4 all of U!!

Posted by mkreig at December 28, 2007 10:58 AM