This is only related to beer insofar as beer, like every consumer good, is a part of the materials economy. I originally found out about this when Greg Koch of Stone Brewing tweeted it a couple of days ago, and I only had a chance to watch the video, The Story of Stuff, on Sunday. It’s about 20 minutes long but quite worthwhile and interesting if you like that sort of thing. It’s a great overview of the materials economy, it’s history, design and and why it’s doomed to fail. So what is The Story of Stuff? Here’s how the website describes it:
From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. 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.
Again, it’s not directly about beer, only indirectly, but it it is quite illuminating.
I watched the story of stuff a while back and thought it quite profound.
Beer can hold it’s head high, however, because it does not function on a planned obsolescence mentality.
Thanks for pointing it out, I’m going to go watch it now.
Thanks for the heads up. I’ll be sharing this with others.
As Jay said, worthwhile and interesting if you like that sort of thing. It happens I find it the same old blather we’ve heard for years and years, nothing new or insightful. Much to disagree with if you like another sort of thing, i.e., thinking for yourself.
Okay Jim, let me strap in. Tell me what conclusions “thinking for yourself” leads you to.
Primarily, Jay, that there’s no big Corporate/Government conspiracy at work, as is suggested in the video. That things have actually gotten a lot better here on Gaia even though billions of individual actions have many results, some desired and intended, and some not so much. And, that, in a flawed, human way, we’re making the world better for more folks than ever before. That’s nothing to be ashamed of. And I’m not.
Whoa, what’s the “big Corporate/Government conspiracy at work” that you claim that someone has claimed? You are the first one to mention “conspiracy” here. (BTW, that’s an tactic typically used to stifle discussion and as an ad hominem attack – you didn’t mean to do either of those, right?)
Lisa, I defer to your manifest expertise in ad hominem tactics used to shut down discussion!
However O mptoced in the video that it’s claimed that government and corporations collude, work together etc. to drive consumerism – that smacks of a conspiracy theory to me.
First accusations of conspiracy then accusations of shouting down. My, don’t we get testy when someone disagrees with our interpretations?
Anyways, corporations have often worked with governments to further their ends, be it the aforementioned facilitation of some forms of consumption or the writing of favorable legislation. It often occurs through lobbying and campaign contributions. It’s quite popular even in these harsh economic times.
You may even have heard of one example of this in the news a lot recently called Fannie Mae, which was formed to facilitate the home mortgage industry and thereby home purchasing/consumption. There are many other examples that you might find interesting and quite possibly nonconspiratorial. Some you may instill the urge to have a little more beer, like distributors working to shape where craft brewers can sell their beer http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/6296002.html.