The story of stuff

Create a copy of the the document and name it: name_surname_itmatters. Then, share the copy with your teacher.

During this project you will learn lots of new words in english and we suggest you to write them in the final part of the document (grow your vocabulary).

Let's start with a video called the Story of Stuff, which is the main support of all that project (so we strongly recommend you to watch it again at home). As the producers said:

It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.

Task 1

Answer the following questions:

How many years has Annie Leonard been traveling the world tracking where our stuff come from and where it goes?
Why does the corporation look bigger than the goverment?
What does it mean that we are living in a finite planet?
Are resources distributed equally towards world population?
What is hidden behind the low cost of a radio?
Do you think that you are contribuiting to the golden arrow as a consumer? How much?
Imagine that society is capable of changing this system. Make a list of acts to make a positive contribution to the world.

Task 2. Reinforcement activity

Part one

Let’s remember the 5 stages of the materials economy:

With your partner choose and define, using Internet, one stage.
After five minutes we will share our findings and we will copy the definitions on the table.
Finally we will play a game: a volunteer will represent a stage without talking and the rest of the class will guess it (mimics)

Part two

Read carefully this adaptation of a summary of the contents of the vide written by Stephen Downes (writer, philospher, educator and journalist specialist in online learing). blog: http://halfanhour.blogspot.com.es/2009/05/story-of-stuff-summary.html

The materials system that defines our economy today: extraction, production, distribution, consumption, disposal. It can't work. It's a linear system on a finite planet.
What's missing
- people. Some have a little more say.
- corporation - bigger than the government
Extraction
- we are running out of resources - in the last decade, 1/3 of the world's resource base has been consumed
Production
- many chemicals employed, most untested. eg. pillows, are doused in BFR (a flame-retardent), a neurotoxin
- pollution - they emit more than 4 billion pounds of toxic chemicals a year
- The erosion of local environments and economies leaves people with no other economic option... but to work (and live) in toxic environments
Distribution
- Sell as quickly as possible, keep prices down
- It's all about externalizing the cost - keep wages down, skimp on health insurance. How could $4.99 possibly capture the cost of the radio?I didn't pay for the radio - kids in the Congo paid with their future
Consumption
- The heart of the system, the engine that drives is: all we see is the shopping
- 1 percent of material we consume is still in use 6 months after we consume them
- we are convinced to throw away stuff that is still perfectly useful - by changing the way stuff looks
- advertisement plays a big role in this - the point of an ad is to make us unhappy with what he have - we are told "we are wrong"
Disposal
- garnage - gets stuffed in a landfill - pollutes air, land and water - and changes the climate - buring releases the toxics
- recycling helps, by reducing garbage, reducing demand
It is a system in crisis
There are many points of intervention
But all of it works when we see the big picture
The people who say we can continue the old way are misled - they're dreaming

Now, answer this test: https://goo.gl/forms/VMm0utsrNEKHYFH53.

In your document write down your mark and the incorrect answers.
Then, answer the test again without making any mistake.
Finally, make a screenshot of your best mark.

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