The Appalling Story of MY Stuff (part 1)

I am reading The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard. Apparently I missed the "internet film sensation" on which is the book is based, so I'm planning to track that down. At the moment I am experiencing a paradigm shift because there is so much about Stuff I just never thought about. Today I am a know-nothing. I have not even started the section on consumption and I am already appalled at my own habits.

Just for starters: I got these nifty disposable "foot spa" booties from Bath & Body Works (which were, predictably, made in China). I decided to pamper my feet while I read. I began reading about water shortages in developing countries and the abysmal working conditions in factories making absurd stuff for Americans to buy and the energy used to transport it halfway around the world. (Not to mention the toxicity of a lot of this stuff.) One of the questions Leonard poses before buying something is, "What was it like to be one of the factory workers who helped create it?" (p. 72) Now look at my feet. How ridiculous! Do the Chinese workers who make this crap have a better quality of life because I bought these booties? Could they even afford to buy the nonessential luxury stuff they are helping to make? Is it fulfilling work? What else could be made with those materials that could really make a difference in the world--medical supplies, maybe?

Then there is the cotton. Leonard goes into great detail describing the amount of water and pesticides used in cotton production, the impact on the workers and the environment, etc. I got up this morning and went through the same skin care routine I have done since college, which includes using a cottonball to apply astringent on my face. I do this twice daily, morning and bedtime and have for twenty years (gasp) for an approximate total of 14,600 cottonballs. This is just one of the things I use every day and throw away without ever thinking about where it came from, what was involved in making it, and what else might be done with those resources.

Back to the book.