~Alvin Poblacion recently moved to New York City with his best friend, Rosemary Poblacion. He currently works in Manhattan as a physical therapist. Alvin is an avid cyclist, and a photography enthusiast. He thoroughly enjoys getting lost in the City with Rosemary.
I have been drifting away from religion. The question it asks and the answers it provides seem orchestrated. I am attracted to life instead.
Just recently, I had a refreshing chat with a client of mine, (lets call him Craig) as I was treating him for low back pain. As people lie sprawled out in precarious positions, often only partially clothed, thoughtful conversations come about.
As one might expect from “patient-therapist” small-talk, I started out by asking Craig some generic questions about how he planned to spend the upcoming holidays and if he had all his holiday shopping complete. Craig was happy to say that he would be in the company of good friends and family during Christmas. However, he was a bit conflicted about what he was actually going to do during the holidays, and how he felt about shopping for gifts this season. He wished he had the time and skill to make gifts with his own hands this year. He felt most us in the US have enough junk than we know what to do with anyway. He said he could certainly live without another remote control cozy (I didn’t even know they had those). He went on to elaborate on his growing suspicion towards the “institution” shopping has become in America. We agreed that there must be better ways out there to express our love for our Kin than what BestBuy and DeBiers might suggest.
As we were wrapping up our PT session for the day, Craig was pulling his shirt back over his head. Just then he remembered to share one last thing with me. It was a website address. When I got home from work that day, I logged on and was pleasantly surprised to find a short but informative, video clip. For many people, most of the information here is nothing new. However, I feel it was put together in a way that is bite sized and digestible for people like me. That is, people just coming into the growing conversations about hyper-consumerism, climate change, equitable living, fair trade etc. While these issues may have some political implications, I feel they have a great deal to do with personal and corporate ethics and moral values. I feel that people of faith can and must have something to say and do about the global crisis we find all of God’s creation in. I have great hopes for Faith House and its commitment to use religion to help life and not the other way around.
I trust these will be twenty well spent minutes of your life. Enjoy and use in your work as clergy, educators, activists, or with your family members, friends, and enemies! We are in this together.
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Extraction
Chapter 3: Production
Chapter 4: Distribution
Chapter 5: Consumption
Chapter 6: Disposal
Chapter 7: Another Way
For the entire video in one twenty-minute presentation and a host of of other resources go to: www.storyofstuff.com
Very insightful and provocative. I was particularly struck by "Perceived Obsolescence." This is a real inside job... by inside job I don't mean that someone is pulling a fast one on us (although that is definitely happening), but that I am waaaay too prey to the need to want something bigger, better, or cooler looking. The question I'm asking myself is "why?" Hmmm... this will yet another question spurring me on my journey. I'd stop and think about this more, but I've got to go check out the newest hip website. :)
Posted by: Ryan Jones | Jan 11, 2008 at 05:57 PM
Our modern economy is based on planned obsolescence, a throw-away culture that functions on consumer spending. I think that consumers must demand (and governments must regulate) products that last, that adapt, and that are upgradeable with minimal resources and materials. Unfortunately, corporations have other ideas, but the day will come when our waste will catch up to us (it is already here in some places) and we'll have to re-think how we do business, what we throw away, and how we design products and services. I find industrial ecology fascinating, mimicking the processes of nature - which wastes nothing. Also, 'green chemistry' - so there are a lot of movements in various fields out there that hold at least partials solutions. Thanks for the post, Alvin, and for speaking out on the subject.
Posted by: Elisa D | Jan 22, 2008 at 01:44 AM
Thank you so much for sharing Alvin! I just forwarded the link of that video to 98% of my address book. :) I also stopped myself for a while after watching that to make conscious decisions on how that will affect my life and what changes I will make because I now know this. Thank you again.
Posted by: Christina Bratlund | Jan 26, 2008 at 02:42 PM