The Story of Stuff

My UEP 101 class last year spent some time discussing Annie Leonard’s The Story of Stuff, after watching her online video. The video only briefly summarizes the supply chain, but after reading chapter 3 on distribution I have a much better understanding of the way the system works at this step, and the problems that exist. Leonard begins by introducing the concept of “lean manufacturing and lean retail” (108). Companies are streamlining all of their production in an attempt to cut costs, including cutting workers’ bathroom breaks and forgoing factory safety features (109). Lean retail, the second part of the problem, refers to the business practice in which companies only produce goods as they are demanded. This system may be beneficial for the corporation and help them to save costs, but it hurts the workers by not providing consistent work (Leonard, 111). Professor Dara O’Rourke argues that “in the same way that Toyota workers are empowered to pull the stop cord on their assembly lines, we could have an entirely transparent system of supply chains in which all the stake holders (and community members) are encouraged to identify flaws throughout the system and halt production until that problem has been taken care of” (111). O’Rourke’s idea reminds me of what we are trying to do here on campus through Environmental Problem Solving, the Sustainability Fund, the garden, etc. The students have the power to address problems that we see and demand change. O’Rourke’s vision for change is a system in which “firms are pressured to produce goods not as cheaply as possible, but in ways that optimize labor, social, and environmental benefits” (111). The biggest issues here on campus are the environmental impacts of our energy and water use, consumption, and waste production. Leonard emphasizes that the distribution of consumer goods has just as much of an impact on the environment as the extraction, production, and disposal. Oxy has made some progress towards trying to buy more locally produced goods. Hopefully, during the course of this semester we can help Oxy become more sustainable by playing the role of the stake holders in O’Rourke’s system and identifying the flaws and initiating change.