In conjunction with Plastic Free July I would like to recommend that everyone makes time to watch this documentary.
I aired on Australian TV last week and at the time I did not see it so tonight I watched it online. Within 10 minutes I felt ill, angry, revolted and ashamed to be part of a so called evolved and intelligent species.
The documentary which you can watch here (until the end of the month) is called 'The Men Who Made Us Spend'.
It is an eye opening account of how products are designed to fail so that we need to replace them and how we are encouraged to spend.
Sadly there is some graphic evidence of what happens to all the electronic waste as our society constantly upgrades, including all of the brand new un-opened boxes of computing equipment, that is thrown out as it becomes 'outdated'.
I know how different the life we live is compared to many people and that we are quite a long way removed form what is the norm (although far from what I call normal). But one of the facts I found staggering was that over the 1990's to 2000's people in America went from buying approximately 34 pieces of clothing a year to 67 pieces which equates to a new piece of clothing every 5.4 days.
I don't think I have purchased that many new pieces of clothing in the last 5 years.
In the next episode they will explore how our emotions are manipulated and our anxieties exploited so they can sell to us which I think will be very interesting.
If you have already seen it what did you think?
That series is amazing..........they have just finished the series on weight loss which was incredible and I'm sure this series will be just the same. Kathy A
ReplyDeleteI watched it last night too.... scarey how the waste is intentional and the consequences ignored, I hope it opens people's eyes that the "i want" culture can't last..
ReplyDeleteAh thanks for reminding me of that show, I saw an add for it, and intended to watch it, but forgot about it, thank goodness we can catch up online these days. Have you ever watched The Story Of Stuff? it's been around quite sometime, very similar theme, very well presented.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen this particular series but I have watched The Men Who Made Us Fat, a series about fructose, upsizing and larger meal portions and The Men Who Made Us Thin, this one was all about the diet food industry, both really interesting and real eye openers.
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