The Story of Stuff: How Our Obsession with Stuff is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities, and Our Health—and a Vision for Change

In the introduction, Leonard carefully lays out the role capitalism plays in her analysis. Leonard writes that she was surprised to hear her short animated documentary The Story of Stuff (2007) described by commentators as anti-capitalist or an ecological critique of capitalism. In the United States, capitalism is considered an inevitability. We have accepted that economic growth is inherently good. While there are different political systems globally, capitalism is the main economic system. Criticizing capitalism is uncommon. For example, Leonard writes:

The belief that infinite economic growth is the best strategy for making a better world has become like a secular religion in which all our politicians, economists, and media participate; it is seldom debated, since everyone is supposed to just accept it as true. People who challenge capitalism or growth are considered wackos, or as a recent article in U.S. News & World Report put it, “The growing anti-economic-growth movement [is] made up of extreme environmentalists, hand-wringing technophobes, and turn-back-the-clock globalization bashers...” (lntroduction, Location 328).

Capitalism is the paradigm that we view the world through. It is a “secular religion.” We often accept its core tenants without question.

Leonard concludes that capitalism is incompatible with a healthy planet, writing, “There’s no way around it: capitalism, as it currently functions, is just not sustainable” (Introduction, Location 313).