Stuff can stuff it!

Howdy, YERTians!

For this holiday season, I’d like to share with you a few thoughts about stuff. Here is the first one:

stuff = time

Just for fun, take about 10 seconds to consider how much time you have spent finding, wanting, fixing, returning, or buying stuff this week. That’s all.

Here’s the second one: Spend 20 minutes watching this: http://www.storyofstuff.com

YERT tried to meet up with Annie, StoryOfStuff’s creator, while we were in CA, but our schedules didn’t overlap so we had to pass. Fortunately, however, her awesome presentation is now available in snappy Internet format– just in time for the holidays. I think that we can safely say that this is one of the more thorough and compelling cases made for using less stuff. And it’s fun. Give it a go, then share it with those you love.

And in the spirit of full-disclosure, we have for you an inventory of all the stuff that YERT turned into garbage last month (Nov. 2007). It all fits in a shoebox, but we can do better. If you’d like to join in our "one shoebox of garbage per month" adventure, take the pledge here or by joining our "The One Shoebox Challenge" group on Facebook! Perhaps you can make it a New Year’s resolution?

Happy Holidays to You!
Julie, Mark, and Ben (Your YERT Team)

Here’s the list of garbage in November…

Item - Qty
Panasonic HDV Video Tape - 22
Airplane luggage tags - 13
AIRplus packing bubbles, deflated - 13
mail envelope - 11
sandwich toothpick - 9
Clif Nectar Bar wrapper - 7
Green Festival postards - 7
airplane boarding pass stubs - 5
Clif Bar wrapper - 4
Hawaiian airlines boarding pass - 4
plastic milk bottle caps - 4
sugar packet - 4
Chico Bag tag - 3
Clif luna bar wrapper - 3
pastry paper - 3
Smart Monkey Premium Raw Food Bar wrapper - 3
sticker back - 3
toilet paper roll - 3
bread bag - 2
bumper sticker backing - 2
Flying Star paper knapkin - 2
Green Festival nametag - 2
hat tag - 2
mailing envelope - 2
metal fragment - 2
moleskin notebook wrapper - 2
organic tea paper wrapper - 2
q-tip - 2
Stamp backing sheet - 2
tape instructions - 2
1/2 lb Beef Combo Burrito paper wrapper - 1
7th generation tampon box piece - 1
Alamo rental car pack - 1
atm receipt - 1
Bioneers map - 1
birthday card envelope - 1
camera case wrapping - 1
Camera SD card wrapping - 1
carrot twist tie - 1
cd-rom pack wrapper - 1
cereal bag - 1
chipotle paper wrapper - 1
chocolate wrapper - 1
City of LA parking ticket envelope - 1
Clif Builder’s Bar - 1
Clif Shot Bloks wrapper bag - 1
coffee substitute lid - 1
cotton t-shirt tag - 1
drinking straw - 1
DVD mail packet - 1
Envelope to YERT with donation in it - 1
flyer - 1
Fred Claus movie ticket stub - 1
friendly note in mail - 1
George Carlin joke sheet - 1
Gillette Mach 3. 8 pack box - 1
Hawaii map - 1
ice cream cone paper wrapper - 1
iPod headphones wrapper - 1
LED Christmas light instructions - 1
little butter cup - 1
little cardboard tag - 1
Little piece of cardboard - 1
magazine postcard - 1
mail envelope adhesive liner - 1
mail envelope zip pull - 1
nada chair instructions - 1
new camera memory card packet - 1
Panasonic HDV Video Tape box - 1
paper cartoon about global warming - 1
paper knapkin - 1
paper towel - 1
Park(ing) day flyer - 1
parking permit - 1
pastry paper - 1
peanut bag wrapper - 1
performing arts flyer - 1
plaster wrapper for hybrid bus pin - 1
plastic scrap - 1
random paper - 1
random post-it note - 1
Sears receipt - 1
Shakespear oregon festival ticket folder - 1
shrink wrap cap - 1
sticker back - 1
Swiss cheese label - 1
used-up ballpoint pen - 1
Verizon letter - 1
wells fargo junk mail - 1
White Dog Café Newsletter - 1

Still reading? We love you. You can show the love right back to YERT by buying us lunch for the holidays– or a room! Just make out a (non-deductible) check to "Media Changing Media, LLC" and send it to…

Mark Dixon - YERT
327 Denniston St.
Pittsburgh, PA 15206

YERTYERTYERTYERTYERTYERTYERTYERTYERTYERTYERTYERTYERTYERTYERT

This entry was posted on December 21, 2007 at 1:02 am and is filed under Issues, Mark. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.