SCEB D15 Reflection Memo I (Story of Stuff + J&J)

Vibhu Modi, Vidur Sharma, Vinay Lathi & Umang Shah

STORY OF STUFF

Annie Leonard makes a passionate pitch about how the anthropogenic consumption is leading to
devastation of the earth and its natural resources. Ms. Leonard describes the process in which raw resources
are removed from the planet in exponential amounts. Leonard goes on to explain a governmental bureaucracy
nesting behind the manufacturing and production. Finally, she discusses how the most important and
influential part of the process, consumerism, leads to the eventual disposal of products to our already
overfull landfills. The video divides up the materials economy into a system composed of extraction,
production, distribution, consumption, and disposal. To articulate the problems in the system, Leonard adds
people, the government, and corporations.

Annie backed up her claims with some cold facts In Amazon alone, we are losing 2000 trees a
minute, USA has 5% of world population but consumes 30% of world resources and creates 30% of world
waste. These facts give food for thought and emphasize the fact that human urge for consumption has entirely
discounted the harmful impacts on the environment.

Although, our group felt that the video was biased as Leonard clearly ignores the positives of
chemicals and contribution of technology which has uplifted human lives. Some of Leonards statements
which hint at a conspiracy theory that the producers produce goods which become obsolete quickly so that
inventories turn around quickly and consumers need to re-buy frequently seem to be baseless.

This video also made us think of the vicious circle which human civilization is currently in, owing
to consumerism and globalization. Increase in global trade and intertwining of global economies has caused
a lot of inter-dependencies, and if these break it might lead to the collapse of an entire economy. Eg.- If USA
starts consuming less, Chinese firms exporting to USA will face the heat and will lay-off employees. Also the
economies which survive on exporting raw materials and commodities to China to support the manufacturing
engine will face recession. Hence its a domino effect, and the only way to prevent it from falling, at least in
the short run is to not disrupt the consumption cycle at play.

But yes, Leonard makes interesting points which can slowly and steadily help make this vicious cycle
sustainable. It is a gradual path which does not really compromise on the current consumption levels,
but creates Closed Loop systems rather than linear systems which can run on this finite planet,
indefinitely. Simple things like Recycling everything, switching off the lights & fans on leaving a room can
go a long way in ensuring that human civilization embarks upon the gradual path to a sustainable future. It
was human intervention which has brought about the current state of affairs and made this consumerism
possible, so it is possible and is our responsibility, as well, to reverse this.
JOHNSON & JOHNSON Gender Equity

According to our group gender equity clearly meant equal treatment for both males and females. It
doesnt necessarily have to empower women. Among the options provided we have given less weightage
to the options which have preferential & special treatment for women.

We felt that increasing the maternity leave for women from 3 to 4months actually went against
women, as businesses would be more sceptical about hiring / promoting / giving responsibility to women, as
these businesses are well and truly aware that they would be losing that particular womans services for 4
months. So it actually acted as a deterrent.

According to our group, gender equity could be ensured if there was adequate representation of both
males and females from all levels of the company in a committee, elected by an electorate consisting of both
males and females. Also this committee would be able to do justice to its role of promoting gender equity and
avoiding sexual harassment at work by allowing the committee to structure the policies(own control), rather
than just execute or audit them.

Also, as per class discussions, we came to a conclusion that allocation of resources in the form of funds
sent out a signal that the board meant business when it came to implementing gender equity policies at the
work place.