Chapter 1: Extraction

In The Story of Stuff, Annie Leonard proposes a complete paradigm shift in which we look at the world not through the lens of economic growth and pure unfettered capitalism -- but through an alternative framework that focuses on serving the planet and the majority of its people instead. Our current model, she writes, is simply unsustainable, "compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" (xxxiii).

This dose of reality, I suspect, will be hard for many of us in the developed world to accept. For one, too often we define our success by the amount of Stuff we can buy. Secondly, our immediate livelihoods depend on jobs that, for the most part, depend on consumption and exploiting the world's resources. It's difficult to think about the long-term, when for many Americans, their current economic needs are barely met. This makes saving the planet (literally) too daunting of a challenge -- too far away and abstract -- which leads to inaction until finally it's too late, when we have reached our limits and people start pointing fingers at each other.

However, Leonard says it's not all hopeless. As consumers, we can one by one start to demand more sustainable solutions, eventually achieving critical mass. Incremental changes in consumer behavior and consumer demand can make a huge difference when multiplied out by millions. A starting point for Oxy could be figuring out just where our paper comes from, as Leonard notes that for every ton of paper, 98 tons of other resources are used (1). Perhaps as students, we can push for sustainable procurement policies -- e.g., require recycled toilet paper -- that minimize this waste.