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What struck me most in Annie Leonard’s Epilogue to The Story of Stuff, was our ideas of happiness in the US and where these ideas are coming from.  I was very intrigued when Leonard mentioned the Happy Planet Index as a new way to define progress and decided to look into for myself.  The Happy Planet Index bases its values off of three criteria: life expectancy, well-being, and the ecological footprint of the country.  Of the 151 countries on the list, the US is ranked 105th.  I found this to be incredibly surprising especially when I saw that countries such as Haiti, El Salvador, and Bangladesh ranked way above the US.  I understand that this is an incredibly ethnocentric view, but the US typically looks down upon these countries because these developing countries are typically viewed as uncivilized and primitive.  So the question I found myself asking was “how are these people so happy with so little?”

The majority of our consumption comes from our ideas of happiness.  As explained in Leonard’s video, The Story of Stuff, the common misconception that corporations have drilled into the minds of US citizens is that our happiness comes from the materials that we consume.  Although it sounds far-fetched I think that many people have this idea even if they are unaware of it.  I think to really change our consumption habits we must first address our ideas about the origins of true happiness and I think that this begins at home.  Many of our own opinions and ideas, were in some way or another, influenced by our parents. One thing that was stressed in our house from a young age, was that material goods will never bring the happiness that a loving family and certain experiences brings.  I think that this is something that should be stressed often if the habits of consumerism are to change.  

Finally, after looking at the happy planet index and wondering about the consumption habits of other countries, I decided to do some more research.  I found a Time (See link below) article from 2013 that covered different families around the world and their consumption habits over the course of a week.  I thought that it was amazing how larger non-western families in different parts of the world were able to spend so little on their food consumption.  Obviously it would be difficult for the average American family to spend $23 a week on food but I think that some of the practices of these people are important and that there is a lesson that can be learned from them.  Many of the non-western families are living on much more of a healthier diet and still paying less.  And I think that we all can learn from them.

http://time.com/8515/hungry-planet-what-the-world-eats/