38 pages 1 hour read

Annie Leonard

The Story of Stuff: How Our Obsession with Stuff is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities, and Our Health—and a Vision for Change

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2010

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Essay Topics

1.

The documentary The Story of Stuff was released in 2007, and the book followed in 2010. How have understandings of climate crisis, the limits to growth, and critiques of capitalism changed since Leonard first released her book? Does the central argument of the book still hold? What paradigms have shifted since 2010?

2.

What is systems thinking? How does this theory function in Leonard’s argument?

3.

Paradigms are a key part of Leonard’s analysis. Compare and contrast a paradigm in your life to an opposing paradigm to assess how paradigms unconsciously shape our worldview. Examples of paradigms could include capitalism, environmentalism, feminism, or anti-racism.