Originally broadcast in Season One of the Deep Roots Initiative, Cortes Radio, CKTZ, 89.5 FM

Our material world is obsessed with acquiring and accumulating stuff. But how much do we all really need? Morgan Tams looks for options and solutions to this omnipresent conundrum.

Episode:9 Stuff

“Have you ever taken a walk around your local garbage dump? Ever waded through the debris and household waste to try to make some sense of it all? It doesn’t long to realize the impact our society’s appetite for cheap and disposable consumer goods is having on our environment. Both in the making and in the trashing, our modern world’s taste for getting and spending puts incredible strain on our global resources. And perhaps worse, these hollow consumerist habits have replaced our sense of community and belonging with worthless attachments to better cars, new clothes, bigger homes and the latest electronic gadgets. Ironically the same consumer products are leaving us more disconnected than ever before. Whether at home among cluttered shelves with never have time to dust, or sorting through the landfill, we are in fact swimming in stuff.”

Acknowledgements

The producers would like to express a sincere thank you to all the interviewees for the donation of their time and the sharing of their histories. Your contributions are the heart and soul of this project.

Thanks to the Deep Roots Team, supporters, participants and interviewees.

Featuring: Bryan Pfeifle, Bruce Ellingsen, Dova Wiltshire, Max Thaysen, Patricia LaRoux, Noba Anderson, the Free Store Volunteers and many friends. ~Morgan