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Annie Leonard

Annie Leonard Biography

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“Meanwhile, increased unhappiness results from our deteriorating social relationships. Relationships with family, peers, colleagues, neighbors, and community members have proven over and over to be the biggest determining factor in our happiness, once our basic needs are met. Yet because we’re working more than ever before to afford and maintain all this Stuff, we’re spending more time alone and less time with family, with friends, with neighbors. We’re also spending less time on civic engagement and community building. In Bowling Alone, Harvard professor Robert Putnam chronicles the decline in participation in social and civic groups, ranging from bowling leagues to parent-teacher associations to political organizations. We end up with a situation in which we have fewer friends, fewer supportive neighbors, less robust communities, and near total apathy about our role within a democratic political system. As a result, our communities can’t provide the things they used to. One-quarter of Americans now say they have no one in their lives with whom they can discuss personal trouble; that number has doubled since 1985, when far fewer people reported being socially isolated. Alongside emotional support, logistical support has dried up too: if you need child care, help moving, a ride to the airport, food delivered to your door when you’re sick, someone to bring in the mail or walk the dog or water your plants when you travel, or a group with whom to play a game of basketball, softball, or poker, you’re likely out of luck. Increasingly we’re all too busy and/or too isolated for these things. Since we still need all these things, the market has filled the void. We can now hire someone to watch our pets, coach us through a rough breakup, or move our Stuff. We pay for child care and activities to entertain our kids. We can even buy computer games that simulate sports with live opponents. This is commodification at work: the process of turning things that were once public amenities, neighborly activities, or the role of friends into privately purchasable Stuff or services—i.e., commodities. Systems thinkers often talk about negative feedback loops—problems that cause an effect that adds to the original problem. For instance, when global temperatures rise, ice caps melt, decreasing the planet’s ability to reflect sunlight off that bright snow, so global temperatures rise further. The same thing is happening with our melting communities. We have to work harder to pay for all the services that neighbors, friends, and public agencies used to provide, so we’re even more harried and less able to contribute to the community. It’s a downward spiral.”

CommunitySocietyLonelinessCapitalismHuman ConnectionCommodofication
Book:The Story of Stuff: How Our Obsession with Stuff is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities, and our Health—and a Vision for Change
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“For decades, I thought that scientific truth, solid economic case studies, and common sense were enough to bring about change on the environmental front. After all, the data is so compelling! I thought that if people just understood the severity of today's environmental threats and knew about available solutions, those solutions would happen. Not so.”

PeopleIfsEnoughHappensTodayCommonCasesStudyEconomicFrontsSolutionsUnderstoodThreatEnvironmentalAvailableDecadesCommon SenseDataCompellingSeverityScientific TruthCase Studies
Author:Annie Leonard
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“Just recognizing and naming that many of the things we treat as historical fact are stories can help erode their power over our sense of identity and thinking. If they are stories rather than "truth," we can write new stories that better represent the country we aspire to be. Our new stories can be about diverse people working together to overcome challenges and make life better for all, about figuring out how to live sustainably on this one planet we share, and on deep respect for cooperation, fairness, and equity instead of promoting hyper-competitive individualism.”

PeopleIfsThinkingWritingCountryFactsHelpingStoriesTogetherChallengesShareIdentityPlanetsTreatsOvercomingHistoricalWorking TogetherCooperationIndividualismDiverseFairnessAspireRecognizingEquityPromotingHyperErodeHistorical Facts
Author:Annie Leonard
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“I want to clarify that one doesn't need to be a scientist or have fancy college degrees to know the truth about the health of our children, our communities, and the planet. Community members generally know far more about the health of their own communities than visiting "experts," yet that knowledge is often discredited because of another story that we tell ourselves: "real" education happens [only] in the halls of universities.”

KnowsWantNeedsChildrenRealStoriesHappensCommunityCollegePlanetsMembersDegreesScientistOur ChildrenUniversityExpertsFancyHallsVisitingOur CommunityCollege DegreeReal Education
Author:Annie Leonard
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“I am afraid that I think both the near future environmental reality and political landscape are not looking good - and they are connected. The best tool we have for advancing environmental solutions is our democracy, and we can't currently access it because it has been so thoroughly hijacked by big corporate interests.”

ThinkingHas BeensBigsRealityPoliticalInterestDemocracySolutionsToolsEnvironmentalConnectedAccessLandscapeCorporateLooking GoodAdvancing
Author:Annie Leonard
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“Everywhere I go, I meet people ready for change. People who are fed up with the exhaustion that comes from devoting one's life to the work-watch-spend treadmill. People who know in their hearts that it's wrong to treat the planet and whole groups of people as disposable. People who are challenging the bogus stories we've been fed for years and are writing their own about hope and love and working together to build a better future for everyone.”

PeopleKnowsWritingYearsHeartWholeStoriesTogetherChallengesWatchesGroupsPlanetsReadyAnd LoveTreatsWorking TogetherFedsExhaustionFed UpBetter FutureDisposableTreadmillsHope And LoveReady For Change
Author:Annie Leonard
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“We depend on this planet to eat, drink, breathe, and live. Figuring out how to keep our life support system running needs to be our number-one priority. Nothing is more important than finding a way to live together - justly, respectfully, sustainably, joyfully - on the only planet we can call home.”

WayNeedsImportantHomeRunningTogetherNumbersSupportOur LivesPlanetsDependsDrinkFindingsBreathePrioritiesWay To LiveSupport Systems
Book:The Story of Stuff: How Our Obsession with Stuff Is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities, and Our Health-and a Vision for Change
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