Story of Stuff Video Quiz

1. Place the Materials Economy in order from the beginning to the end of the process.

a. Place a number 1 – 5 below the picture to indicate its position in the process.

b. Place the name of the process in the box below the number

2. How much of our natural resources have been trashed in the last few decades?

3. How many planets are needed to support current rates of consumption in the US and
Australia?

4. How many trees are being lost in the Amazon each minute?

5. What is being added to the production system that is created dangerous waste products?

6. What is meant by “externalising costs of production”(also known as full cost pricing)?

7. Who is paying for the real cost of cheap electronic equipment (i.e. the $4.99 radio)? List
three groups at least.

8. How much material is still in the system after 6 months?____________%.

9. Where have the remaining materials gone?

10. When did the modern consumer economy come into being? Why?

11. According to Annie Leonard, what are some of the social and community interests being
neglected while we are busy consuming “stuff”?

12. What is the term for a product that was designed to be thrown out or break down in a short
amount of time? Provide 1 example.
13. What is the term for a product that changes design in a short amount of time, therefore
causing people to think the are out of style or not keeping up with everyone else? Provide 1
example

14. Why is the national level of happiness declining?

15. List the steps in consumer treadmill.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

16. One solution which many countries use to deal with increasing waste is to burn it. This
releases gasses into the atmosphere. What is the big global problem that is happening when
there are excess (too many) gasses being released into the atmosphere?

17. How is recycling helpful at the beginning of the material economy process?

18. How is recycling helpful at the end of the material economy process?

19. Recycling is good, but why is recycling not enough? (Clue: How many rubbish bins are
needed to produce one bin of recycled materials?)

20. Use this website http://action.storyofstuff.org/survey/changemaker-quiz/ take the short

quiz and answer the following questions

1. What kind of change maker are you?

2. What are the 3 suggestions that you can do to be that change maker?
3. Who are the notable change makers that are in the same category as you and what did
they do (what was their job)?

The linear materials economy is just making a big mess. We need to move towards a circular
materials economy. A circular economy is zero waste. The waste product from one company is
used by another company as a material in the production of their product, or it may be
converted to a clean energy source.