The Story of Stuff

This concise, 20 minute long video is very informative and funny (in a kind of sad, ironic way). However, it does present some fascinating facts about the procession that stuff (a.k.a products) takes through our society and the world.

Although the concept of buying nothing is basically impossible, especially for people who live in or near cities or thickly populated areas, where the demand for processed resources is high due to lack of forested, workable land, it is still a good aim to have.

the story of stuff

Tiger-Saving Link

Please sign this. WWF needs many more people to reach its goal! Thank you.

http://wwf.panda.org/how_you_can_help/campaign/ac_detail.cfm?ActionUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fbuffy.bluegecko.net%2Faction%2Fc57a60d3-c75f-4ed3-abaa-0205b64252d0#oneMoreStep

(Copy and paste the link into your browser)

Gulf Spill Photographs

It's so difficult not to become angry about what's happening in the Gulf of Mexico, even though, in some highly ignored part of my mind, I know that frustration and ranting (however much ranting helps me) isn't going to accomplish anything. It's very hard to know how much is getting done in terms of rescuing and cleaning birds, because it seems that once they are released back into the wild, they have no place to go, and simply get covered in oil again.

I suppose optimism would be saying, "well, BP made a huge mistake, but there's nothing we as a people can do to change the past, so we must deal with whatever comes." But how can we actually help? For myself, I'm too far away to help firsthand, which is what I would like to be doing. Maybe refusing to use gas would be a good start, but my immediate family uses so little anyway, and I can't block it out completely.

This is a terrible time to grow up in. To not get bogged down in the details of the tragedies people (largely big companies, with money-making their single goal) commit, however mistakenly or ignorantly, against a planet that is the most beautiful and the only home we have, is a real effort. I'm not good at that myself, because it often seems hopelessly out of control. Although becoming a successful scientist or naturalist orator would be good, I do not think I would want to give my life to that, which is selfish I suppose, but I have my own goals to take into consideration and work toward as well.

I do think that if everyone does their own small part that the masses can make a difference, but the long standing problem of countless causes is this: how to reach the masses in an effective, knowledgeable way. Here, Facebook plays a major role, and however much it can be irrationally addicting, it seems to be the biggest online community network in the world, with over 400 million users worldwide, and 70% of these users are outside the United States.

The following is a sad link, but we might as well become as aware as possible, and maybe if this is posted on Facebook, people will pass it around and find solutions. Please e-mail me back about this disaster, if you have updates on the Gulf Oil Spill, or ideas about how to help at a distance. I have also provided a link to nationalgeographic.com, with some short, fun quizzes that offer tips on how to save water, energy, and gas in your everyday life. It isn't that hard to make small changes in habit, whether it's bringing your own cloth bags to the store or driving at 55 mph.

Gulf Spill Photographs

Nat Geo Site

AVATAR Movie Review

AVATAR Directed by James Cameron

AVATAR is unlike any movie I've ever seen. It has so much in it, that you need (and will want) to watch it a few times to absorb it all. I'm not going to go drawing parallels between what happens in the movie, and what is happening in our world today, and where we're heading, because, firstly, people will doubtless realize that they exist themselves, and secondly, because I think the movie should stand, untouched, on its own as a masterpiece and a work of art.

The world, Pandora, has the most incredible creatures, plants, and geological features. This film clearly had an outstanding cast of crewmembers and actors who were able to collaborate and brainstorm successfully together.

Similar to the Lord of the Rings Trilogy in its wide scope and visions, (many of the props, costumes, weapons, and chiefly visual concepts were also created by WETA Workshop/Digital) the scenery for this movie was inspired partly by on-earth landforms, languages and constructions, including jungles in Hawaii, China’s Huang Shan mountains (the floating Hallelujah Mountains in the film), oil-drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico (for the Unobtainium mission headquarters), and various dialects.

I know many people consider Wikipedia to sometimes be an unreliable source of information, but there is an article which has many citations, which I have included the link to here. The section titled ‘Themes and Inspirations’ has interesting facts and thoughts about the film.