What is the Golden Arrow story of stuff

The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. … Writer and narrator Annie Leonard explains that the “golden arrow of consumption” is the heart of the modern economic system, a system that’s really only existed since the 1950s.

What is the main point of the story of stuff?

The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It’ll teach you something, it’ll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.

What are five main points about the story of stuff?

The film is divided into five segments: extraction, production, distribution, consumption and disposal.

What is the golden arrow of the material economy?

What is the “Golden Arrow of Consumption”? The “Golden Arrow of Consumption” is the “heart of the “material economy”, it is the “engine that drive it, it is important that it has become a “top priority” for both “government” and “corporations” to protect it.

What is extraction in the story of stuff?

Extraction: Extraction is a fancy name to say natural resources exploitation, and at the same time for trashing the planet. The planet is running out of resources because people are using too much stuff.

How is the golden arrow of consumption designed to keep us consuming?

The Golden Arrow of Consumption is where President Bush told the people to spend as much as possible to keep the economy from going into a recession. Instead of finding a better and long term solution they went with the easy route.

Who wrote the story of stuff?

The Story of Stuff was written by Annie Leonard, Louis Fox, and Jonah Sachs, directed by Louis Fox and produced by Free Range Studios. Executive Producers included Tides Foundation and the Funders Workgroup for Sustainable Production and Consumption. It was released in December 2007.

What are the 5 stages of the materials economy?

According to “The Story of Stuff”, everything that we have the ability to consume is part of a linear system known as the Materials Economy. The system runs through five phases: Extraction – Production – Distribution – Consumption – Disposal .

What is the number one source of dioxin according to the story of stuff?

“Dioxin is the most toxic man made substance known to science. And incinerators are the number one source of dioxin.” She cites Mocarelli et al.

What role do humans play in the material economy?

Human activities have a major impact on economic systems. Human activity includes human settlement and migration, the gathering of raw materials, and the manufacturing of finished products.

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What is a major problem with the linear system of stuff?

This elementary way of describing the Materials Economy, reveals a simple but important flaw with the system. We live on a planet that has finite resources and those resources that are not renewable, will eventually run out. The linear system called the ‘Materials Economy’, is unsustainable.

What of material is still in use after 6 months?

Leonard says that 99% of the stuff we harvest, mine, process, transport, and consume is trash within six months. Only 1% of the materials used to produce consumer goods (including the goods themselves) are still used six months after the date of sale.

How many pages is the story of stuff?

ISBN-13:9781451610291Publication date:02/22/2011Pages:368Sales rank:185,641Product dimensions:5.50(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.80(d)

What percent of stuff we buy is trashed 6 months later?

It has been estimated that 99% of the materials flow in North America is discarded within 6 months of a product’s purchase (source).

Why do we consume so much?

Consumption serves to satisfy a limited set of basic material needs. These mainly include the need for adequate food and shelter (a roof over one’s head and clothing). These basic needs can be satisfied with a very low level of consumption.

What are different steps in materials economy?

(The “steps” of the materials economy studied in this unit include extraction, production, distribution, consumption, and disposal.

How many pounds of toxic chemicals are released by US companies each year into the environment?

This amounts to approximately 10 million tons (over 21 billion pounds) of toxic chemicals released into our environment by industries each year.

How much of our natural resources have been trashed?

In the past three decades alone, one-third of the planet’s natural resources base have been consumed. 9 Gone.

What is a material economy?

(A LINEAR SYSTEM) It is a system that starts with the extraction of raw materials from the ground and their processing into usable materials. This is followed by the materials being used to manufacture products in factories (called production).

What is linear material economics?

For a long time, our economy has been ‘linear’. This means that raw materials are used to make a product, and after its use any waste (e.g. packaging) is thrown away. In an economy based on recycling, materials are reused. … That means preventing waste by making products and materials more efficiently and reusing them.

What impact do materials have on the environment?

This, coupled with the massive increase in the use of materials, has led to growing impacts on the environment, as large amounts of energy, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, water, solid wastes, and other emissions to air and water are directly tied to the production and use of materials, and also affecting land use …

How do the materials negatively affect the environment?

In short, raw material extraction and processing always impact on the environment, resulting as they do in soil degradation, water shortages, biodiversity loss, damage to ecosystem functions and global warming exacerbation. … Improper product use provokes noxious emissions that can end up in our water, soil and air.

What are the importance of material resources?

It helps to improve the environment, by reducing the amount of resources that the economy requires and diminishing the associated environmental impacts, and sustain economic growth by securing adequate supplies of materials and improving competitiveness.

Why can't we run a linear system on a finite planet?

As Annie says, “… you cannot run a linear system on a finite planet indefinitely.” You especially can’t grow the size of that linear system indefinitely. … The planet can’t sustain our pattern of consumption, but people get steamrolled in the economy when consumption slows down.

What is meant by consumerism?

Consumerism is the idea that increasing the consumption of goods and services purchased in the market is always a desirable goal and that a person’s wellbeing and happiness depend fundamentally on obtaining consumer goods and material possessions.

What are the materials that do not decay?

• Glass. Glass can be recycled over and over again with no loss of quality, but when discarded and dumped into a landfill, it does not decompose. …
• Polystyrene Foam. …
• Plastic. …
• Metal.

How many planets are needed to support current rates of consumption in the US and Australia?

If everybody consumed at U.S. rates, we would need 3 to 5 planets.

What is consumption crisis?

Overconsumption describes a situation where the use of a natural resource has exceeded the sustainable capacity of a system. A prolonged pattern of overconsumption leads to the eventual loss of resource bases.

What are the four F's essential for survival that forests provide?

What are the “four F’s” essential for survival that forests provide? … b) Forests collect and filter our fresh water, maintaining the planet’s overall hydrologic cycle and moderating floods and droughts.

When did the modern consumer economy come into being Why?

The US consumer economy in the 1920s included many leisure items and products that improved housework. They introduced advertising to sell goods and department stores were created. They introduced lines of credit and installment plans to consumers who could or would not buy things immediately.