The Story of Stuff

This movie fits in perfectly with Doug Cohen's discussion of sustainability last Friday. There's an article on it on the front page of today's NY Times (web edition). The video has gone viral, with over six million web viewings.

As the Times article explains, most textbooks in this area are hopelessly out of date:

Many educators say the video is a boon to teachers as they struggle to address the gap in what textbooks say about the environment and what science has revealed in recent years.

“Frankly, a lot of the textbooks are awful on the subject of the environment,” said Bill Bigelow, the curriculum editor of Rethinking Schools, a quarterly magazine that has promoted “The Story of Stuff” to its subscribers and on its Web site, which reaches about 600,000 educators a month. “The one used out here in Oregon for global studies — it’s required — has only three paragraphs on climate change. So, yes, teachers are looking for alternative resources.”