Annie Leonard

Environmental activist and creator of The Story of Stuff documentary, which looks at how our obsession with stuff is trashing the planet, our communities and our health. The Story of Stuff is a vision for change.

A key part of the American dream is centered on accumulating ever more, and better, stuff. Yet, all the stuff in our lives is taking an enormous toll on the environment, public health, equity, personal happiness and even our sense of citizenship and democracy.

Environmental activist Annie Leonard exposes the hidden costs of all this “stuff” in her 20-minute film The Story of Stuff.

The film, which takes viewers on a provocative and eye-opening tour of the real costs of our consumer driven culture, from resource extraction to iPod incineration, has been viewed by over 8 million people on her website, along with millions of others on YouTube.

Leonard, an activist who has spent the past 10 years traveling the globe fighting environmental threats, narrates the film, delivering a rapid-fire, often humorous and always engaging story about “all our stuff—where it comes from and where it goes when we throw it away.”

Leonard examines the real costs of extraction, production, distribution, consumption and disposal, and she isolates the moment in history where she says the trend of consumption mania began.  The Story of Stuff examines how economic policies of the post-World War II era ushered in notions of “planned obsolescence” and “perceived obsolescence” —and how these notions are still driving much of the U.S. and global economies today. 

Leonard’s inspiration for the film began as a personal musing over the question, “Where does all the stuff we buy come from, and where does it go when we throw it out?”  She traveled the world in pursuit of the answer to this seemingly innocent question, and what she found along the way were some very guilty participants and their unfortunate victims.

Before her foray into multimedia, Leonard worked for GAIA, Health Care without Harm, Essential Action, and Greenpeace International. She is an expert in international sustainability and environmental health issues, with more than 20 years of experience investigating factories and dumps around the world. In her work investigating and promoting anti-pollution issues, she has traveled to over 30 countries, including Haiti, Bangladesh, India, the Philippines, Pakistan and South Africa. In 2008, she was named one of TIME Magazine’s Environmental Heroes.

Leonard currently coordinates the non-profit Story of Stuff Project, which is based in Berkeley. They recently released The Story of Cap and Trade, and are working on additional films. She is also completing “The Story of Stuff” book,  which is set to be published by Free Press of Simon and Schuster in March 2010. An early review from Booklist called her book ambitious and comprehensive.

PRAISE FOR Annie Leonard:

• "Awesome and incredibly motivational," saying that "everyone  in the audience seemed really enthused and intrigued." - UNH

• "She got a standing ovation! I don't think I've ever seen that at one of our convocations." University of Minnesota

• "Annie was just exceptional.  There are speakers and then there are speakers who engage, connect, inspire, etc... Annie is all of that.  She spoke to almost 400 people and at the end the room was on their feet with a loud applause.  The head of the communication department told me this morning that Annie delivered the best speech she has seen in years and one of the best speeches she has ever seen.  Needless to say, the campus and community are buzzing about The Story of Stuff." - Juniata College

• "Annie was sooooooo wonderful. She was the perfect keynote, inspirational to our entire audience and really was one of the most amazing people I have yet to meet." -Green Meetings Industry Council