A new short film was released last week that takes viewers on a provocative tour of our consumer-driven culture -- from resource extraction to computer incineration -- exposing the real costs of this use-it and lose-it approach to stuff.
Throughout the 20-minute film, activist Annie Leonard, the film's narrator and an expert on the materials economy, examines the social, environmental and global costs of extraction, production, distribution, consumption and disposal.
From the limited life cycle of personal computers to changes in footwear fashion, Leonard demonstrates that products are either designed to be regularly replaced or to convince consumers that their stuff needs to be upgraded. This notion of planned and perceived obsolescence drives the machine of American consumerism year round.
