The Story Of Stuff by Annie Leonard

From The Week of August 22, 2010

This irredeemably pompous commentary on all matters environmental drove me as close as I've ever come to doing physical violence to a piece of literature. Ms. Leonard seems to have no sense of her own conceit as she proceeds to spend 350 pages castigating humanity for its wastefulness. According to Ms. Leonard, when it comes to commercialism, both in the buying and the selling, we are constant polluters, destroying our natural habitat by manufacturing chemicals and materials that, when they are no longer useful, get dumped into the environment. Everything from the toxicity of our shampoo to the guts of our computers are targets for Ms. Leonard's guilty rage. Oh, but there's someone arriving to save the day, with a new plan for how we can live in perfect harmony with the world. I'll give you one guess at the identity of this green caped crusader. Yes, got it in one, Ms. Leonard herself.

I am socially liberal. I believe in recycling, in reusing, in saving water, in solar power. On most points, Ms. Leonard and I philosophically agree. And yet the outrage, the guilt and the complete self-absorption pouring forth from these pages is difficult to swallow. As Ms. Leonard recounts the ways in which she's bravely fought entire state governments to bring justice to the voiceless, as she describes how her short film about the trashing of the environment has brought elementary school kids to tears, her pride towers over her work like a storm cloud ginned up by Global Warming. I read to educate myself on my world, my species, my universe. But how can I trust the opinions and the facts of someone so clearly taken by their own self-importance?

The Story Of Stuff is about the ways in which we waste and pollute. It tries to educate us on some of the toxins, some of the chemicals, some of the processes, and some of the solutions. These are worthy goals. But the good is drowned out by the parade Ms. Leonard throws for herself. This is a bitter disappointment and perhaps the most egregious example of self-aggrandizement I've read in years. (1/5 Stars)