Greenpeace USA: An Interview with Annie Leonard
In this Live conversation between Annie Leonard (Greenpeace USA Executive Director) and EcoResolution cofounder Cara Delevingne, we launched an honest conversation about our consumption-crazed culture, diving into plastics, fossil-fuels, waste and change.
Consumption accounts for 60% of the global GDP, with the US alone spending $16 trillion annually (WEF 2019). A growing obsession in many societies with consuming products has been found to negatively affect our mental wellbeing. Our posessesions often possess us and worst still, this mass production often relies upon exploitive and even illegal working conditions, including child labour and aggressive mining processes.
Environmentally, this intensive manufacturing contributes to resource scarcity, deforestation, and further loss of biodiversity: in 1990, 8.1 tonnes of natural resources were used to satisfy a person’s need, while in 2015 almost 12 tonnes of resources were extracted per person (WEF 2019).
In April 2020, we partnered with Greenpeace to host a Live conversation between Annie Leonard and EcoResolution cofounder Cara Delevingne. Annie is the Executive Director of Greenpeace USA and created the film and subsequent project The Story of Stuff, launching an honest conversation about our consumption-crazed culture and working to inspire and encourage civic engagement.
In this dynamic and poignant conversation, Annie and Cara discuss plastics, fossil fuels, consumption, waste, and the roles of individual, collective, and systemic change.
Screening the conversation across Facebook Live and Instagram Live was an amazing way to platform an authentic, engaging and interactive conversation, with questions submitted from audience members.
You can watch the full conversation on our YouTube channel here.
Want to learn more about Waste and Consumerism? Check out all our resources here.