Hmmm...the green choo choo.

On a similar topic to the theme of "Story of Stuff" in my previous post, have you seen the new The Bay commercial on TV? It's called "The New Renaissance - Rules for Living Well" and is basically going on the whole 'it's spring so go shopping for the new season' theme BUT it's trying to use the whole 'go green' theme to encourage you to shop, but not neccessarily for green products, just for stuff.

It's actually very smart, but oh so sneaky! For example, the soft, sexy male voice says 'Walk to work' while showing an attractive woman walking in very cool new open toed pumps - and what woman isn't dying to pull out her summery shoes to show off her recent pedicure now that the snow has cleared and the winter boots have been stashed at the back of the closet? The Bay is supporting being green by suggesting we all walk to work (kudos to them!), however, who would actually walk to work in pumps? Ok, I know some people do, but I'm not one of them. I'm all about comfort myself. The Bay is betting that by showing these sexy new shoes and tying them to the cause that they'll sell shoes, shoes and more shoes. And, as women tend to be, likely they will.

The ad suggests further tips to be green all the while showing products that 'relate' but aren't neccessarily 'green' products. But I bet they'll make some sales on those products just because they've suggested they're green. I guess their goal of making some greenbacks just jumped on board the green train. Smart....but sneaky...but smart.

Doing our part for our world!

Ok so I'm definitely not one to preach but....I watched this video today called "The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard" and while I already thought I was somewhat 'green', I realized that green isn't even enough for the future our our world.

I care about the future of the planet and for my future kids (don't have any yet) and for future generations, but wow, this whole issue of using up our resources and creating garbage twice as fast as we did a generation ago is a much bigger issue than I thought. The stats in this video are staggering.

While I learned the lesson a bunch of years back that it's not about how much money one makes or how much stuff one has, our society is still so driven by stuff. Gotta have more stuff! And better stuff. Yet most of the stuff I already have really would still suffice. I have an older big fat TV but if works. I don't NEED an awesome flat screen LCD, but it would be nice. We're so driven by getting the latest and greatest - no wonder there's so many perfectly good but maybe not the latest and greatest computers in the landfills. Ugh, it makes me shudder to think about it. And, the worse part for me personally is that I contribute to that 'gotta have more stuff' as I work in media and yes, media promotes consumerism which drives our economy but also our desire to 'have more stuff'. I know my place of work is very supportive of being green and recycling and paying attention to our carbon footprint, but is that enough? Sadly no, at least not from what I learned today by watching "The Story of Stuff".

I really encourage you to watch it because it's our world afterall. We're all in it together and it's going to take ALL of us to make a difference. I'll warn you, it is 20 minutes long, but isn't our future worth 20 minutes? It's definitely worth watching to help give us all a new perspective.

Maybe tomorrow morning instead of doing your daily crossword, or Sudoku, grab a coffee and take 20 minutes to watch this informative video. On the website it says "It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever." Trust me, if you watch it, you'll be glad you did! And I'm sure you'll be encouraging your friends to watch it too.