INTERNET SITE OF THE WEEK

Database News - Wednesday December 19, 2007

INTERNET SITE OF THE WEEK

TONY WALTHAM

As the year winds up and a new one is about to begin, it is a good time to reflect on things - and where better to begin to think long and hard about where "consumerisation" is taking the world than to visit "The Story of Stuff" (http://www.storyofstuff.com).

Here is a very succinct and to-the-point video presentation about the underbelly of our production and consumption patterns and how "consumer goods" affect communities around the world - from the extraction of raw materials and production, through sale, use and disposal. Although this presentation is primarily aimed at a US audience, the often surprising facts it reveals have relevance everywhere, particularly when the video talks about the lack of sustainability of consumer-oriented lifestyles.

Christmas and New Year is also a good time to be reminded of excesses when shopping and spending, and as celebrations to mark the 80th birthday of His Majesty the King continue, it is also an excellent time to reflect on the wisdom and advice contained in the concept of a Sufficiency Economy.

I would like to thank Chris Greacen for recommending this as a site of the week. Chris is the director of Palang Thai (http://www.palangthai.org), a Thailand-based non-profit organisation that works to ensure that the transformations that occur in the region's energy sector are economically rational, and that they augment, rather than undermine, social and environmental justice and sustainability.

Bangkok Post