The Stuff Crisis

Our insatiable desire for stuff is trashing the planet, insists Annie Leonard, author of The Story of Stuff.

“A house is just a pile of stuff.”

That’s what comedian George Carlin said in a classic routine called “Stuff.”

“You can see that when you’re taking off in an airplane,” he explains. “You look down; you see everybody’s got a little pile of stuff. All the little piles of stuff. And when you leave your house, you gotta lock it up. Wouldn’t want somebody to come by and take some of your stuff.”

Especially the shiny stuff.

“That’s what your house is,” he concludes, “a place to keep your stuff while you go out and get … more stuff!”

We all have stuff — in closets, on bookshelves, in cabinets, in garages, on counters, in cupboards, in attics and in basements. Carlin is right: Our houses are just piles of stuff, with covers on them. And when we fill up our houses, we go out and rent storage lockers. For more stuff.

The celebration of stuff

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