Our Story

We have a problem with Stuff:  we have too much of it, too much of it is toxic and we don’t share it very well. But that’s not the way things have to be.

That’s the challenge our founder Annie Leonard unpacked in her groundbreaking 2007 online documentary, The Story of Stuff, which unleashed a torrent of pent-up demand for honest conversation about our consumption-crazed culture. In the eight years since we released that first film, our nine award-winning animated movies have garnered more than 50 million online views around the world and encouraged viewers to support hundreds of environmental projects and campaigns with their time, energy and money.

Today, our San Francisco Bay Area-based team inspires and encourages the civic engagement of the more than one million members of our global Community. We invite you to be inspired by and share our movies, participate in our study programs, and take part in campaigns on the environmental and social issues you care about. Join us!

The Story of Stuff Project is:

Community-Minded

Our global, online Community of over 1 million Changemakers includes parents, community leaders, teachers and students, people of faith, entrepreneurs, scientists and others interested in creating a more healthy and just world. The interests and needs of our Community members deeply informs our work, and your passion and support enable our small team to have an outsized impact.

Solutions-Focused

We know all about the problems -- from climate change to income inequality to political corruption. Our movies and other media focus instead on the big, exciting innovations driving the environmental and social change we need, as well as the little things individuals and communities can do to make a difference. We call it ‘Growing Solutions’.

Action-Oriented

We believe that dramatically increasing civic participation -- not just refining our consumer choices -- is the key to unlocking the profound challenges we face. Our four-week Citizen Muscle Boot Camp program equips participants with the basic skills they need to organize and lead a local project. And our campaigns provide diverse, engaging opportunities for our Community members to get involved, from the global level down to where they live and work.