The Story of Stuff

I believe this video has been around for a while and it has spread widely, yet I watched it only today and I’ll suggest it anyway, just in case someone has not watched it yet.

The Story of Stuff is a video documentary about the life-cycle of the products, from the materials’ extraction to the disposal. It’s  a very direct (and in some points, arguable) video, but it’s really worth of a look.

P.S. I was particularly interested in the happiness indicator, in case you’re interested too take a look at the Genuine Progress Indicator and at the Human Development Index.

Related articles by Zemanta

• In schools, a cautionary video about America’s ’stuff’ (ecoearth.info)
• Video Teaching Children To Respect The Planet Called “Anti-Capitalist” (alan.com)
• Filling The Textbook Gap With A Film Worth Watching: “The Story of Stuff” (takepart.com)

Design like you give a damn

Cameron Sinclair is one of the founders of Architecture for Humanity, an organization aimed at providing low cost/impact/maintenance solutions for humanitarian crises, as displaced populations.

In his book, “Design like you give a damn”, he describes the main humanitarian crises of the last century or so, along with the solutions devised to approach the issues arisen from these disasters. Then he talks about his work and the activity of his organization.

I particularly appreciated the history of architectural responses to calamities and the solutions devised by his organization, connecting architects worldwide with initiatives as architectural contests or the definition of a license for the development of open source architecture. The book is very interesting and full of clarifying pictures; it is also focused on issues different from that of the shelter as energy, sanitation and clean water.

You can have an idea of book’s content by viewing Sinclair’s talk at TED.