The Story of Change: Writing the Next Chapter

Newsflash: we're not going to shop our way to a greener planet. We're also not going to get a greener planet by taking a shorter shower or bringing our own bag to the grocery store. These things are a great place to start, says Annie Leonard, who has just produced her latest film The Story of Change, but they are a terrible place to stop.

The Story of Change is out today, available online on Leonard's website "The Story of Stuff" (we featured "The Story of Bottled Water" in our Mini-Eco Film Festival, Part 3). It features Leonard's characteristic charm and humor as well as her motivating gusto: "If we actually want to change the world, we can’t talk only about consumers voting with our dollars. Real change happens when citizens come together to demand rules that work." She goes on tell us that when people have achieved big changes in the past, three things have been present: 

1. a big idea
2. people working together
3. action

She says we've got the cause and commitment. Look at the numbers:   "74% of Americans support tougher laws on toxic chemicals. 83% want clean energy laws. 85% think corporations should have less influence in government." Pretty compelling numbers; now we just need the action. 

The film finishes with a quiz to take to find out what kind of change-maker we are: investigator, builder, networker, nurturer, communicator, and resister (turns out I'm an "investigator"). Once you identify the type of change-maker you are, you're ready to take action. It's a simple recipe. She's right. We don't need tips for greener living. We need strategies to change the system. Help spread the word. It's up to us to write the next chapter of the Story of Change.