THE STORY OF STUFF

by Annie Leonard

  The good news about PVC is that it isn’t necessary. Alternative materials are available, including many safer materials that PVC has displaced over recent years: glass, cotton, metal, paper, ceramics, leather, and wood as well as less hazardous plastics. Many companies around the world, including Nike, IKEA, Sony, the Body Shop, a dozen automobile makers, and even Wal-Mart, have taken steps to reduce or fully eliminate PVC in their products.

  Knowing how hazardous PVC is, and knowing that alternatives exist, why are you continuing to [use/sell/promote] this material? If all those companies can take a stand on the side of community, worker, and environmental health, you can too.

  Please write back to me to clarify [company name here]’s position regarding PVC. Specifically, I would like to know if you have a plan, with a timetable, to phase out PVC from your operations.

  I look forward to hearing from you.

  Sincerely,

  [Your name here]

  ENDNOTES

  Introduction

  1. “Recycle City: Materials Recovery Center,” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (epa.gov/recyclecity/print/recovery.htm).

  2. Ken Stier, “Fresh Kills: Redeveloping one of the biggest landfills in the world,” Waste Management World, December 2007 (waste-management-world.com/display_article/314941/123/ARCHI

  /none/none/1/Fresh-Kills/).

  3. “Earth at a glance,” Ecology Global Network (ecology.com/features/earthataglance/youarehere.html).

  4. Astronomy: Measuring the Circumference of the Earth,” Schlumberger Excellence in Educational Development (seed.slb.com/v2/FAQView.cfm?ID=1105).

  5. “Earth at a glance.”

  6. CO2 Now website: co2now.org/.

  7. “Body Burden—The Pollution in Newborns: A benchmark investigation of industrial chemicals, pollutants and pesticides in umbilical cord blood,” executive summary, Environmental Working Group, 2005 (ewg.org/reports/bodyburden2execsumm.php).

  8. Fourth Global Environmental Outlook—Environment for Development, summary, United Nations Environment Programme, 2007 (unep.org/geo/geo4/media/

  fact_sheets/Fact_Sheet_3_Air.pdf).

  9. “Ten Facts About Water Scarcity,” World Health Organization (who.int/features/fact files/water/en/index.html).

  10. “Income Inequality,” UC Atlas of Global Inequality (ucatlas.ucsc.edu/income.php).

  11. Tim Jackson, “What Politicians Dare Not Say,” New Scientist, October 18, 2008, p. 43.

  12. “More than five times” the CO2 emissions as the 2050 goal is based on the mandate from top scientists for an 80 percent reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050. For an explanation of that target, see “Global Warming Crossroads: Choosing the Sensible Path to a Clean Energy Economy,” Union of Concerned Scientists, May 2009 (ucsusa.org/global_warming/solutions/big_

  picture_solutions/global_warming_crossroads.html).

  13. Joseph Guth, “Law for the Ecological Age,” Vermont Journal of Environmental Law, vol. 9, no. 3, 2007–2008 (vjel.org/journal.php?vol=2007–2008).

  14. Thom Hartmann, The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight (New York: Three Rivers Press, 2004), pp. 14–15.

  15. Personal correspondence with Dave Batker, May 2009.

  16. Bill McKibben, Deep Economy (New York: Henry Holt & Company, 2007), pp. 203–4.

  17. “More than Half the World Lives on Less than $2 a Day,” Population Reference Bureau (prb.org/Journalists/PressReleases/2005/

  MoreThanHalftheWorldLivesonLess

  Than2aDayAugust2005.aspx), citing data from the World Bank’s World Development Report 2000/2001.

  18. James Gustave Speth, The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008), pp. 7–9.

  19. Interview with Michael Cohen, July 2009.

  20. James Pethokoukis, “McCain or Obama: Who’s Pro-Growth?” US News & World Report, June 2, 2008 (usnews.com/blogs/capital-commerce/2008/06/02/mccain-or-obama-whos-pro-growth.html).

  21. Donella Meadows, The Global Citizen (Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 1991), p. 4.

  22. Donella Meadows, “Places to Intervene in a System,” Whole Earth Review, Winter 1997 (wholeearth.com/issue/2091/article/27/

  places.to.intervene.in.a.system).

  23. Ibid.

  24. Interview with Jeffrey Morris, May 2009.

  A Word About Words

  1. Thomas Princen, Michael Maniates, and Ken Conca, Confronting Consumption (Boston: MIT Press, 2002), pp. 45–50.

  2. James Gustave Speth, The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008), pp. 170.

  3. Speth, The Bridge at the End of the World, p. 62.

  4. Herman E. Daly and Joshua Farley, Ecological Economics (Washington D.C.: Island Press, 2003), p. 433.

  5. N. Senanayake and L. Karalliedde, “Neurotoxic effects of organophosphorus insecticides,” New England Journal of Medicine, March 26, 1987, pp. 761–63.

  6. Ken Geiser, Materials Matter (Boston: MIT Press, 2001), p. 22.

  7. Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, UN World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987 (worldinbalance.net/pdf/1987–brundtland.pdf).

  8. Robert Gilman’s definition of sustainability is widely quoted, by organizations such as the Environmental Protection Agency (yosemite.epa.gov/R10/OI.NSF/5d8e619248fe0b

  d88825650f00710fbc/7dc483330319d2d888256fc

  4007842da!OpenDocument) and the Center for World Leadership (earthleaders.org/sii/goal).

  9. Center for Sustainable Communities, quoted in Sustainable Sonoma County’s “Key Concepts: Defining Sustainability” (sustainablesonoma.org/keyconcepts

  /sustainability.html).

  Chapter 1: Extraction

  1. Paul Hawken and Amory L. Hunter, Natural Capitalism (New York: Little Brown & Co., 1999), p. 50.

  2. Washington State official website: wa.gov/esd/lmea/sprepts/indprof/forestry.htm.

  3. Bill Chameides, “Pulse of the Planet: U.S. Whiffs on Climate Change While Rain Forests Burn,” The Huffington Post, July 14, 2008 (huffingtonpost.com/bill-chameides/pulse-of-the-planet-us-wh_b_112588.html).

  4. Charles Czarnowski, Jason Bailey, and Sharon Bal, “Curare and a Canadian Connection,” Canadian Family Physician, vol. 53, no. 9, September 2007, pp. 1531–32 (pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2234642).

  5. Peter Rillero, “Tropical Rainforest Education” (ericdigests.org/2000–1/tropical.html).

  6. Ibid.

  7. “Cancer Cured by the Rosy Periwinkle,” The Living Rainforest (livingrainforest.org/about-rainforests/anti-cancer-rosy-periwinkle).

  8. Ibid.

  9. “Rainforest Facts,” Raintree (rain-tree.com/facts.htm). Raintree is an informational website founded by Leslie Taylor, author of The Healing Power of Rainforest Herbs (Square Garden City Park One Publishers, 2005) and founder of the company Raintree Nutrition, which markets rainforest botanicals.

  10. Ibid.

  11. Global Diversity Outlook, Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, United Nations Environment Programme, 2001, p. 93 (cbd.int/gbo1/gbo-pdf.shtml).

  12. “About Rainforests,” Rainforest Action Network (ran.org/new/kidscorner/about_rainforests/

  forests_of_the_world_map/’).

  13. Don E. Wilson and DeeAnn M. Reeder (eds.), Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, 3rd. ed. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005); Available online from Bucknell University’s Mammal Species of the World database (bucknell.edu/msw3/browse.asp?id=14000691).

  14. “Promoting Climate-Smart agriculture” Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (fao.org/forestry/28811/en/).

  15. Condition and Trends Working Group of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Current States and Trends, vol. 1 (Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2005), p. 2.

  16. “The Economics o
f Ecosystems and Biodiversity,” European Commission (ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/

  biodiversity/economics/).

  17. Richard Black, “Nature Loss ‘Dwarfs Bank Crisis,’” BBC News, October 10, 2008 (news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7662565.stm).

  18. “Deforestation and net forest area change,” Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (fao.org/forestry/30515/en/).

  19. State of the World’s Forests 2007, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (fao.org/docrep/009/a0773e/a0773e00.htm).

  20. “Old Growth,” Rainforest Action Network (ran.org/what_we_do/old_growth/

  about_the_campaign/).

  21. State of the World’s Forests 2007.

  22. Allen Hershkowitz, Bronx Ecology (Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2002), p. 75.

  23. Stephen Leahy, “Biofuels Boom Spurring Deforestation,” Inter Press Service, March 21, 2007 (ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=37035).

  24. Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums (New York: Viking Press, 1958; Penguin Books, 1976), pp. 225–26.

  25. John Muir, My First Summer in the Sierra (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1911; Sierra Club Books, 1988).

  26. “Forestry; Wood; Pulp and Paper: ILO Concerns,” International Labour Organization (ilo.org/public/english/dialogue/

  sector/sectors/forest/concerns.htm).

  27. Leahy, “Biofuels Boom Spurring Deforestation.”

  28. “Common and Uncommon Paper Products,” TAPPI (tappi.org/paperu/all_about_paper/products.htm). TAPPI is the leading technical association for the worldwide pulp, paper, and converting industry.

  29. “Facts About Paper,” Printers National Environmental Assistance Center (pneac.org/sheets/all/paper.cfm).

  30. “Environmental Trends and Climate Impacts: Findings from the U.S. Book Industry,” Book Industry Study Group and Green Press Initiative (ecolibris.net/book_industry_footprint.asp).

  31. “Forest Products Consumption and Its Environmental Impact” Sierra Club (sierra club.org/sustainable_consumption/factsheets

  /forestproducts_factsheet.asp).

  32. “Good Stuff? Paper,” Worldwatch Institute (worldwatch.org/node/1497).

  33. “What are some ways to save paper at the office?” E/The Environmental Magazine, October 18, 2004 (enn.com/top_stories/article/186).

  34. “Recycling Facts and Figures,” Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, 2002 (dnr.state.wi.us/org/aw/wm/publications/).

  35. International Institute for Environment and Development, A Changing Future for Paper: An Independent Study on the Sustainability of the Pulp and Paper Industry (Geneva: World Business Council for Sustainable Development, 1996), p. 4 (wbcsd.org/web/publications/paper-future.pdf).

  36. Environmental Paper Network website: environmentalpaper.org.

  37. “ForestEthics Junk Mail Campaign,” fact sheet, Forest Ethics (forestethics.org/downloads/dnm_factsheet.pdf).

  38. Ibid.

  39. “Recycle City: Materials Recovery Center,” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (epa.gov/recyclecity/print/recovery.htm).

  40. FCS-US: Leading Forest Conservation and Market Transformation, Forest Stewardship Council (fscus.org/images/documents/FSC_prospectus.pdf).

  41. Personal communication with Todd Paglia, November 2008.

  42. “What Percentage of the Human Body is Water?” The Boston Globe, November 2, 1998 (boston.com/globe/search/stories/health/

  how_and_why/011298.htm).

  43. Personal communication with Pat Costner, August 2009.

  44. “Fascinating Water Facts,” Agua Solutions (aguasolutions.com/facts.html).

  45. John Vidal, “UK gives £50m to Bangladesh climate change fund,” The Guardian [UK], September 8, 2008 (guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/08/

  bangladesh.climatechange).

  46. Seth H. Frisbie, Erika J. Mitchell, Lawrence J. Mastera, et al., “Public Health Strategies for Western Bangladesh That Address Arsenic, Manganese, Uranium, and Other Toxic Elements in Drinking Water,” Environmental Health Perspectives, vol. 117, no. 3, March 2009 (ehponline.org/docs/2008/11886/abstract.html).

  47. Amie Cooper, “The Lawn Goodbye,” Dwell Magazine, February 26, 2009 (dwell.com/articles/the-lawn-goodbye.html).

  48. “Cleaner Air: Gas Mower Pollution Facts,” People Powered Machines (people poweredmachines.com/faq-environment.htm).

  49. Cooper, “The Lawn Goodbye.”

  50. Rebecca Lindsey, “Looking for Lawns,” NASA Earth Observatory, November 8, 2005 (earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Lawn/

  printall.php).

  51. “Productgallery: Paper,” Water Footprint Network (waterfootprint.org/?page=files/productgallery&product=paper).

  52. “Productgallery: Cotton” Water Footprint Network (waterfootprint.org/?page=files/productgallery&product=cotton).

  53. “Productgallery: Coffee” Water Footprint Network (waterfootprint.org/?page=files/productgallery&product=coffee).

  54. “Siemens Offers Tips for Manufacturers to Reduce Their Water Footprint,” PRNews-wire/Reuters, August 17, 2009 (reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS142222+17-Aug-2009+PRN20090817).

  55. “Where Is Earth’s Water Located?” U.S. Geological Survey (ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/earthwherewater.html).

  56. Ibid.

  57. Ger Bergkamp and Claudia W. Sadoff, “Water in a Sustainable Economy,” State of the World 2008 (Washington, D.C.: The Worldwatch Institute, 2009), p. 107.

  58. Ibid., p. 108.

  59. World Health Organization and UNICEF, Water for Life: Making It Happen (Geneva: WHO Press, 2005), p. 5.

  60. “Human Appropriation of the World’s Fresh Water Supply,” University of Michigan Global Change Program (globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange2/current

  /lectures/freshwater_supply/freshwater.html).

  61. Bergkamp and Sadoff, “Water in a Sustainable Economy,” p. 108.

  62. Maude Barlow, “A UN Convention on the Right to Water—An Idea Whose Time Has Come,” Blue Planet Project, November 2006 (blueplanetproject.net/documents/UN_

  convention_MB_Dec06.pdf).

  63. “Running Dry,” The Economist, August 21, 2008. The quote “water is the oil of the 21st century” was from Andrew Liveris, the chief executive of Dow Chemical Company.

  64. “The Soft Path for Water,” Pacific Institute (pacinst.org/topics/water_and_sustain ability/soft_path/index.htm).

  65. “‘Virtual Water’ Innovator Awarded 2008 Stockholm Water Prize,” Stockholm International Water Institute (siwi.org/sa/node.asp?node=25).

  66. Quote appears on the Water Footprint website: waterfootprint.org/?page=files/home.

  67. Bergkamp and Sadoff, “Water in a Sustainable Economy,” p. 114.

  68. “Dublin Statements and Principles,” Global Water Partnership (gwpforum.org/servlet/PSP?iNodeID=1345).

  69. Ray Anderson, “The business logic of sustainability,” TED talk filmed February 2009, posted May 2009 (ted.com/talks/ray_anderson_on_the_business_

  logic_of_sustain ability.html).

  70. Dirty Metals: Mining, Communities, and the Environment, Earthworks and Oxfam America, 2004, p. 4 (nodirtygold.org/pubs/DirtyMetals.pdf).

  71. “Bingham Canyon Mine,” Wikipedia (wikipedia.org/wiki/Bingham_Canyon_Mine).

  72. Rich Lands Poor People: Is Sustainable Mining Possible? Centre for Science and the Environment, 2008, p. 1 (cseindia.org/programme/industry/

  pdf/miningpub.pdf).

  73. Dirty Metals: Mining, Communities and the Environment, p. 4.

  74. Ibid.

  75. Ibid.

  76. “Mining: Safety and Health,” International Labour Organization (ilo.org/public/english/dialogue/sector/sectors

  /mining/safety.htm).

  77. “Mineworkers Rights,” GRAVIS (gravis.org.in/content/view/26/46/).

  78. “1872 Mining Law,” Earthworks (earthworksaction.org/1872.cfm).

  79. Ken Geiser, Materials Matter (Boston: MIT Press, 2001), p. 170.

  80. Ibid.

  81. “H.R. 699: Hardrock
Mining and Reclamation Act of 2009,” Congressional Research Service summary, GovTrack (govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111–699&tab=summary).

  82. Radhika Sarin, No Dirty Gold: Consumer education and action for mining reform (Washington, D.C.: Earthworks, 2005), pp. 305–6.

  83. “Why a Campaign Focused on Gold?” No Dirty Gold (nodirtygold.org/about_us.cfm).

  84. “Poisoned Waters,” No Dirty Gold (nodirtygold.org/poisoned_waters.cfm).

  85. “Cyanide process,” Encyclopaedia Britannica (britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/147730/cyanide-process).

  86. “The Gold Discovery That Changed the World: Coloma, California, 1848,” Coloma Valley website, adapted from Discover Coloma: A Teacher’s Guide, by Alan Beilharz (coloma.com/gold/).

  87. Pratap Chatterjee, Gold, Greed and Genocide (Berkeley, Calif.: Project Underground, 1998).

  88. “NIH Mercury Abatement Program,” National Institutes of Health, Office of Research Facilities (orf.od.nih.gov/Environmental+Protection/Mercury+Free/).

  89. Rebecca Solnit, “Winged Mercury and the Golden Calf,” Orion, September/October 2006 (orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/176/).

  90. “The Golden Rules,” No Dirty Gold (nodirtygold.org/goldenrules.cfm).

  91. “Combating Conflict Diamonds,” Global Witness (globalwitness.org/pages/en/conflict_diamonds.html).

  92. “Leaders of diamond-fuelled terror campaign convicted by Sierra Leone’s Special Court,” press release from Global Witness, February 26, 2009 (globalwitness.org/media_library_detail.php/723/

  en/leaders_of_diamond_fuelled_terror_

  campaign_convicted_by_sierra

  _leones_special_court).

  93. Ibid.

  94. Ibid.

  95. “The Kimberley Process,” Global Witness (globalwitness.org/pages/en/the_

  kimberley_process.html).

  96. “Conflict Diamonds: Sanctions and War,” United Nations (un.org/peace/africa/Diamond.html).

  97. Loupe Holes: Illicit Diamonds in the Kimberley Process, Partnership Africa Canada and Global Witness, November 2008, p. 1 (globalwitness.org/media_library_detail.php/674

  /en/loupe_holes_illicit_

  diamonds_in_the_kimberley_proc).