I’ve been sharing thoughts and ideas that I’ve heard about, read or watched over the Internet with some friends today. Aside from the typical response of, “Ehren, do you even have a life?” (I play with a lot of stuff over the web), there were plenty of people who really liked the idea of sharing ideas and thoughts on how to support our planet. Granted, we don’t necessarily take action all the time, but perhaps after enough idea sharing we may end up doing something or changing our behaviour ever so slightly.

My friend Erin recommended a site called The Story of Stuff. It was created by a woman by the name of Annie Leonard to exchange her ideas on how we live and the impact it has on the Earth. I had never heard of it before but after watching only a couple of chapters, I was pretty impressed with the work of her and her team. A fun, simple, to-the-point explanation on consumerism and its massive impact on the world.

Since the Christmas holidays just past us, let’s use that as an example. Most of us realize that the Christmas holidays are a huge economic boost and that many businesses rely on that holiday season to generate their annual profit, but do we ever wonder the impact of the massive number of purchases and expenditures during that holiday? I think Annie Leonard’s YouTube Teaser sums up the problem. Watch it and then go over to The Story of Stuff to watch the complete video! Maybe even download it (yes they let you!).