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"The Story of Stuff" by Annie Leonard is a film about the consumer economy and our society today. The five stages of the video are: 1. extraction 2. production 3. distribution 4. contribution 5. disposal

The first phase, extraction, is the process in which natural resources in the world are taken, and not given back properly. This is especially done by the US government, who takes as much as they want and if they run out, go somewhere else to retrieve them. The US is currently running out of resources, as 1/3 of natural resources are gone and less than 4% of nature is gone from the world.

The second phase, production, is about the bad cycle of toxins. Toxins are used to create materials, and materials consist of toxins. Annie Leonard uses the example of a pillow - pillows are made with toxins and we are laying our heads on it, for 8 hours per day! The bad cycle also affects the youngest members of our community - babies that are breast fed. The bad toxins that the mothers inhale, whether they know it or not, will greatly affect their babies.

The third phase, distribution, is all about the backstage, or the side of the process you don't see. The goal is for the producers to keep selling at cheap costs so that more people will buy and more people will replace what they already have. But we as consumers don't think about this side of consumption. We buy what we need/want, and don't second guess about who (we think about the 'brands' but not the 'individuals' that produce them) makes our products.

The fourth phase which is consumption mainly talks about us consumers and how much we consume. It's true - can a day go by without us paying for anything? Hardly! Also, in the society we live in today, if you don't own or buy a lot of stuff, you don't have value! Styles, especially in fashion, are constantly changing and we as human beings feel the need to constantly keep up with the trends by consuming more and more. We replace what we wore yesterday so that we look greater tomorrow.

Lastly, disposal. Apparently, recycling doesn't really help. "Waste needs to be designed out of the system from the start" so that the cycle becomes cleaner and more beneficial.

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