Central Skagit Library District

Meet Randall, one of 20 million people worldwide shopping for a shirt on any given day. Amazingly, he and the 19,999,999 others find a shirt they want to buy. Who's behind this remarkable system that supplies shirts, food, shelter and most other desires of daily life?

Economist and bestselling author Juliet Schor lays out a positive vision for rethinking our relationship to consumer goods in this accessible and timely analysis of the devastating ecological, social, and personal costs of mass consumerism. Ranging from cutting-edge developments in economic theory, social analysis, and ecological design to real-world examples of these ideas being put into practice around the world, Schor makes a compelling case that...

"In her late twenties, Cait Flanders found herself stuck in the consumerism cycle that grips so many of us: earn more, buy more, want more, rinse, repeat. Even after she worked her way out of nearly $30,000 of consumer debt, her old habits took hold again. When she realized that nothing she was doing or buying was making her happy--only keeping her from meeting her goals--she decided to set herself a challenge:she would not shop for an entire year....

This hard-hitting documentary investigates why so many Americans - college and high school students in particular - are being strangled by debt. Zeroing in on how the mall has replaced the factory as America's dominant economic engine, Emmy Award-winning former ABC News and CNN producer Danny Schechter shows how college students are being forced to pay higher interest on loans while graduating, on average, with more than {dollar}20,000 in consumer...

The author uses several the key inventions--from electric power to large-scale farming and automobiles--to illustrate that the science improves human life, but also releases untenable amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The author explains the current and projected consequences of greenhouse gases--from superstorms to rising sea levels--and shares the science-based tools that could help us fight back. "Hope Jahren is an award-winning scientist,...

In this highly anticipated sequel to his groundbreaking "Advertising & the End of the World," media scholar Sut Jhally explores the devastating personal and environmental fallout from advertising, commercial culture, and rampant American consumerism. Ranging from the emergence of the modern advertising industry in the early 20th century to the full-scale commercialization of the culture today, Jhally identifies one consistent message running throughout...

"Fumio Sasaki is not an enlightened minimalism expert or organizing guru like Marie Kondo--he's just a regular guy who was stressed out and constantly comparing himself to others, until one day he decided to change his life by saying goodbye to everything he didn't absolutely need. The effects were remarkable: Sasaki gained true freedom, new focus, and a real sense of gratitude for everything around him. In Goodbye, Things Sasaki modestly shares his...

The films in the Media Education Foundation (MEF) Collection encourage critical thinking about the social, political, and cultural impact of American mass media. With a special focus on representations of gender and race, and the effect these representations have on identity and culture, MEF films are especially well-suited for use in Women's Studies, Sociology, Race Studies,Communication, Anthropology, Education, and Psychology courses.

To help combat the problem of the waste of edible food, filmmakers Grant Baldwin and Jenny Rustemeyer endeavor to forego grocery shopping and eat only what is discarded during the various steps that food travels from farm to table.