I just watched one of the best overviews of our consumer economy I've ever seen. It is called The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard. Basically, this short 20-minute film consists of Leonard standing in front of a "whiteboard" as simple animations illustrate the concepts behind her (very similar to the UPS Whiteboard commercials without the actual drawing).
The pitch on web site is as follows:
From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.
All in all, a very informative film. Being relatively short, some aspects are over-simplified — especially the parts about obsolescence as it relates to technology — and at points, Leonard can tend to talk to the audience like they are kindergartners, but overall the presentation is solid, the pace is brisk, and the information is thorough.
The web site itself is filled with a large supply of additional content. Check out the Resources Page for a ton of links and information, and also take a look at the Another Way page which lists "10 Little and Big Things You Can Do" to change the system. The Recommended Reading alone should keep your brain and your library card busy over the next few months.
This film is quite the achievement (one perfectly designed for internet distribution), and the concepts and causes it supports are extremely worthy. The first step to fixing the problem is always education, and the more we — as the consumers and the catalysts to this whole process — become informed, the more we can change the way the system operates. There are a bunch of important things to take away from this film, but I'll let you watch it for yourself instead of rambling on.
Also, if you'd rather download it, it's available as a 50MB Quicktime file. And after viewing, make sure to spread the word.