The Good Stuff

Meet Alex Freid and Amira Odeh. These two young people saw something amiss in how their communities related to Stuff and decided to do something about it. From eliminating waste during dorm move-out season to putting a stop to bottled water sales, here are two great examples of what it looks like to take action for "better" instead of "more."

When a thermometer factory in New York closed because of increasing U.S. regulation of mercury, the operation was moved lock, stock and barrel to India, where enforcement of environmental laws is lax. Now a subsidiary of Unilever – the company behind everyday brands like Vaseline, Dove Soap and Lipton Tea – which operated the factory in India, is trying to walk away from a deadly legacy.

In 2007, two kids in Michigan set out to earn their Girl Scout Bronze Award by raising awareness about the endangered orangutan. They learned that the orangutans' habitat is being destroyed to plant oil palm plantations. After making the shocking discovery that palm oil was an ingredient in Girl Scout cookies, they launched a campaign to make Girl Scout cookies rainforest-safe. 

Protecting our health from toxic pollution is too important a job to be left to scientists, govenment regulators or even professional environmental activists. Annie looks at two communities, half a world apart, where citizens showed that people on the front lines of pollution have the power to fight back against being poisoned.

If you laid all the Crayola plastic markers made each year end to end, they'd circle the earth three times – and they're not recyclable. Some California kids are campaigning to change that – and in the process, learning how to flex their citizen muscles.

Our latest podcast turns the tables – or rather the microphone – on Annie as she's interviewed by Jearlyn Steele of WCCO-AM in Minneapolis. On the heels of President Obama's inaugural, Annie and Jearlyn talk about what must be done to combat climate change. Annie also reflects on the first five years of The Story of Stuff Project.

From corner bakeries to one of Spain's largest companies, worker-owned co-ops around the world are providing an alternative model to business as usual. Annie talked with worker-owners of the Evergreen Cooperatives, which are transforming an economically distressed neighborhood in Cleveland, Ohio – and changing lives at the same time.

Being a changemaker is about intention AND action. In Part 2 of our special podcast accompanying The Story of Change, Annie talks with leading changemakers about how they do it. Hint: Start close to home, sharpen your citizen skills, and then take on the world.

Being a citizen is about acting on our responsibility to stand up for the planet and other people. Being a citizen isn’t about where you were born or whether you have the right papers – it’s acting on our responsibility to stand up for the planet and other people. In Part 1 of a special podcast, Annie talks to leading changemakers about citizenship – “the freedom to participate in power.” Next month, Part 2: how citizens can make change.

"If you can't fix it, you don't really own it." That's the manifesto of the growing movement to make our Stuff repairable rather than disposable. And some people are going beyond repairing their Stuff to making their own. In this episode, Annie talks to a couple of high-tech entrepreneurs about the importance of the fourth R: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle – and Repair.

Know someone who says they're too busy to reduce their waste? Or says it's too hard? A very busy wife, mother and entrepreneur near Philly shares how she did it! Earlier this year, Annie spent a day with Karla Trotman in her home near Philadelphia for a taping of ABC’s The Revolution. Like many busy women, Karla has her hands full with kids, work and managing her home. In our third installment of The Good Stuff you'll hear about what steps Karla took to reduce her family's waste and increased their savings!

What can just one person do? A lot! Just ask this 8-year old. We hear it every day from people who are concerned about what's happening to the environment: "What can I do? I'm just one person!" What if you were just one 8-year-old boy? Cole Rasenberger didn't let that stop him from taking on one of the world's largest fast-food chains over its packaging. In this episode of The Good Stuff, Annie learns how Cole rallied other kids at his school to join him in challenging KFC. And Danna Smith of the Dogwood Alliance tells us about the threat to Southern coastal forests from wasteful fast-food packaging.

What do Northern California and Brownsville, Texas have in common? A lot more than you might think! Did you know that if everyone in the United States tied their annual consumption of plastic bags together in a giant chain, the chain would reach around the Earth’s equator 776 times!? In our inaugural podcast, Annie speaks with Rose Timmer, a community activist from one of the United States’ poorest cities who successfully banned plastic bags. Way to go, Rose! In this podcast, Annie also has a conversation with one of the environmental community’s favorite entrepreneurs, Andy Keller, founder of Chico Bags. Hear about what inspired Andy to start his company, why the plastic bag industry sued him and way making money and making a difference aren’t always mutually exclusive.