Video reflection 3: The story of stuff

The story of stuff at first reminds me an important part of our everyday behaviours. Simply to raise our attentions to the environment sounds simple as described in the video however hard to achieve. With US as an example, it clearly shows what has been told and warned isn’t enough to change our attitudes on everyday consumptions.

From the beginning of the video I thought this was just another greenie production to point out the obvious as it began by retelling the basic assumed processes and stages of a product which eventually ends up as waste. However the story builds as further emphasis and elaborations have been included about who is causing this inefficient and unsustainable cycle. To just an individual making a difference doesn’t seem to have one slightest chance, especially as mentioned throughout the video; the major causer or players to this wastage system are the government and the corporations with the power. But it reminds us that if each and one of us all think as such there will be no change as we as a world play part to the change.

As the video continues it gives more in-depth definition to this production and consumer cycle however the result is always the same. It concludes to say no matter the power spend to extract resources, the workers labour and the money spent by consumers it all ends up being trash within 6months. This made me think closer about the product than our behaviour. Ultimately I realised design does have a major impact on how the user will treat it mentally and eventually determine how he/she will use it and throw it away. As mentioned in the video this doesn’t count the disposable items such as paper cups and plastic bags, it was bigger products like electronics and other large material demanding products. If a person treats the product depending on its value then it is possible to design things to make people treat it better.

In essence the biggest heads up from this video is to relate this known sustainability problem to our design career not just our daily lives. To be aware of our impact and ability to change a person’s judgment on a product can most definitely affect his/her options on treating a product well and the desire to keep it for longer. This might be a first thought for us against planned obsolesces.